Diversity at SSE/SSB

[Liz Zimmer]

Apologies if you are receiving this message more than once.
Please spread the word about this year's Undergraduate Diversity
Program at SSE/SSB in Chico. Deadline May 5. See below and
attached for further details.

from Scott Edwards

DIVERSITY AT SSE/SSB 2003: Call for applications for
undergraduates of
diverse backgrounds to attend the 2003 meeting of the Society for the
Study of Evolution/Society of Systematic Biologists

***and***

Call for volunteer mentors for this program from graduate students,
postdocs and faculty.

In 2001 14 undergraduates of diverse backgrounds received funding
from a
pilot NSF- Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology (UMEB)
grant
to attend the annual meetings of SSE/SSB in Knoxville, Tennessee,
present
posters, and interact with graduate student, postdoc and faculty
mentors.
The program will take place again at the 2003 meetings this June in
Chico,
CA and we are now accepting applications.  The application deadline
is May
20, 2003.  Applications will consist of a title, author line and abstract
of the poster to be presented by the undergraduate; a one or two
paragraph
(no more than 1 page) statement of academic interests and career
goals and
of how attending the Evolution meetings will help meet these goals;
and
one letter of recommendation from the undergraduates research
advisor.
All materials should be submitted as pdf files and emailed to emailed
to
Zach Simmons, assistant to Scott Edwards, at
divrsty at u.washington.edu.
Applications will be accepted only from students registered or very
recently graduated from U.S. institutions, including Puerto Rico (i.e.,
having finished classes during the winter or spring semesters before
the
meeting) and traveling to the meeting from within the US.  Students
demonstrating a need for funds to attend SSE/SSB will be given
preference,
and will be selected so that as a group, they will increase cultural
diversity among undergraduates at Evolution meetings.

In addition to applications from undergraduates, we hope to receive
email
notices (to divrsty at u.washington.edu.) from graduate students,
postdocs
and faculty who wish to serve as undergraduate mentors for the
meetings.
Duties will include meeting with a pair of undergraduates in the
program,
attending and demystifying a half-day of talks with them, joining them
for
a meal, introducing them to colleagues and in general befriending
them in
ways that make evolutionary biology seem like a welcoming
discipline.  No
costs for travel, housing or registration are covered. Please spread the
word about this very rewarding activity.

For full details on selection criteria for undergraduate applicants and
an
overview of activities in 2001 please see
http://depts.washington.edu/scotte/diversity or contact one of the
program
PIs or organizers:

Scott V. Edwards, University of Washington
(sedwards at u.washington.edu)
Elizabeth Zimmer, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian
(zimmer at lms.si.edu)
Richard Kliman, Cedar Crest College (rmkliman at cedarcrest.edu)