Primatology meeting in Peru

Dr. Francine Dolins announces an important primatology conference to be held in Peru, October 17-22, 2011.

Make your MPIG travel plans!

The 8th annual Midwest Primate Interest Group meeting is around the corner and it's time to make your travel arrangements. Here's a message from MPIG president Dr. Katie MacKinnon:

We have received an impressive group of abstracts for this year's MPIG meeting! The finalized schedule will be up soon--stay tuned.

In the meantime, this is just a gentle reminder to make your hotel reservations and book your flights if you haven't yet done so. We encourage those of you traveling from the same university/geographical areas to coordinate on flights and carpools if possible. While we are finalizing the scientific schedule for poster and papers, I refer you to this general timeline when making your travel arrangements.

Marilyn Norconk has posted a very helpful list of information on the MPIG website, so I direct you there again for hotel/travel info (note airport suggestions and driving directions, etc.). Please note that the hotel reservation deadlines for the special group rates are fast approaching!

Also: if you wish to be picked up at the airport, please email her at mnorconk@kent.edu...she will arrange for meeting volunteers to help pick up groups of people at certain times, based on arrivals.

Many thanks again for your interest and participation -- we are looking forward to another great MPIG meeting!

Cheers,
Katie

AAA 2011 program available

The program for the upcoming American Anthropological Association conference in Montreal is now available. In the coming months I will put together a list of talks and events relevant to biological anthropologists. You may also be able to find information at the Biological Anthropology Section site.

I am super excited about this meeting and I look forward to seeing many of you there!

MPIG 2011 abstract deadline August 15

Remember how geeked out I was about MPIG 2010 in Chicago? Well, we're gearing up for a wonderful MPIG 2011 hosted by Kent State University. Abstract deadline is August 15. Can't wait for MPIG, Buckeye Style!

In the meantime, relive the magic of MPIG 2010!

AAPA 2012 symposia deadline is July 15!

If you're thinking of putting together a symposium for the upcoming AAPA meeting, you still have time; the deadline is July 15. You need an abstract for the symposium topic, a participant list, and tentative titles but your participants don't need to come up with an abstract unless your symposium is selected. Keep in mind that AAPA limits first-authored presentations to ONE per person. Check the link above for more information about the meeting and submission instructions. Good luck!

BANDIT sessions at AAPA 2011

Presumably, you will be spending some time checking out the program at AAPA/HBA/Paleoanth/Paleopath/etc. (Maybe not, I don't know your life.) I encourage the BANDITs to let me know about your sessions, especially if it's a session you organized or were invited to participate in. Let's support each other! I will continue to update and repost this list as I hear from more of you! (Note: I go on maternity leave soon so get in touch ASAP if you want me to highlight your session on the blog!)

TUESDAY, April 12 (Paleanthropology Society)
Lewton KL. Iliac and ischiopubic modularity: implications for the evolution of the hominin pelvis. (poster)

THURSDAY, April 14
Human Biology Association
Reproductive Functioning and Trade-offs, podium session, Marquette V/VI
LT GETTLER, SS AGUSTIN, TW MCDADE, CW KUZAWA.
10:15 Longitudinal changes in testosterone among men transitioning to fatherhood in the Philippines. (podium)
ZM THAYER, CW KUZAWA.
10:30 Diurnal cortisol profiles in pregnancy: Does the pattern of cortisol secretion vary across populations or by birth weight? (podium)

Session and location unknown (does anyone have access to the HBA program? I can't find it online)
PE MELTON
1:45 Genome wide association and pathway analysis of segment-specific carotid intima-media thickness phenotypes: The San Antonio Family Heart Study

AAPA
Advances in Chemical Bioarchaeology. Session 16, Poster symposium with roundtable discussion, poster viewing 1-5 pm, Duluth Room. Co-organized by Kara Hoover and Carrin Halffman; Stan Ambrose, discussant. The roundtable is tentatively slated for Thursday from 3:30-4:30. There will be a flyer with the details at registration and a poster outside the room with details as well.

FRIDAY, April 15
Eating for Two: Maternal Ecology and Nutrition in Human and Non-Human Primates
Invited podium symposium, 2-5:45, Marquette V/VI. Co-organized by Julienne Rutherford and Kathryn Clancy.
Discussants: Pablo Nepomnaschy and Leslie Aiello (This is a BANDIT heavy symposium - check the program for specific talks and times)

SATURDAY, April 16
American Association of Anthropological Genetics:
Ethical Currents in Anthropological Genetics
Podium symposium, 8-noon, Salon C

Ears, Eyes, and Noses: Revisiting the Evolution and Ecology of the Primate Special Senses
Invited poster symposium, 8am-12pm, Duluth Room.
Danielle Whittaker. Chemical communication without a vomeronasal organ: parallel evolution in primates and birds? (poster)

Primate Diet, Health, Ecology and Conservation
Poster session, 10-3pm, Salon D. Recent PhD Laurie Kauffman is on two posters: poster 109: Creating sustainable primate-based based tourism: a view from the Central Suriname Nature Reserve and poster 118: Tourism in Suriname: do monkeys view tourists as predators or conspecifics? (co-authored with Jessica Westin)

Muddles in the Middle: Current Perspectives on Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution
Podium symposium, 1-5 pm, Salon A. Co-organized by Steve Wang and Sarah Freidline

ASP 2011 abstract deadline March 12!

Don't forget: the deadline for abstracts for the upcoming American Society of Primatologists meeting in Austin, TX is this Saturday, March 12.

ASP 2011 updates

The Scientific Program Committee would like to remind you that the deadline for abstract submission for the 34th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists is fast approaching. Final submissions must be submitted at www.asp.org by March 12, 2011. We are very excited about this year’s meeting, as it promises to be of the highest scientific quality. The meeting will feature contributed paper and poster presentations as well as symposia that address wide-spread interests in primatology. We are pleased to announce our featured speakers including:

Keynote Speaker
Dr. Richard Wrangham
Department of Human Evolutionary Biology
Harvard University

2010 Distinguished Primatologist
Dr. Karen B Strier
Department of Anthropology
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Past President’s Address
Dr. Suzette D. Tardif
University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio

Interdisciplinary Symposium:
“Reproductive Function & Dysfunction in Nonhuman Primates”
Featured Speaker
Dr. Judy Cameron
University of Pittsburgh

This year’s meeting will be held at the Hilton Austin located in downtown Austin, Texas from September 16-19, 2011. The Hilton Austin is one block from Austin's famous Sixth Street nightlife and walking distance to entertainment, shopping and dining in the Warehouse Entertainment and 2nd Street Districts. It is within strolling distance of the famous Congress Ave. Bridge; at dusk you can witness 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats emerge from under the bridge and fill the evening sky. Additional area highlights include the Capitol Building, the Bob Bullock Texas Historical Museum (JNR: I've been there and it is really a great museum!) and the LBJ Presidential Library.

The Hilton Austin is offering special rates to participants in the meeting that apply for three days before and after the scheduled dates of September 16-19, 2011. Rooms with single or double beds are available for $139/night with a $20 charge for each additional person plus taxes. We encourage meeting attendees to stay at the conference hotel to ensure that ASP benefits maximally from the services provided. Please make your hotel reservations soon. All conference sessions and social events will be held at the Hilton Austin.

We look forward to receiving your abstract submissions and hope to see everyone in Austin this September.

Sincerely,
Sue Howell and Brian Kelly
Co-Chairs, Scientific Program Committee

MPIG 2011

A quick announcement to the BANDITs to let you know that MPIG 2011 is scheduled for October 14-15 at Kent State University. Details are forthcoming, but keep checking here, www.mpig.org, and #MPIG2011 on Twitter for updates...

Central States Anthropological Society 2011 meeting

The Central States Anthropological Society is a section of the American Anthropological Society and holds annual meetings in the broadly defined Midwest. This year's meeting will be hosted by the University of Iowa, April 7-9, 2011.

This is a relatively small-scale, student-friendly conference with very reasonable registration rates (e.g. $70 for AAA members, $90 for non-members). This year's Distinguished Lecture will be given by Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh which will undoubtedly be highly interesting and entertaining.

Browsing through the CSAS preliminary program, I was particularly struck by the session The Cat's Out of the Bag, and Clawing: Forum on Recognizing Science in Anthropology , scheduled for Friday. I'm really delighted to see this issue being interrogated in a conference forum and expect to see more of this at AAA 2011 in Montreal. There will also be a Professional Development Panel on the job application process which should be required attendance for all graduate students.

AAPA 2011 Updates

From a recent email to the AAPA membership:

Dear AAPA Member,

This is a reminder that our 2011 annual meeting will be held at The Hilton Minneapolis, April 13-16. If you haven’t already registered and reserved a hotel room, you still have time to do so from links on our website. The final program will be posted on the website in the next few days, so watch for it.

This email also serves as the first announcement of two events that will take place at the annual meeting, and that need your participation: the Annual AAPA Auction and the Plenary Session.

AAPA Auction

The AAPA Auction will be held on Thursday evening from approximately 6:30pm - 10:00pm. The silent auction will begin while the Plenary Session is running nearby (assuming everything gets setup after the afternoon sessions). It will continue until ~8:30pm so those attending the Plenary have a chance to bid. The live auction will begin as soon as all the bids for the silent auction are processed, so ~9:00pm.

Please note that we always need auction items, including things like books or reprints for the silent auction. If you wish to hand-carry items to Minneapolis, or if you wish to send them to Mark Teaford, or to the Martha Tappen (one of the local arrangements chairs), please fill out a "donation form" and submit it with the item(s) to help us keep things organized. The form is downloadable from the "Local Arrangements Website" within the "Annual Meetings" portion of the AAPA website. If you wish to help with the setup or running of the auction, please contact Mark Teaford (mteaford@jhmi.edu) as we always need help in setting up the silent auction, and in processing payments from it as well.

AAPA Plenary Session

Calling all Biological Anthropology Musicians and Other Performers!!!

Are you a musician? Do you have other "talents"?

Our meeting site in Minneapolis prompted us to make enquiries about whether Garrison Keilor could attend our meetings. Because he had other commitments, we decided to follow his example by holding a Plenary Session on Thursday evening before the Auction. This "'Plenary' Home Companion" will feature our own members showing their [other] talents in music, performance and who knows what else.

If you would like to participate in this event, or if you know of another AAPA member you would like to SEE participate, please email Karen Rosenberg (krr@udel.edu).

I look forward to welcoming all of you to the Annual Meeting in Minneapolis.

Sincerely,

Dennis H. O’Rourke, President
American Association of Physical Anthropologists

ASP 2011 abstract deadline announced

The American Society of Primatologists holds its annual meeting this year in AUSTIN, TEXAS (woo-hoo!), September 16-19, 2011. Some adjustments to perviously outlined deadlines are outlined below:


Colleagues:

The Program Committee of the American Society of Primatologists would like to extend the deadline to Friday, January 28, 2011 for proposals for symposia and workshops. Although the final deadline for symposia, workshop, and paper abstracts is March 12, 2011, we encourage early submission of ideas to ensure a strong meeting. Proposals can be sent to the Program Committee Chair, Sue Howell (showell@hamanranch.org).

Additionally the Program Committee invites interested parties to submit proposals for the 2011 ASP Interdisciplinary Symposium.

The Interdisciplinary symposium was created to foster the levels of crosstalk among the different disciplines that make up Primatology. You are invited to submit your ideas for a symposium that is truly interdisciplinary. The program committee will encourage all submitted ideas to be presented as symposia at ASP 2011 in Austin, Texas, September 16 – 19th 2011. However one idea will be chosen to be showcased in a meeting-wide symposium, meaning there will be no competing sessions during your symposium. Additionally, the interdisciplinary symposium will be presented in conjunction with one of the featured plenary speakers for ASP 2010.

To be considered:
Submit a short summary of your proposal that highlights how it is interdisciplinary.
Submit a list of proposed speakers for the symposia, including second choices, if appropriate.
Propose both a first and second choice for the featured speaker you would like to see invited by ASP to participate in association with the symposium.
Send all your materials to ASP Program Co-Chair, Brian Kelly (bkelly8980@gmail.com) no later than February 1, 2011.
All ideas will be encouraged for development as regular symposia. Final abstracts for regular symposia, workshops and other special sessions will continue to be accepted until March 12, 2011.

We look forward to your ideas.

Sincerely,

The Program Committee

Biological anthropology at AAA this week!

I'm getting excited about heading down to NOLA for the AAA meeting this week. The Biological Anthropology Section is showing great representation; check here for a quick guide to all the goings on.

List of sessions of interest to BAS members:
Innovative Methods in Biological Anthropology
Circulating Through Us: Violence, Trauma and Memory
Critical Collisions in Health and Culture: Sleep
Ancient Humans: Birth, Health and Lifestyle
Biocultural Acts, Biocultural Survival
Biocultural Adaptation and Evolution: Guts, Diet and Microbes

Enter the search terms "biology/biological" or "evolution/evolutionary" here to generate an interesting mix of talks and other events.

Outside the comfort zone

Heading into Day 2 at the International Federation of Placenta Associations meeting in Santiago, Chile. I presented yesterday and engaged in lots of great conversations about this project and the directions I want to take it. As much as I personally love the AAPA and primatology meetings, coming to the placenta meeting is like going to school. I love the challenge (and yes, the trepidation!) of presenting my placenta work and ideas to a bunch of people who are at the forefront of the field. In my anthropological world, what I do feels novel and innovative within my immediate context, but when I go to the IFPA meeting I'm surrounded by people who blow me away with the depth of their knowledge and the cutting edge approach they use to studying the placenta. And who can offer real critiques of what I do - for better and for worse. Yesterday I had one of my heroes describe one of my ongoing hypotheses as a "crazy idea." Sweet! I first "met" some of the big names in placentology during my dissertation when I emailed a couple of them for advice on how to process marmoset placentas for stereological investigation. They were so generous and encouraging, and excited that someone outside their world was interested in their work. It's been great to have that kind of reception.

The interdisciplinary nature of biological anthropology means that many of us have to make intellectual leaps beyond our background training to gain the knowledge and skills we need to do our work. I'd love to hear from others who move around in fields outside the bounds of anthropology - what's it like for you at the bone, genetics, DOHaD, anatomy, bioinformatics, ecology, animal behavior, psychology, neuroscience, etc., etc., etc., meetings you attend? Which ones are your favorites? Do you know a lot of people in that world or do you float around on the fringes? What do you like best about attending these extracurricular meetings? What are the biggest challenges? Is your work/identity as an anthropologist taken seriously? Please leave comments!

A brief hiatus....

I will be leaving the country on Monday for about two weeks and I don't anticipate posting while I'm gone. I'm presenting a poster on Fetoplacental growth dynamics in the vervet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops) at the International Federation of Placenta Associations meeting in Santiago, Chile. This will be the second time I've attended this super fun (and very specific) meeting and I'm really looking forward to seeing old placenta friends and making new ones. After the meeting I'm taking advantage of the location and hiking up Cerro La Campana, the same mountain Darwin did back in 1834. Will there be Chilean malbecs in my future? Have you met me?

Biological Anthropology Section of AAA

Lots of cool biological anthropology business happening at the upcoming American Anthropological Association meeting. Note that today - October 15 - is the last day to preregister!

Yours truly will be presenting a paper in the Biocultural Acts, Biocultural Survival session, along with Robin Nelson of the University of California at Riverside, Laurie Kauffman of the University of Florida and DePaul University, and Jada Benn Torres of the University of Notre Dame. I know Robin and Laurie well and have heard wonderful things about Jada and her work so I'm jazzed up about this session. My paper - Biological Waste or Talisman of Childbirth: Shifting Concepts of the Placenta in the Philippines - is a departure from my usual work and I'm really excited to be presenting it at AAA. I'll be sharing and exploring some of my observations from my recent research trip to the Philippines during which I spent a lot of time at hospitals and talked to people from a variety of perspectives about how the placenta is handled as both powerful spiritual object and as waste material.

Looking forward to seeing fellow BANDITs at AAA!

Texas Association of Biological Anthropologists (TABA) annual conference

From Katie Binetti, President of the Texas Association of Biological Anthropologists:
"TABA is fledgling organization that exists to promote scholarship and fellowship amongst the Biological Anthropology community in Texas. Our main activity is a yearly meeting where faculty and student research is presented. We are also working on an official organization website that would serve to promote public awareness of the Biological Anthropology research currently being conducted at and through Texas academic institutions."

TABA's website is not yet operational, so BANDIT is delighted to help them out by posting information about the upcoming conference.
Where: Baylor University, Waco, Texas
When: November 5-6, 2010
Schedule: Plenary on Friday with Dr. Kaye Reed, Program Director for Physical Anthropology at the National Science Foundation, and Associate Professor and Research Scientist with the Institute of Human Origins and the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. Presentations on Saturday.
Meeting format: AAPA
Registration deadline: October 15, 2010
Registration cost: $20 for faculty, $5 for students

More details here.

MPIG 2010 has gone, but it won't be forgotten...

Wow, what a fantastic weekend! The Distinguished Primatologist award to Russ Tuttle and the reception that followed at the the Field Museum was a wonderful way to start. Many thanks to Robert Martin for a truly elegant evening. On Saturday at UIC, we started with coffee and bagels (REAL bagels from New York Bagel and Bialy up in Skokie - to die for), then launched into one of MPIG's finest scientific programs yet: a full slate of 16 podium presentations, followed by an afternoon poster session - 34 posters in all. During the poster session the E. Lloyd DuBrul Comparative Skeletal Archives was open to attendees - an amazing collection of mostly craniofacial and dental specimens, prepared by one of the bioanthropological forefathers of comparative dentition, Dr. E. Lloyd DuBrul, who was on faculty in the UIC College of Dentistry for several decades. We wrapped up all the hard work with a great party at my place on Saturday night - thanks to all who came to celebrate the close of another successful MPIG. Can't wait 'til next year!

Photos of the event will be posted soon at www.mpig.org so stay tuned...

MPIG is here!!!

I am so excited - MPIG comes to Chicago this weekend! We kick it off at the Field Museum tomorrow night to honor Russell Tuttle, MPIG's Distinguished Primatologist for 2010, then take it to UIC on Saturday for a full day of some fantastic science. Lots of students, both undergrad and grad, will be there presenting their work - very excited for them. Will post a recap after the weekend.

Check out www.mpig.org for details and to download a copy of the program.

MPIG 2010 is nearly upon us...

The Midwest Primate Interest Group 7th annual meeting takes place in Chicago, September 24-25, at the Field Museum and the University of Illinois at Chicago. We have 49 (!!!) presentations scheduled, including 16 podium talks, a symposium of 10 posters on Great Ape Research at the Lincoln Park Zoo, and 23 additional posters! It's an amazing lineup of research, not to mention the opening night events at the Field Museum: private guided tours of Evolving Planet and Ancient Americas, and the presentation of the 2010 Distinguished Primatologist award to Russell Tuttle.

Registration is accepted at the door, so it's not too late to make plans to attend! Keep an eye on www.mpig.org for the detailed program which is going to be posted in the next couple of days.