July 16, 2008 - North American Paleontological Convention in June 2009 - - An NSF, PS and SVP-Sponsored 5-day Workshop - Summer of 2009 -
North American Paleontological Convention in June 2009 While you're making plans for SVP meetings this fall and in September 2009, don't forget to include the North American Paleontological Convention, June 21-26 in Cincinnati, Ohio, in your planning. This is a great occasion to showcase the breadth and innovation occurring in vertebrate paleontology. And it's an opportunity to meet many of the invertebrate paleontologists and paleobotanists whose paths you rarely cross. For North Americans, if you're not able to attend the SVP meeting in Bristol, then NAPC offers an exciting meeting closer to home.
Several SVP members are on the organizing committee of NAPC 2009. The University of Cincinnati, which will host NAPC, offers attractive, modern, inexpensive accommodations with great field sites close by.
The NAPC meets every four years at different North American locations and features symposia, field trips, and related activities across all fields of paleontology. Symposia often cover topics that cut across vertebrate paleontology, invertebrate paleontology, paleobotany, and their many related fields. Some of these symposium contributions have been published as books or theme issues of major journals.
Visit www.napc2009.org for further information. If you're interested in proposing a symposium, please note that the deadline for proposal submission is September 15. An NSF, PS and SVP-Sponsored 5-day Workshop - Summer of 2009 The National Science Foundation, the Paleontological Society, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and the On The Cutting Edge Initiative to sponsor a 5-day workshop in the summer of 2009 on teaching undergraduate paleontology. The details of the workshop are described below*. If you are interested in attending this workshop, we hope that you will help us decide when and where to hold it. Please take a minute to go to the following web site: http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/paleo_survey.html
1. Hold the workshop immediately before the North American Paleontological Convention in Cincinnati, OH (NAPC is June 21-26, 2009);
2. Hold the workshop in late July or early August 2009 at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, NY.
The deadline for completing the survey is August 4. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!
*About the Workshop
On The Cutting Edge initiative, in conjunction with the Paleontological Society, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and the National Science Foundation, will be sponsoring a workshop on enhancing and stimulating the teaching of paleontology at the undergraduate level in the summer of 2009. This workshop will bring together a diverse crowd of paleontologists, including vertebrate, invertebrate, microfossil, and plant workers, from a variety of U.S. institutions, including research universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, and museums, all of whom teach paleontology to undergraduates. We will explore topics related to teaching paleontology effectively in the classroom, lab, and field and discuss the challenges associated with teaching evolution, incorporating quantitative approaches in the classroom, and emphasizing the relevance of paleontology to today's students.
Participants will share exemplary laboratory and classroom activities, discuss course content and curriculum, explore field trips as a catalyst for integrating field and in-class material, and consider innovative approaches to teaching and learning paleontological concepts and processes. This 40-70 person workshop will run for five days, will include both half-day and full-day fieldtrips, and will be heavily subsidized by funding from the National Science Foundation.
If you'd like to learn more about the Cutting Edge organization in general and the successful workshops they've already sponsored in mineralogy, petrology, structural geology, sedimentology, geomorphology, and a range of other geological subjects, please see their website:
