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connect share transform NatioNal EvolutioNary SyNthesiS CentEr AnnuAl Repo Rt 2011 Director’s Message n the last Annual Report, I noted that NESCent was in fine shape; NESCent’s future – this is an ongoing topic of discussion at Inonetheless, I ended my message by saying that in 2011, I would NESCent, whether it is around a conference table, at lunch, or in focus on two areas where closer attention is warranted: improving the corridor outside my office. We spent a great deal of time with the the participation of underrepresented minorities in evolutionary Oversight Committee, Operations Committee, Advisory Board, and science, and securing the long-term future of NESCent beyond the amongst the directors and management team, thinking about how we 77,000 visitors from limits of NSF funding. should approach the Center’s sustainability. This year, I can again report that NESCent remains in good What does it mean to keep “NESCent” going? $22,777,000 health, with a vigorous and expanded science program that If we lose or change certain programs, is it still additional grant support includes new targeted activities, outreach that has reached out “NESCent”? And if we keep all our existing obtained by scientists beyond demographic, disciplinary and geographic borders, and programs, should we do so at the cost of the an informatics team that has shown, by example, the benefits that breadth of science that NESCent presently since 2007 as a direct accrue when IT is closely associated with the science it supports. supports? These, and a host of other questions, 176 result of their involvement As for underrepresented minorities at NESCent, and in have brought the question of sustainability countries evolutionary science, we spent a great deal of time trying to identify and NESCent’s future into sharper focus. Our visited the NESCent website with NESCent what can be done to effect greater participation. NESCent already discussions have reached a point where we think we can develop a supports the travel of MSI faculty and students to the Evolution business plan based around 2 or 3 realistic scenarios. This in itself conference, and we run (with Scott Edwards, at Harvard) a program gives us cause for cautious optimism – if the pathway to sustainability that mentors underrepresented undergraduate students at the is not guaranteed, at least we can see what the likely pathways might meeting. NESCent is also a sponsor of SACNAS, where we organize be, and we (along with our stakeholders) can begin to make plans. several activities. On reflection, we recognize that a major challenge In 2012, we will continue our focus on sustainability. By the end that relates to the representation of underrepresented minorities of that year, we will have a better idea of NESCent’s future, and we in the evolutionary sciences is one of recruitment – in short, very will begin, if necessary, to develop a transition plan. few students (underrepresented or otherwise) think of evolutionary Science Magazine biology as a career option. MORE This year, in an effort to counter this lack of awareness, we NPR • Scientific American introduced a new targeted activity, specifically, a call to develop THAN65 programs that will demonstrate the value of evolutionary science to articles on NESCent Discovery Channel underrepresented minorities in K-12 classrooms. We hope that by science appeared in the targeting the educational pipeline at a relatively early stage, students WIRED • The New York Times will appreciate that successful and stimulating careers are not the mainstream province of the professions alone. Allen Rodrigo :: 26 September 2011 Time Magazine media including TABLE OF CONTENTS 5-9 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 18 EDUCATION AND OUTREACH 10 HIGHLIGHTS 20 COMMUNICATIONS 13 CeNTER-WIDE INITIATIVES 23 ASSESSMENT 14 SCIENCE AND SYNTHESIS 27 ADMINISTRATION 16 INFORMATICS 29 EXTERNALLY-FUNDED RESEARCH EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In 2011, NESCent continued to expand its programs, introducing Recognizing that 2014 is going to be a watershed year for NESCent, new activities (e.g., the Darwin Day Roadshow and the Evolution we move into 2012 preparing to deal with transition, and equip staff Film Festival, and a journalist-in-residence program), and bringing with skills to compete in the workforce. to fruition activities that were initiated in 2010 (e.g., the NESCent NESCent’s visibility within the broader evolutionary science community Ambassador Program and the NESCent Academy, as well as cross- continues to grow. In 2011, we had more than 77,000 visitors from 176 center meetings for postdoctoral fellows and for cyberinfrastructure). countries to our website (up from 66,000 visitors from 54 countries last The NESCent Oversight Committee met for the first time, bringing year). Also, in 2011, more than 65 news articles on NESCent science together senior administrators from the partner institutions. The focus appeared in the mainstream media, including Science Magazine, at that meeting – and indeed, at NESCent for most of this year – was NPR, Scientific American, Discovery Channel, Wired, The New York NESCent’s future after NSF funding ceases in 2014. Of relevance Times, and TIME Magazine (up from 40 news articles for last year). In to these discussions is the fact that NESCent continues to enjoy September 2011, NESCent also launched its new website. the evolutionary science community’s endorsement. Likewise, the partner institutions recognize that sustaining NESCent is important. This year, NESCent submits a proposal to host the 2014 Joint Annual For its part, NESCent has stepped up its engagement with the partner Meeting of the Society for the Study of Evolution, the Society for institutions, capitalizing on the skills and collaborative networks of Systematic Biology, and the American Society of Naturalists (Evolution faculty at these institutions. In an effort to develop a strategy for 2014). The plan is to hold the meeting at the Raleigh Convention sustainability, NESCent is developing a business plan for review in Center in June 2014. NESCent is working with an organizing committee the first quarter of 2012 by the Oversight Committee. drawn from faculty at Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, NCSU, UNC-Greensboro, and East Carolina University. If NESCent’s proposal This year saw a few staff changes, with Phillip Grosshans joining is accepted, it will provide an opportunity to celebrate 10 years of NESCent as our new Assistant Director for Administration. Todd synthetic evolutionary science, and acknowledge the support that the Vision began his sabbatical in the second half of 2011, and Joel evolutionary science community has given to the Center. Kingsolver presently acts as the Associate Director of Informatics. Other staff losses, particularly in IT, have been challenging, and we expect that this situation will not improve as we head towards 2014. Transforming evolutionary science... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY | 5 SCIENCE & SYNTHESIS Removing barriers NESCent’s Science program in Year 7 expanded, particularly with pursuing a range of research projects. An additional four proposals the addition of targeted activities: are now being considered. to accessing, Working Groups and Catalysis Targeted Research Areas. Four targeted Meetings. We received 10 Working initiatives are currently underway to jumpstart Group proposals and 17 Catalysis new areas of evolutionary synthesis: Meeting proposals in 2011. Of these, Astrobiology, Evolutionary Medicine, Evolution sharing, and 9 Catalysis Meetings and 5 Working and the Social Sciences, and K-12 Evolution Groups were approved by the board. Education for Underrepresented Minorities. Our open call for development of evolutionary Long‐term sabbaticals. We received interpreting data medicine curricula drew 5 proposals, two of 14 requests for year‐long sabbaticals which were supported. Our targeted initiative at the Center this year, double the on Evolution and the Social Sciences also drew number from last year. Three scholars 5 proposals, currently under consideration. are already in residence and 1 more was awarded in the current round. NESCent has hosted nearly 4200 visitors from Postdoctoral Symposium. On April 17- more than 51 countries 20, NESCent held the first annual Joint Postdoctoral Fellowships. We received Synthesis Center Postdoctoral Symposium for 27 applications for Postdoctoral postdoctoral fellows from many of the synthesis Fellowships; 8 were awarded and 6 were accepted. These scholars centers. The three-day symposium included a combination of brief join the current set of Postdoctoral Fellows for a total of 15 — our research presentations by the postdocs, professional development largest group of Postdoctoral Fellows so far. activities, and breakout sessions on topics chosen by the fellows. Graduate Fellowships. Growth of our Graduate Fellowship program Postdoctoral fellows were attracted from a broad assortment of continues this year; we currently have three Graduate Fellows centers and disciplinary backgrounds (9 centers and 31 fellows). INFORMATICS NESCent’s Informatics activities are driven both by the informatics Stepped-up human capacity building. As part of the NESCent needs of visiting and resident scientists, and by our commitment to Academy, NESCent sponsored four short courses in evolutionary remove common informatics-related barriers to synthetic research. informatics, on topics ranging from practical programming skills, Our major accomplishments for Year 7 include the following: to statistical data analysis, to distributing computationally-intensive