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Volume 37| Issue 3 | 12 November 2020 and progress of our field and our Society lies — In This Issue — right there, in the diversity of some of our finest chemical ecologists recognized in the Message from the President past. For those of us interested in Message from the Past-President understanding chemical interactions in nature, the ISCE is unique in making us more ISCE award winners broad-minded scientists. So, as disciplines Executive Committee Online Meeting become more and more specialized, and the ISCE Social Media coexistence of our multiple approaches Society News becomes more challenging, we should keep News from APACE up our efforts to care for and cherish our own scientific diversity. This is not just another year. As the new ISCE President opening our 3rd Call for Nominations Newsletter of the year, I should be thanking Jeremy Allison and the rest of Trending in J. Chem. Ecol. the organizing team for a wonderful meeting in South Africa. Unfortunately, as you all know, we had to postpone the meeting due to the CoVID-19 pandemic. I do thank them for their superb efforts, resilience and — — ISCE Award Winners organisational skills, which have made it possible to confirm the meeting for September 2021. Currently, however, we are experiencing a truly Silver Medal Gerhard Gries unexpected event, at least in the global dimension in which it has unfolded. Silverstein-Simeone Paulo Zarbin Of course, there have been several novel and worrisome pathogens st Award throughout our lifetimes, even during this young 21 century, but the global effects of the CoVID-19 pandemic took most of us by surprise. Science has Early Career Award Tobias Züst and will undoubtedly play a most relevant role in defining how and when Applied Chemical John Borden this pandemic will end. However, we are also witnessing the worst of the anti-science world that surrounds us. Although our field is not closely related to virology, epidemiology or immunology, it is our duty as scientists Message from the President to engage and oppose anti-science claims with polite but firm arguments. I am grateful and honored to be writing these This pandemic has brought many new problems and worsened existing words as President of the ISCE. Ever since my ones. The ongoing worldwide economic crisis will almost certainly deepen first meeting in Syracuse in 1994 as a first-year inequalities both within and between countries, a sad and inevitable truth graduate student, I have considered the ISCE my of our global society. However, as clichéd as it may sound, the pandemic has main scientific home. A chemist by training and created many new opportunities that we should not overlook. It has been biologist by heart, I have always treasured the difficult to adjust to home work and travel shutdown, but they have given multidisciplinarity of the ISCE. Our meetings the environment a much-needed break. It is an opportunity to measure feature a great variety of angles in which we some of the impacts of our frantic activities in a way that was unthinkable question and understand the role of chemicals just one year ago. We have had to rush into online solutions for teaching, as mediators in biological interactions. From holding lab meetings and administrative councils, as with so many other animal behavior to organic chemistry, from common daily tasks. Many of them turned out quite well! The tools were community ecology to pest management, from already there, but most of us were somehow oblivious to them. neurosciences to the new language of “omics” This massive turn toward virtual events has clearly reached academic and big data, I wander through the program of meetings. We have all experienced a landslide of virtual scientific meetings any ISCE meeting and inevitably think that our and they are leaving, at least for me, two main lessons. First, in person diversity is our main strength. I invite you to meetings are very much needed for the advancement of science. It is no look at the former awardees of our main news that science rests in the shoulders of strong collaborations, and we scientific awards, the Silver Medal, Silverstein- tend to build better and trusted working relationships face-to-face. That Simeone and Early Career Awards. The richness coffee break after a great symposium, that game-changer piece of advice in Newsletter of the International Society of Chemical Ecology 1 front of a poster, that relaxing evening after a long meeting day, our bonds with the two regional chemical ecology societies, have all been the grounds for building synergism in science, and APACE and ALAEQ. This will hopefully increase the geographic have been the launch of countless new collaborations. We all diversity of our membership and further promote chemical want to go back to that, and we will. Having said that, a second ecology internationally. Travel and participation awards were lesson has been that another form of academic exchange is cleverly devised two years ago to promote the cross- possible. It is different, it focuses on the talks, and it seems to be participation of members of the three societies in each other’s working. Scientific meetings with a zero-carbon footprint were meetings. I would like to consolidate these new bonds and work already in the minds of some, but now they are here to stay. as closely as possible with APACE and ALAEQ officers to further Virtual meetings open a world of new opportunities to increase coordinate the work of the three societies. all forms of diversities in the speakers and attendees. They will This has not been an easy year. I look forward to working be, and already are, a more democratic platform for exchanging with you to make 2021 a great year for the ISCE! science at all career stages. We may be seeing too many of them in the upcoming months, but virtual scientific meetings will most Sincerely, certainly find a new equilibrium when this pandemic is finally Andrés González, ISCE President over, and I believe the ISCE should be part of this new paradigm. We have a superb list of ISCE meetings already appointed for the Message from the Past-President upcoming years; we all miss and treasure our annual summer meetings, but why not consider an ISCE-sponsored virtual Although time flies fast and the seminar series? Not just to get by during the pandemic, but as coronavirus spreads globally, the part of a regular yearly schedule that will certainly provide with ISCE is still making progress new opportunities for chemical ecologists from all over the despite the pandemic. With the world to show their work. It is a long shot, but one that I would help of our executive committee, like to brainstorm about during the next few months with those councilors, and all supporting of you who may be interested in this. members, the ISCE has surprisingly The ISCE is in good shape. We have a steady membership accomplished several major goals base; our funds are in good shape and well administered by our during this difficult time, such as Treasurer, Kerry Mauck; and we are lucky to count on our the establishment of the first ISCE Applied Chemical Ecology Secretary, Irena Valterová, for a new term. Our flagship journal, Award joining with our existing other three big awards the Journal of Chemical Ecology, is thriving in the competitive (Silverstein-Simeone Award, Silver Medal Award and Early world of scientific journals, thanks to the work of its Editor in Career Award). Here, I would like to express my deepest Chief, Gary Felton. Completing our Executive Committee are the appreciation to two companies that generously agreed to Past-President, Jerry (Junwei) Zhu, who has done a terrific work support and finance the new Applied Chemical Ecology Award, during the past year as President, and our new elected Vice- Apex Bait Technologies, Inc. and Pherobio Technology Co. Ltd. President, Stefano Colazza: congratulations and welcome on Congratulations to the following ISCE members: John Borden board! We also have a diverse and qualified team of Councilors was awarded the first ISCE Applied Chemical Ecology Award; keen to provide insightful input and new ideas. I look forward to Gerhard Gries received the Silver Medal Award; Paulo Zarbin work in close collaboration with the Councilors and to was presented the Silverstein-Simeone Award; Zűest Tobias won incorporate as much as possible their advice. Please, feel free to the Early Career Award. write me directly with any concern or proposal you would like us Thanks to Walter Leal, ISCE had our first ISCE presidents’ to consider! reunion virtually with a Zoom Meeting in June this year. With a Of paramount importance, we need to attract the new total of 23 attendees, former and current presidents from Brazil, generations of chemical ecologists. In the past few years, the Canada, France, Germany, Sweden and the USA all joined. A new ISCE has significantly increased the number of student and initiative was started during the discussion of virus prevention postdoc travel awards. We need to continue this trend and strategies, through which we discovered that many of our devise innovative ways to increase the visibility of our student elderly members had difficulties receiving masks for their and postdoc awardees during our meetings. With the newer personal protection. With the help of all members from the generations in mind, a team of young members and Councilors Chinese Chemical Ecologist Association (CCEA) (through led by Christelle Roberts have formed a social media group to donation, purchasing, and shipping to needed ISCE members increase the visibility of our Society in social media. In addition worldwide), the ISCE-CCEA Mask Movement successfully to our webpage kept in great form by Robert Mitchell, our new provided simple personal protection equipment (hundreds of social media accounts are already showing excellent results.

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