A LETTER TO ISCB MEMBERS & COLLEAGUES
2012 was a year of milestones for the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB), the field of computational biology, and the Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) conference. We celebrated the 20 year anniversary of our successful, world-premier conference; bringing together the brightest minds in the field and encouraging future researchers. ISCB also had its 15th anniversary as a professional society. During this time, we achieved our mission to build a strong, global community of researchers dedicated to computational biology and to communicate how important our field is in today's research. It is with regret that we also said goodbye to our former executive officer, BJ Morrison McKay. BJ served as executive officer of ISCB for 10 years. Her skill and tact guided the organization through some challenging times and helped it flourish into the successful society it is today. I, for one, am grateful for all of her efforts and wish her the best in all her future endeavors. The celebration has created a wonderful benchmark and we now look forward to the next 20 years and beyond. It is with pleasure and excitement that I take the reigns from BJ and, with the help of the amazing volunteer leadership and our members, lead ISCB into the next phase of its existence. While the road ahead may not be easy, our society continues to have a relevant voice in a fast-changing scientific landscape. We continue to see the economy slowly recover, aiding in our endeavors. However, historic lows in scientific funding and grant paylines also plague us. This reduced funding not only hurts scientific research but challenges our community by forcing the investigator to make some very tough decisions. One of these may be limiting the number of conferences you attend, or the number of students you can send. As this limits your opportunities to network, learn, and collaborate, as your society administration, we in the ISCB office are doing everything possible to make the conferences as affordable and valuable as we can for all participants. ISCB recognizes the increasing challenges to our members and continues to look for ways to enhance your member benefits and provide support as you individually maneuver the potentially trying times ahead. This issue of the ISCB newsletter will highlight some of our programs and new initiatives such as the ISCB Society Pages. We will meet our incoming Class of Fellows, the recipients of the Senior Scientist Achievement Award and Overton Prize Award, and learn about their research. FASEB explains how they are working to give us as influential a voice on Capitol Hill as possible and highlights a new issue, how to deal with Big Data. Another article explores more deeply our Affiliated Groups program, which enables ISCB to partner with other computational biology societies from around the world. The newsletter also focuses on some of the upcoming sessions at ISMB/ECCB -- the Student Council Symposium and Junior Principal Investigators Symposium. PLOS Computational Biology and Bioinformatics have provided their annual report to ISCB for your perusal. As a special feature to the newsletter, we have a professional development corner that addresses the use of CVs and resumes. Throughout the remainder of the year and into 2014, I will be working with several member-appointed committees to take a deeper look at what ISCB has to offer and what else can be done for you -- our members. We value your membership and dedication to the society and recognize that the more of us there are, the better we can collaborate and exchange information about science, funding, and the future. We will work together to build a stronger ISCB but your opinions will be extremely important. I will be reaching out to you to get your feedback and assessment on the efficacy of ISCB activities and programs. Your participation in surveys and solicitations will help us achieve our goals, provide you with new programs, and evaluate our current programs. I also want to remind you of your responsibilities as members. Please participate in the election that is now taking place. Take a few moments to review the candidate statements and submit your vote. No matter who you are, trainee, established investigator, mid-career scientist, etc.- if you are a member, we as a society want your vote. Each Spring, ISCB collects nominations for Board of Directors, Officer positions, and Student Council leadership positions. Participate by submitting your nominations for these leadership positions. These are the individuals who give their precious time to guide our Society to new levels. Think about the exceptional mentors, committed ISCB volunteers, and dedicated scientists that have transformed computational biology research and submit their names to our distinguished Fellows program. Each member has a voice and I strongly encourage you to use that voice. I look forward to meeting many of you here at ISMB/ECCB and future conferences. I also welcome your feedback and suggestions. Please feel free to reach out to me at executive.office@iscb.org. Enjoy this issue of the ISCB newsletter and ISMB/ECCB! Sincerely, Diane E. Kovats, CMP Executive Director  |
