ISCB Newsletter 8-1

Are you interested in stepping up your involvement through leadership service to the only international membership society serving the bioinformatics community all across the globe? Well, ISCB is looking for a few good leaders to serve on our international Board of Directors.

But why volunteer valuable time to an organization such as ours? Fortunately, ISCB has gained tremendously from the dedication of an ever increasing group of professionals who care deeply about advancing our science through high quality conferences, journals, education, advocacy, and information exchange. In return many of those volunteer board members have grown through the process of honing their own leadership skills and by the experience gained from operating within the group dynamics of a non-profit organization.

Different people are motivated differently, of course, but in a recent discussion among the current board, here is what one of our newest board members, Dr Tan Tin Wee of the National University of Singapore, had to say on the topic of ‘frustration vs. reward of volunteer leadership’:

Research work aside (which as our primary job we learn new things about nature all the time), I am equally curious to learn how an international organisation can grow with a rapidly growing field like Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, how it can establish solid finances that can underpin the very many activities it needs to carry out in order to drive this field to greater heights of professionalism and scientific excellence. And I am curious to learn how we can help members get the grant funding they need to continue their work from funding agencies, and how funding agencies get their money, and so on, and how ISCB can help them help our members better.

The incentive for me in ISCB is that I want to learn as much as I can. The learning experience itself is reward enough for me. Sure it takes time away from interesting research work, but viewed from this perspective of yet another learning experience, I think this is sufficient enough incentive for me.

So, if you too are interested in the enriching learning experiences highlighted by Dr Tan, and feel you have something to offer the Society through your service on the board, consider this: In 2006 the terms of seven board members will come to an end. Some may choose to run for an additional term, and not all seats are required to be filled. But the current leaders of ISCB are committed to continuing to build upon a board of directors that includes diversity of geographic representation, academic / industry affiliation, senior scientists as well as “young blood” and, of course, gender representation. Therefore, all nominees are welcome!

The qualifications to be considered as a nominee, or that you should consider when nominating others, are very straightforward:

• In order to be eligible to be a Board candidate, a person must be or become an ISCB member in good standing no later than May 13, 2005;

• All Board candidates must pledge to make every reasonable effort to attend the Board teleconferences held every other month and the annual Board of Directors meeting (normally held at the ISMB conference) at their own expense through completion of the three year Board term in January 2009.

The clock is ticking, so please login at https://www.iscb.org/login.php to submit all eligible nominations. You will need your registered email address and password/membership ID to login, and should then select the “Leadership Nomination” link from the menu options on the left of the page. If you are a member of an affiliated regional group and do not have an ISCB membership, please write to admin@iscb.org for instructions on how to submit a nomination. Nominations will be accepted through April 15, 2005, so please act now.

Board member elections will take place during the annual ISCB Board of Directors meeting in June 2005, and those elected will take office January 21, 2006 to serve three year terms.

Nominations are also being accepted for President-Elect of the Society. This person will serve for one year as President-Elect followed by two years as President and one additional year on the board of directors. Candidates must have served at least one year on the ISCB board of directors by the time they will take office. For a list of eligible candidates please visit the full call for nominations at http://www.iscb.org/nominations05.shtml and scroll down to view the list of current and past board members. Please encourage those who you feel have served the Society well to run for this top leadership position of the ISCB.

The ISCB Student Council is also accepting nominations and will be holding their first elections since forming with an inaugural leadership team last year. See the Student Council article in this newsletter for full details on the positions available and nominations/elections process.