{ C O N T E N T S }
Volume 8, Issue 3
President's
Letter
Rost To Become
Next ISCB President
Rocky'05 Bioinformatics
Conference Colorado
in December
Update on
PLoS Computational Biology
Putting Students
in the Spotlight
Call for 2006
Awards Nominations
ISMB 2006 in Brazil
New ISCB Membership
Site
Now Open
ISMB 2006
Call for Tutorials
RECOMB 2006 Registration Opening This Week
ISMB 2005 SIGs Recap
Israeli Bioinformatics Symposium
2005
A Prelude to ECCB’06
Advertising & Corporate Membership
Opportunities
Post Your News, Events
and Degree Programs
on ISCB Website
Upcoming Events
& Conferences
News from the Field
Acknowledgements
and Contributors
ACCESS NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES
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THE PDF
Copyright
© 2005 International Society for Computational Biology.
All rights reserved.
| President's
Letter
Dear
Members:
I am happy to report that the ISMB meeting in Detroit was an outstanding
success. I thank David States, Brian Athey, and the rest of the
organizers for their efforts – everything went smoothly and
the quality of the presentations and posters was excellent. Apparently
some of our members thought that Detroit might not be a pleasant
site for a meeting – I am happy to say that they were wrong
– the Renaissance Center proved to be a great venue and close
to a nice selection of restaurants. The total number of attendees
was 1754 – this is very good although somewhat lower than
as some meetings in the past (Edmonton ‘02; Glasgow ‘04),
but still quite respectable. The financial figures are now in, and
ISMB 2005 has contributed approximately $180,000 to the ISCB operating
budget. As the principle revenue source for the Society, this will
enable the office and elected leaders to continue to provide services
and benefits to our members worldwide. As you know, the ISMB 2006
will be held in Fortaleza, Brazil, and will be held in conjunction
with a conference celebrating the Swiss-Prot 20th anniversary. Please
begin making your plans now so that you can attend – it will
be a once in a lifetime experience.
The election for the next ISCB president has now
been completed and the votes tallied. We had four strong and qualified
candidates Barbara Bryant, Shoba Ranganathan, David Rocke, and Burkhard
Rost. Each and every one of these candidates has contributed enormously
to ISCB, and I would have been happy to see any one of them elected.
The election was very close, with Burkhard winning by a hair (complete
results elsewhere in this issue). I congratulate all four candidates
on their willingness to take up a significant burden for little
reward; I hope that the unsuccessful candidates will continue to
work to help ISCB prosper and grow. Burkhard will now serve for
one year as president-elect and take over as president in January
2007 (I can hardly wait).
Many changes were made at the board meeting this
year including changes to many of the committee chairs. This new
blood will reinvigorate our committees – now is a good time
to step forward if you would like to join in serving on one of the
standing committees: Conferences, Education, Finance, Governance,
Publications, Public Affairs and Policies, or Affiliates and SIGs.
Please send email to the ISCB office (admin@iscb.org)
or to the chair of any committee that interests you (see the committees’
web page at www.iscb.org/committees).
In the near future I hope to be able to report
significant changes in the way ISCB relates to affiliated societies,
SIGs, and other organized group. Among the possibilities being considered
are simplified processes for the formation of SIGs, formation of
local ISCB chapters, and methods by which members of national society
could easily and affordably become full ISCB members.
Finally, let me close with an exhortation.
I believe that ISCB is a place where scientists whose work crosses
the line dividing computation and biology can meet and exchange
ideas. I hope that you will join me in asking your colleagues whether
they are members, and in encouraging them to join. While our current
membership is about 1850, it could be much higher – and with
greater membership our ability to achieve our goals in education,
public policy, conferences, workshops, outreach and other areas
will improve. Our new membership registration site has just opened,
with memberships now good for 12 months rather than tied to the
calendar year as was previously the case. So, join or renew now
and promote the same to your colleagues and peers. Further, I encourage
you to speak up, loudly and often, if you do not feel that ISCB
is going in the direction you want it to. We are striving for excellence
in all areas.
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