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The
American Fisheries Society
Genetics
Section
Newsletter
Volume
22,
Issue 4
November
2009
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In This Issue:
President’s Message •
Coastwide Salmnoid Meeting •
SNP Workshop •
Wild Trout X •
PhD Assistantship •
2009 Annual Meeting Minutes •
Newsletter
Submission •
Calendar
President’s
Message
Dear
Genetics Section Members,
I wanted
to use this issue to share my thoughts about the current demographic
status of Genetics Section membership, and how we might work to
increase participation by young genetics professionals in Section
activities. Before the past AFS meeting, Section member Eric
Hallerman, Student Sub-Section
President Kristal Schneider and I met to discuss opportunities to
better engage students
in allied genetics discipline. Discussions continued at the
Section
Business meeting. Briefly, I would like to share information
about Section Membership and
about discussions that took place at the meeting.
The Section has historically hovered
around ~ 200 dues-paying members. The numbers for our Section
membership are considerably lower than other
sections and higher than others. I don't have the statistics for other
Sections regarding proportional representation of students to regular
members.
The demographic composition of the Genetics Section is aging. Currently
15%
of the Section is composed of Students. 2% of the Section are
registered as
"Young Professionals" (YP). This AFS (YP) designation for recent
graduates is
relatively new and likely doesn't include some members who transitioned
directly from Student to
Regular membership. However, the numbers suggest that comparatively
few Section members are students and fewer still remain affiliated with
the Section
following graduation.
There are a couple of other pieces of
information worth considering:
1. The vast
majority of regular members
are not associated with academic institutions.
Most are with agencies or in the private sector. This fact
begs several questions.
(a) Why
aren't more university faculty working with fish and in allied
genetics areas not associated with AFS and the Genetics Section?
(b) For those faculty who are, why aren't
their students AFS Genetics Section
members?
(c) How do we attract students if faculty
are not themselves a
member?
2. The vast
majority of members are involved with what would be pigeon-holed as
"applied population genetics". The field of genetics is
extremely diverse. Emerging and mature
sub-disciplines including genomics, quantitative
genetics, physiology, immunology, disease, etc utilize genetics in some
way. However, our Section fails to attract members
with these diverse
professional backgrounds, even though fishes are the creatures they
study. Perhaps there are
fewer students in general entering the field in the principle focus
area(s) represented
by regular members and their academic mentors. Perhaps the demographic
trends in membership speak to general levels of Section activities at
other
meetings and professional events outside the annual AFS
meeting?
3.
Historically, the Genetics Section has engaged in few activities outside the AFS annual
meeting. Activities focusing on students
include:
(a)
awards of travel grants in the form of annual Wright Award
competition to recognize top students presenting at AFS meetings
(b) sponsorship of Section symposia that
are populated in part
by student presentations
Below is a summary of ideas
for enhancing student membership in the Genetics
Section that were discussed at the Annual Meeting.
(a) Have students prepare an article for publication in
Fisheries in the "Student
Angle" section of an upcoming issue that outlines their perspective on
values of Genetics Section membership to their professional
development.
(b) Offer a year of free membership in the Section that would
be paid for by the
Genetics Section.
(c) Directly contact fisheries university faculty and other practicing
professionals who are not Genetics Section members to encourage
participation by
themselves and their students.
(d) Contact participants of AFS meetings presenting talks in
the area of genetics that are not AFS members.
(e) Utilize Student Sub-Section and use Student Sub-Section
list server and Student list server to better communicate with students
including
graduate student positions, employment, Genetics Section activities,
etc.
(f) Offer students greater participatory role in Genetics Section
governance, including but not restricted to participation on the
Section Executive
Committee.
(g) Expand Genetics Section involvement in activities outside
the AFS annual meeting that would include students.
(h) Increase Section member participation in Student
Mentoring and attend Student Events at the AFS
meeting.
These and
other suggestions were discussed at the Section Business meeting and a
number of action items were developed. First, we‘ve asked the 2009
co-recipients of the Wright Student Award, Yen Duong and Jamie Roberts
to prepare the
articles for Fisheries. Section representatives attended the
Student
Colloquium at this year‘s meeting and a communication regarding
Genetics Section activities was
posted on the Student Subsection listserver. Second, members in
attendance at the
Business Meeting voted to grant a 1 year free membership to the
Section. This is not a revenue-neutral action but one which
we hope will increase
participation. Third, we have and will continue to contact
senior members and professional
fisheries
geneticists not currently Section members to initiate or renew
memberships. Fourth, our Section has reached out to other
Sections, particularly the Fish
Culture Section to jointly sponsor symposia that include presentations
from members of
both Sections. An example is a symposium entitled "Cultured
Aquatic Animals: Use and
Implications for Stock Enhancement, Fisheries Management, and Species
Diversity",
will be held at the AQUACULTURE 2010 conference in San Diego,
California March 1-5,
2010. AQUACULTURE is the Triennial meeting of the Fish Culture Section
of the
American Fisheries Society, the National Shellfisheries Association,
and the
World Aquaculture Society. Greater engagement of
these and other
groups provides opportunities to educate professionals of genetics
issues that affect the sustainability
of our fisheries. Importantly, initiatives such as joint symposia
sponsorship also
addresses Section goals of increasing visibility across AFS Sections,
and enhancing
communication and collaborations with members of other Sections. We
would encourage
Genetics Section
members to sponsor symposia at other professional meetings. As an
example, our section is providing financial resources for a student to
participate
in this year‘s
Coastwide
Salmonid Genetics Meeting to be held in Boise,
ID on June 9-11. Fifth, Section members attending the
Business Meeting approved a motion
to add a student representative as an ‗ad hoc‘ Committee member on a
trial basis
with the potential to change Section Bylaws to formalize this
commitment after
review and vote by Section membership. An announcement via
our new list
serve requesting applications for this student position will
forthcoming in
the near future. Other suggestions are welcome.
Hopefully these initiatives will
bear fruit in the coming year.
Sincerely,
Kim
Scribner
AFS Genetics
Section President
The
American Fisheries Society Genetics Section
November 2009 Newsletter
Volume
22, Issue 4
In This Issue:
President’s Message •
Coastwide Salmnoid Meeting •
SNP Workshop •
Wild Trout X •
PhD Assistantship •
2009 Annual Meeting Minutes •
Newsletter
Submission •
Calendar
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