Tropical Botany is an intensive course of study in the biology and systematics of tropical plants. The class is largely based on the extensive holdings of tropical vascular plants at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, The Kampong of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, University of Miami’s Gifford Arboretum, and the Montgomery Botanical Center.  These gardens have the largest living collections of tropical plants in the United States.  Additionally, field trips to the Florida Everglades, the Florida Keys, and adjacent natural areas are included.  The natural vegetation of South Florida, which includes littoral and dry land habitats, mixed tropical hardwood hammocks, pinelands, and mangrove communities, introduces students to the diversity of tropical vegetation. For more information, please email tropics@fiu.edu

Plant BLOOME 2018- Applications now being accepted

In 1995, ASPB established Plant BLOOME with the goal to enhance public awareness and understanding of the essential roles of plants in all areas of life. Plant BLOOME 2018 is open to ASPB members with education and outreach projects that advance youth, student, and general public knowledge and appreciation of plant biology. These projects should strive to promote and explain varying facets of the:

• Importance of plants for the sustainable production of medicine, food, fibers, and fuels;
• Critical role plants play in sustaining functional ecosystems in changing environments;
• Latest developments in plant biotechnologies, including genetic modifications that improve the quality and disease- and stress-resistance of crops;
• Discoveries made in plants that have led to improved human health and wellbeing; and
• Range of careers related to plant biology or available to plant biologists.

A maximum award size of $50,000 can be requested for the one-year funding cycle. Projects can begin any time after recipients are notified. Applications will be accepted December 1, 2017 - April 2, 2018 (11:59 ET). Learn more and apply at http://bloome.aspb.org

4th International Brachypodium Conference on 25-28 June 2019, in Huesca, Spain. The conference will be organized by the University of Zaragoza - Huesca Campus and will be held at the Huesca Convention Centre.

This biennial meeting follows successful conferences in France in 2011, Italy in 2013, USA in 2015, and China in 2017.

Brachypodium distachyon has proven to be an outstanding model system for functional, comparative, and other studies in plant biology and crop improvement. Recently, the model has been extended to include other annual and perennial Brachypodium species opening the door to explorations of polyploid genome evolution and perenniality. We will gather to share and discuss the latest discoveries, tool and resource developments, establish Jackpot City collaborations and identify avenues for future research.

You can visit our 4th IBC 2019 web site at brachypodium2019.org to get updated information on the conference. The registration period will be open from January 2019 on.

We look forward to meeting you at Huesca and enjoying the Central Pre-Pyrenees and Pyrenees, one of the world “hotspots” of Brachypodium diversity.

In Partnership with the American Museum of Natural History and the Southwestern Research Station, we are proud to announce the 20th installment of The Bee Course.  Held in Portal, Arizona from August 20th through the 30th, the Bee Course is designed to provide biologists interested in pollinators with the tools and knowledge necessary to collect, process, and to begin to identify bee specimens.  We encourage all interested parties to apply.  For more information, including instructions on how to apply, please visit our new home at www.thebeecourse.org.  Applications are due before March 1, 2018.

It is with pleasure that the Botanical Society of America (BSA) and the Latin American Botanical Society (ALB) announce the Pan-American Scholar program associated with the XII Latin American Botanical Congress to be held in Quito, Ecuador 21-28 October 2018. Four awards will be made to participants ($1,500 each) who will be called ‘Pan-American Scholars’. Applicants eligible to apply must be members of the BSA (Two awards) or ALB (Two awards) and early career professionals and faculty members who have received their PhD within 5 years. www.clb2018.org

The Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, MO will be offering an NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates summer program in 2018. Ten students will be chosen to participate in a ten-week program involving full-time work on an independent research project, with the guidance of a staff mentor, in addition to educational seminars, discussion sessions and field trips. Available research projects deal with subjects including taxonomy, conservation biology, population genetics and speciation, ethnobotany, and crop development. Students will receive a weekly stipend as well as housing, food, transportation, and funding for research supplies. Eligible students are U.S. citizens or permanent residents who will be returning to school in the fall semester after the REU program. Students from underrepresented groups and from schools with limited research infrastructure are particularly encouraged to apply. The application deadline is February 28, 2018. Further information on the program, available mentors and projects, and how to apply can be obtained from the website: www.mobot.org/reu. If the website does not answer your questions, please email wendy.applequist@mobot.org.

XII Latin American Botanical Congress

October 21-28, 2018, Quito, Ecuador

www.clb2018.org

64^th Annual Fall Symposium

Next Generation Biology: from Species to Ecosystems

Missouri Botanical Garden

St. Louis, Missouri

October 13-14, 2017

Organizing committee: Monica Carlsen, Christy Edwards,
Peter Hoch, Iván Jiménez, and James Miller

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/plant-science/plant-science/resources/conferences-and-seminars/annual-systematics-symposium.aspx

If you are a new researcher embarking on your career, one of the best and quickest ways for you to develop your professional network is to act as a session moderator at a conference in your field. Not only does this associate your name with a topic or area, but you will also have the opportunity to connect with your peers and to meet top senior researchers in your field. For the God’s sake, play Canadian casino – Jackpot City - it really pays out, unlike online casinos from any other country. However, this is also a very public role that you may feel hesitant at first to embrace. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Eagle Hill Institute, located on the eastern coast of Maine, will host seminars and workshops focusing on natural history during Summer 2017. These workshops are in support of field biologists, researchers, field naturalists, faculty members, students, and artists with interests in the natural history sciences.

The Kampong of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, in collaboration with Florida International University, the International Center for Tropical Botany, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, and the Montgomery Botanical Center, will offer an intensive, in-residence course/workshop on the systematics of tropical plants, in Coconut Grove, Florida, from May 21 – June 18, 2017.

BSA member Jennifer Ackerfield blogs about the ongoing importance of herbaria:
"Protecting and caring for these invaluable and irreplaceable resources must be at the forefront for universities, botanic gardens, and museums. Because only time will tell what herbarium specimens will be used for in the future, as permanent records of the past."
https://alienplantation.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/guest-post-botany-is-not-dead-but-this-plant-is/

THE 13^th ANNUAL SOUTHEASTERN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY IN TALLAHASSEE, FL MARCH 11–13, 2016.

Here’s your chance to learn about everything from butterflies to birds, crickets to katydids!  This is the 10th year of Academy BioBlitz events and the first of its kind held in outside of an urban park, offering a larger array of species to explore. Join teams of scientists and skilled naturalists during the Academy of Science – St. Louis BioBlitz at the Shaw Nature Reserve, Sept. 18 & 19. The event is free of charge and open to the public.  All ages are welcome.

This workshop will bring together a mix of land managers, conservation and restoration practitioners, researchers, and non-governmental organizations who share the goal of conserving tree species.  In addition, to foster collaboration and networking, time has been built into the agenda and space will be available for affiliated groups/chapters to hold meetings and/or promote their work. http://www.fs.fed.us/about-agency/gene-conservation-workshop

US Forest Service International Programs Seminar Series presents: Green Value– An innovative tool for evaluating and strengthening the financial viability of community forest enterprises

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/ecological-sciences/man-and-biosphere-programme/events-2014/botanists-of-the-21-century

The Distributed European School of Taxonomy (DEST, http://www.taxonomytraining.eu), originally funded by the EC in the framework of the EDIT project, has launched two types of training courses at various European research facilities and universities.

Proposals for Sabbaticals and for collaborative working groups (Working Groups and Catalysis Meetings) are now being accepted at The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent). We are looking to support innovative approaches to outstanding problems in evolutionary biology.

New training providers are most welcome to participate in training delivery within the Distributed European School of Taxonomy.

The Botanical Society of Nigeria invites you to her 2015 International Conference to be held at the University of Lagos, Lagos Nigeria.

For sponsorship and adverts, please contact boson@unilag.edu.ng or oogundipe@unilag.edu.ng. Abstract submission information will be out soon.

This NSF-funded International Research Experience for Students (IRES) will provide US graduate students with opportunities to gain international research experience at the Station Biologique de Roscoff  (SBR) in France, a research and training center in marine biology, oceanography, and marine genomics operated by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie.

New England Wild Flower Society announces Go Botany, a suite of new on-line tools for anyone interested in plants. Use Go Botany in the field or on your desktop computer to identify and learn about thousands of native and naturalized plant species of New England.