Biophysical Society Newsletter - September 2015

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BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

2015

SEPTEMBER

How the Scientific Programming was Developed The 60 th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Soci- ety will soon be upon us, and the Program Com- mittee has been hard at work since fall of 2014 to assemble the topics and speakers to represent some of the most exciting areas of Biophysics. To understand how the scientific meeting sessions are developed and programmed, we asked the 2016 Co-chairs, Michael Ostap (University of Penn- sylvania) and Vasanthi Jayaraman (University of Texas) questions about what goes on behind-the- scenes. Who is in charge of assembling the scien- tific program for the Annual Meeting? The Program Committee develops the scientific program for the Annual Meeting. Their job is to assemble a diverse program that represents the scientific interests and expertise of the Society, while trying to identify emerging areas that are of interest to our members. Given the breadth of biophysics research and how biophysics continu- ously grows and evolves, the Program Committee faces a daunting task each year! Who is on the Program Committee and how are its members selected? The Committee is co-chaired by two Biophysi- cal Society members selected by the incoming President two years in advance of the meeting they will chair. To learn the ropes, these indi- viduals serve as members of the Program Com- mittee for the Annual Meeting that precedes their chairmanship. The Program Committee consists of three members of the Biophysical Society Council elected on a rotating basis to serve one three-year term, co-chairs from the preceding

year, and additional Biophysical Society Members recruited by co-chairs to fill-in missing expertise. This structure ensures a conservation of expertise over a three-year span while providing a yearly turnover of the members. The Committee for the 60 th Annual Meeting includes, Michael Ostap (co-chair), Vasanthi Jayaraman (co-chair), Olga Boudker , Enrique De La Cruz , Karen Fleming , Sa- mantha Harris , Antoine Van Oijen , David Piston , Cathy Royer , David Rueda , and Claudia Veigel . How are the topics for the symposia and workshops selected? Many of the Symposia and Workshop topics are proposed by the Biophysical Society membership. In August of every year, the Society sends a “Call for Topics” email to current and past members asking for proposed research topics and appropri- ate speakers. We received 58 proposals from members for the 2016 meeting, and seven of the 2016 Symposia and Workshops grew from these suggestions. As a general guideline, 70-80% of the Symposia are directly related to the research interests of the members as determined from the number of abstract submissions in past years. The remaining 20-30% represents emerging top- ics or areas to attract new constituencies. These areas are determined by discussions among the Committee Members and from ideas provided by the Society Council. Care is given to select topics that showcase new developments and that have not recently been presented at the Meeting or in recent BPS thematic meetings. How are the symposia and workshop speakers selected? Speakers are selected by the Program Commit- tee. First and foremost, the Committee selects outstanding scientists who are leaders in their research area. Every effort is taken to ensure that the speakers reflect diversity in terms of gender, geography, ethnicity, and institution. To pro- mote additional diversity, Symposia and Work-

Michael Ostap

Vasanthi Jayaraman