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Greetings from Central New York where the autumn foliage reminds us of the winter that lies ahead. As we hit mid-semester in stride and settle into our routines, I encourage you all to think spring and our annual meeting. The 27th Annual ESATYCB Conference will be hosted by Tompkins-Cortland Community College at our Nancy Lieberman Extension Center in downtown Ithaca on April 18-20, 2008. I have chosen "Inquiry-based Laboratory and Undergraduate Research (at 2 yr colleges)" for the theme of this conference.
The rationale for this theme lies in the fact we serve as intermediaries between science taught at the high school level and science engaged at major universities. Aside from preparing our transfer students academically for the rigors of their junior and senior year, we should also prepare them intellectually to critically navigate through the Scientific Method for their future careers in research and industry.
Technical advancements have crossed disciplinary lines from A&P to Zoology. We are all keenly aware of the social, ethical, and entrepreneurial issues that are rooted in our scientific endeavors. We, as a diverse community of biologists trying to understand the natural worlds and our role in them, must interpret and communicate these findings with those less knowledgeable. Are we training our students for the challenges they will face during the 21st century?
As biologists our goal is to engage our students in the pursuit of scientific knowledge. To borrow from Albert Szent-Gyorgy. "Research is to see what everyone else has seen, and think what no one else has thought." How better to instill in our students curiosity, imagination, and innovation than to let them "experiment" during lab.
I encourage you to attend this conference, and work with your colleagues sharing, designing, and planning inquiry-based laboratories. The goal is to develop an alternative approach to the cookbook science lab, while still demonstrating the basic tenets of essential concepts. The objective is to put the "lay" back with "bore" of laboratory, implying the student's become more engaged in the planning, experimentation, and analysis of their data.
Several of my colleagues from across the State will help us in these pursuits and I welcome those with a working model in place to contact me. The capstone event Sunday will be a workshop hosted by Daniel Udovic from the National Science Foundation (NSF). He will discuss with the group NSF initiatives and then direct a grant writing workshop.
In closing, how will we respond if they find life on Europa,
President-elect ESATYCB
A block of 40 rooms have been held through March 18 at the Holiday Inn for the nights of Friday, April 18 and Saturday, April 19. The hotel is located next to The Commons in downtown Ithaca where the Tompkins-Cortland Community College Nancy Lieberman Extension Center is located. http://www.tc3.edu/about_tc3/directions.asp
Conference quests will need to call the hotel directly to make reservations and state they are part of the ESATYCB conference (group code ESA11344)
Holiday Inn-Ithaca Downtown
222 South Cayuga Street
Ithaca, New York 14850
607-272-1000
www.hiithaca.com
Students involved in biological research are invited to share their work during the poster sessions on Saturday, April 19 during the lunch and dinner hours. The registration fee for the conference will be waived for students selected to participate. Interested students should send an abstract to:
Tompkins Cortland Community College
Biology Department
Attn: ESATYCB Poster Abstracts
170 North Street, P.O. Box 139
Dryden, NY 14053
If e-mailing, please indicate "ESATYCB Poster Abstracts" as the subject line. Poster abstracts must be typed (Arial 12 font), limited to 250 words maximum, and include title, author, faculty mentor, and school affiliation.
Faculty and Chairs eager to begin an awards ceremony for our best poster presentations please contact JRJ@TC3.edu for more details.
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