From Plant Press, Vol. 4, No. 1 from January 2001.
Edward O. Wilson, the renowned entomologist, conservationist, and provocative science writer at Harvard University, has accepted our invitation to present the keynote lecture at the first annual Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, 30‑31 March 2001. The symposium, “Linnaean Classification in the 21st Century,” will focus on the relevance of the Linnaean system of binomials and hierarchical ranks to contemporary phylogenetic classification, monographic and floristic treatments, and biodiversity conservation. Dr. Wilson's address is entitled "The Future of Life" and is the subject of his next book.
In addition to the keynote address, the two‑day event that will include six symposium presentations, a student poster session, reception, a symposium dinner, and an exhibit featuring historical botanical texts, including some original Linnaean materials from Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. Symposium speakers include Dr. Paul Berry (University of Wisconsin), Dr. Richard K. Brummitt (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), Dr. Jim Carpenter (American Museum of Natural History), Dr. Paul Kenrick (The Natural History Museum, London), Dr. Dan Nicolson (Smithsonian Institution), and Dr. Peter F. Stevens (Missouri Botanical Gardens).
The symposium will be held at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. On Friday 30 March we will host an opening reception and poster session at 7:30 p.m. “around the elephant” in the Museum’s Rotunda. On Saturday 31 March, the symposium will be held in Baird Auditorium at NMNH between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., with lunch and poster viewing between 12 and 2 p.m. A mixer will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the symposium dinner beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Rotunda, followed by the keynote address at 8 p.m. again in Baird Auditorium. We hope that the systematics community can join us for all of these events.
In order to engage students in Symposium activities and to provide them with the opportunity to meet the large group of systematists who will be attending, a student poster session is being organized that will run concurrent to the presentations and be featured during the reception, breaks and lunch. Graduate students and post-docs are encouraged to register for the meeting and participate in the poster session. They can indicate their interest in presenting a poster on the web-page registration form.
A nominal registration fee of $50 ($40 students and postdoctoral fellows) will cover the cost of the receptions, a box lunch on Saturday and the symposium dinner on Saturday evening. Through our on‑line registration at http://persoon.si.edu/sbs/ you can arrange lodging at our official hotel the Hyatt Arlington located just across the Potomac River in Rosslyn, Virginia.
For more information and on‑line registration (through 1 March) see http://persoon.si.edu/sbs/. Students can submit poster abstracts on‑line through the site until 15 February (note revised date). We look forward to seeing everyone at the symposium!
The Symposium is being hosted by the Department and is sponsored by the Cuatrecasas Family Foundation, Richard and Priscilla Hunt, the Roy A. Hunt Foundation, the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, the United States Botanic Garden, and the International Association for Plant Taxonomy.
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