Connecting Biodiversity Research with Curriculum – Broadening the Human Resource with Student Participation
Working Towards a Model Systematic Treatment of a Hyper-Diverse Lineage Descended from Early Land Plants (Frullaniaceae, Marchantiophyta): Circular for Meeting One
This is the first of two synergistic meetings relating to the central theme of an integrative systematic study of the liverwort genus Frullania. The project includes novel elements to help accelerate the pace of scientific discovery and reduce the taxonomic impediment. The first meeting, with the majority of participants from universities and colleges from the Chicagoland area, is focusing on education and outreach; the second meeting will include national and international collaborators focusing on research-driven goals and deliverables. Significantly, the first meeting will greatly aid in the goal of engaging students of partnering institutions to aid in capturing data; thus relieving some of the taxonomic impediment.
The following is a preliminary agenda and details about the first meeting, which is the Encyclopedia of Life Biodiversity Synthesis Center based at The Field Museum. Other sponsors include the National Science Foundation, The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Negaunee Foundation, The Field Museum, Chicago, U.S.A., and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Conveners:
• Matt von Konrat (Dept. of Botany, The Field Museum, Chicago)
• Matthew Greif (Wilbur Wright College; Dept. of Botany, The Field Museum, Chicago)
• Thomas Campbell (Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago)
Venue: Biodiversity Synthesis Center, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL, USA
Dates: Wednesday August 29, Thursday August 30, 2012
Time: 8.30am-5.00pm
Contacts: Anything relating to the content and subject matter of the meeting, or general questions, please contact Matt von Konrat <mvonkonrat@fieldmuseum.org>
Anything relating to logistics, such as parking, accommodation etc. please contact either Audrey Aronowsky <aaronowsky@fieldmuseum.org>, or Sarah Kim <skim@fieldmuseum.org>
We give special thanks to Audrey, Beth and Sarah for all their efforts with logistics and organization
Participants:
• Laura Briscoe (The Field Museum, Chicago)
• Michael Bryson (Roosevelt University, Chicago)
• Thomas Campbell (Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago)
• Norbert Cordeiro (The Field Museum, Chicago)
• Beth Crownover (The Field Museum, Chicago)
• Michael Davis (Harold Washington College, Chicago)
• Doris Espiritu (Wilbur Wright College, Chicago)
• Leonard Etlinger (Malcolm X College, Chicago)
• Matthew Greif (Wilbur Wright College; Dept. of Botany, The Field Museum, Chicago)
• Joseph Hibdon Jr. (Northestern Illinois University)
• Jeff Janulis (Malcolm X College, Chicago)
• John Kasmer (Northestern Illinois University)
• Juan Larraín (The Field Museum, Chicago)
• Leilah Lyons (University of Illinois, Chicago)
• Austin Mast (Florida State University, Florida)
• Lisa Murata (Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago)
• Tom Moher (University of Illinois, Chicago)
• Greg Mueller (Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago)
• Kara Nuss (Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago)
• Blanka Shaw (Duke University, North Carolina)
• Tia Shelley (University of Illinois, Chicago)
• Arfon Smith (The Adler Planetarium, Chicago)
• Oana Vadineanu (Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago)
• Matt von Konrat (The Field Museum, Chicago)
• Norm Wickett (Chicago Botanic Garden; Northwestern University, Chicago)
• Nyree Zerega (Chicago Botanic Garden; Northwestern University, Chicago)
Synopsis of meeting (preliminary):
Day 1, Wednesday, August 29
• Introductions
• Individual/group brief presentations
• Round-the-table discussion
Day 2, Thursday, August 30
• White Paper
• Specialist groups break-away session
• Specialist groups reporting/Group discussion
Detailed Agenda:
Day 1, Wednesday August 29
8.30AM Breakfast
9.00–9.30 Introductions
• Encyclopedia of Life (EoL) to open with a few business matters
• Brief welcome by von Konrat and an overview of the two days
• Brief round-the-table introductions
Individual/group presentations
9.30–10.00
• Matt on Konrat (Field Museum)
o Brief background to early land plants; overview of project; introduction to original concept and pilot studies conducted.
10.00–10.30
• Matt Greif (Wilbur Wright College/Field Museum)
o Matt Greif is an instructor at Wilbur Wright. Matt will provide an overview of his experiences and offer his perspectives of the pilot study conducted in his course.
10.30–10.45 Coffee/tea break
10.45–11.15
• Thomas Campbell (Northeastern Illinois University)
o Thomas Campbell is an instructor at Northeastern Illinois University. Tom will provide an overview of his experiences and offer his perspectives of the pilot study conducted in his course.
11.15–11.45
• Arfon Smith (Adler Planetarium)
o Arfon Smith is the technical lead of zooniverse.
o Arfon will provide an overview of zooniverse.org. The Zooniverse is home to the internet's largest, most popular and most successful citizen science projects.
o See www.zooniverse.org
11.45–12.15
• Austin Mast
o Austin Mast is the lead member of the iDiGBio Public Participation in Digitization Working Group.
o Austin will be sharing his perspectives on citizen science and some background of the iDigBio project, especially as it relates to public participation in digitization.
o See https://www.idigbio.org/about for more about the NSF funded iDiGBio project.
12.15–1.15PM Lunch
1.15–1.45
• Oana Vadineanu and Lisa Murata (Northeastern Illinois University)
o Oana and Lisa are undergraduate students at NEIU. They will provide a students perspective on the project, their own experiences, and an overview of students evaluation of the project.
1.45–3.00
• Round-the-table discussion, led by von Konrat, Grief, and Campbell
3.00–3.15 Coffee
3.15–5.00
• Introduce following days session with break-away groups
• Outline & discuss objectives for white paper for possible publication
Day 2, Thursday August 30
8.30AM Breakfast
9.00–9.30
Brief synopsis of previous day (providing some background to those who could not be present previous day)
• Specialist break-away groups
9.30–9.45
• Leilah Lyons (University of Illinois, Chicago)
o Leilah Lyons is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Learning Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago as well as Director of Digital Learning at the New York Hall of Science.
9.45–10.00
• Introduction to break-away groups
10.00–10.30
• Specialist break-away groups
o Research
o Technology
o Graduate participation
o Curriculum, science serive and application to classroom
10.30–10.45 Coffee/tea break
10.45–12.00
• Specialist break-away groups
o Research
o Technology
o Graduate participation
o Curriculum, science serive and application to classroom
12.00–1.00PM Lunch
1.00–2.00PM
• Reporting/discussion by specialist break-away groups
2.0–3.00
• Roundtable
o Problems and pitfalls
o Open discussion
o Funding
3.00–3.15 Coffee/tea break
3.15–4.00
• Towards a White paper
4.00–5.00
• Recap, Review, Regroup