September 2026 Newsletter

• SSB 2026 Preview
• Evolution 2026 Symposium and Workshops
• 2026 IDEA Awards
• Award Reviewers Needed

SSB 2026 and Evolution 2026 Reminders

SSB 2026 is filing up fast!

Louisiana State University will host the 2026 Society of Systematic Biologists breakout meeting in Baton Rouge, January 9-11 2026. Registration is capped to 200 attendees - and 120 spots are already full!

Registration is $175 professional/$75 student. The meeting will feature a Keynote Talk by Emily Graslie, acclaimed science communicator and write, artist, video host, and educational media producer.

Other special meeting events include:

Future of Natural History Collections Panel, led by Corrie Moreau

Creating Meaningful Collaborations Across Communities and Natural History Collections Panel, led by the SSB DEIC

Introduction to Phylogenetics Workshop, led by the SSB Graduate Student and Postdoc (GraSP) Committee

Open Tree of Life Workshop, led by Emily Jane McTavish and Mark Holder

Rev the Bayes and Q the Matrix (aka Discrete Character Evolution in RevBayes) Workshop, led by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson

A Primer for Phylogenetic Causal Inference Workshop, led by Orlando Schwery and Josef Uyeda

NSF Program Officer Meet and Greet, led by April Wright and Lauren Esposito

LSU Museum of Natural Science Tours, led by Nick Mason

LSU Herbarium Tours, Led by Laura Lagomarsino

Systematic Biology Editor Meet and Greet, led by Bob Thomson

A link for talk submissions will be sent to registered attendees soon, and will be first registered, first-served. Don't wait, sign up today!

Early bird registration will close on September 26th, or when the cap is reached, whichever comes first.

Evolution 2026 Symposium and Workshop Solicitations are Live!

SSB 2026 is not the only meeting your council is busily planning. The call for Symposia and Workshops for Evolution 2026 in Cleveland, OH is now live. Have you ever wanted to lead a tutorial or plan a half-day of exciting talks from up-and-coming scientists in your field? Here’s your chance! Click on the link to see instructions for pitching a special event to SSB.

2026 IDEA Award Solicitation is Live!

The ASN/SSE/SSB Inclusiveness, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) Award was created in 2019 by the American Society of Naturalists (ASN), the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE), and the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB). The IDEA Award is given to a person at any career stage who has strengthened the ecology and evolutionary biology community by promoting inclusiveness and diversity in our fields. The award can also be presented to a group. The recipient will receive a plaque at the annual meeting of ASN/SSB/SSE and a $1000 honorarium.

More information can be found on the IDEA website.

Sign Up for Reviewing!

Talk of the Evolution Meetings brings us to our marquee event, the Ernst Mayr Symposium. Please consider signing up to review Mayr submissions. The Mayr is a virtual symposium - even if you are not able to attend the meetings physically in Cleveland, you can help review!