American Society of Naturalists

A membership society whose goal is to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as to enhance the conceptual unification of the biological sciences.

Current Committees of the ASN

Posted on by ASN

GOVERNANCE COMMITTEES

Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee is charged with finding candidates for upcoming vacancies on the executive council. The members serve three year terms.
Maria Orive (chair), Megan Frederickson, Nate Morehouse

Financial Committee
This is a 5-person committee consisting of the past and current presidents and past and current treasurers with the financial advisor.
Rebecca Fuller, Mark McPeek, Michael Whitlock, Sharon Strauss with Elizabeth Etges (Financial Advisor)

Graduate Student Council to the Executive Council
Kelsey Lyberger 2019-2022 (Chair), Callie Chappell 2018-2021, Katherine Eisen 2019-2022, Emma Lehmberg 2019-2022, Simon Tye 2019-2022

AWARDS COMMITTEES

ASN Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Conceptual Unification of the Biological Sciences
The committee of three members, each serving three years, selects the award winner. The list of possible awardees is developed in several ways, including nominations.
Michael Antolin (Chair), Ellen Ketterson

ASN Distinguished Naturalist Award
The committee of three members, each serving three years, selects the award winner. The list of possible awardees is developed in several ways, including nominations.
Joseph Travis (Chair), Daniel Simberloff, Ingrid Parker

ASN Early Career Investigator Award
The committee of three to four members, each serving three years, selects  four award winners from among the applications.
Robin Hopkins (Chair), Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos

Student Research Award
The committee of three faculty-level researchers and three members of the Graduate Student Council selects the award winners from among the applications.
Anna Hargreaves (Chair), Alice Winn, Emma Lehmberg (student member), Simon Tye (student member), Kelsey Lyberger (student member)

American Naturalist Student Paper Award
The committee consists of the deciding editors who have worked on the papers in that calendar year.
Daniel Bolnick, Jennifer Lau, Erol Akçay

Outstanding Student Poster Award Committee
All ASN student members presenting posters at the annual meeting or the stand-alone meeting are scheduled for a single session. A request for volunteers to judge the posters is made at registration for the meeting or soon after.
Diana Pilson (Organizer)

OUTREACH COMMITTEES

Diversity Committee
The Diversity Committee promotes diversity and inclusiveness in the society and in the fields of evolution, ecology, and behavior. It also seeks to foster the careers of developing scientists.
Nancy Chen (chair), Andreas Chavez, Kate Eisen (student member & vice chair), Vince Formica, Austin Garner, Lily Khadempour, Ravi Ranjan, María Rebolleda-Gómez
See the Diversity Committee page: https://www.amnat.org/about/governance/Diversity.html

Public Policy Committee
The Public Policy Committee monitors changes to policies and laws that impact the scientific research and/or professional lives of ASN members. It coordinates with the Public Policy Committee of the joint societies and AIBS initiatives.
Michael Whitlock, Kathleen Donohue, Simon Tye (student member)

Regional Society/Workshop Support Committee
The Regional Society/Workshop Support committee provides grants of support to regional meetings and/or workshops that broadly support the conceptual goals of the society. The support is given to the organizers, and the funds should be used to enhance the learning and participation of ASN student members. The committee consists of three members, each serving a 3-year term chaired by the committee member in his/her last year, plus one student member of the Graduate Council.
James Thomson (Co-Chair), Roberto Nespolo (Co-Chair), Richard Gomulkiewicz, Risa Sargent, Michael Whitlock, Emma Lehmberg (student member), Kelsey Lyberger (student member), Simon Tye (student member)

Symposium Committee
The Symposium Committee chooses the topics for the one half-day symposium at the ASN's annual meeting held jointly with SSE and SSB and the two half-day symposia at the ASN stand-alone meetings. The committee consists of three members serving a three-year rotating membership, with the most senior person serving as chair in her/his third and final year.
Robert Ricklefs (Chair), Marjorie Weber, Rachel Spigler

REPRESENTATIVES

Representative to the Joint Society Meeting Committee
The representative to the Joint Society Meeting Committee works with the Evolution Meetings organizers to plan future meetings and to insure that ASN events are provided for in the schedule.
Matthew Walsh

Representative to the Joint Society Policy Committee
Kathleen Donohue

Representative to the Joint Society Code of Conduct Committee
Chris Moore

Representative to the Joint Society Code of Ethics Committee
Emilio Bruna, Kate Eisen (student member)

Representative to the Joint Society IDEA Award Committee
Ben Blackman

Representative to the Society for the Study of Evolution Education Committee
Sam Scheiner

Representative to DRYAD
The DRYAD representative facilitates communications between DRYAD, the American Naturalist team, and the ASN. The ASN is a member organization of DRYAD so the representative attends the DRYAD annual meeting, held in May each year. The representative tends to the current or past editor-in-chief.
Daniel Bolnick