Date

April 13–14, 2012

Location

Koffler Inst Pharmacy Mgmt (KP) 108 (569 Spadina Ave., St. George Campus)

The Atwood Colloquium is our department’s major event of the academic year and we would like to have maximum participation. This special two-day event provides the opportunity for our students, postdocs, and faculty to showcase their own work and learn about other work in our department. Biologists from all three UofT campuses as well as the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) participate in this event. In addition to our own biologists, three guest speakers are invited each year. A major highlight of the Colloquium is the Atwood Lecture, which is given by an outstanding senior scientist who is selected by the graduate students. Two rising stars, one ecologist and one evolutionary biologist, are also invited to participate. The Colloquium provides a fantastic opportunity to learn about the most exciting research in ecology and evolution being done at UofT and abroad. At the various social events surrounding the seminars, students, postdocs, faculty, and guests interact, learn, and generally have a good time!

We are pleased to announce this year’s three invited guests:

Rising Star In Ecology: Dr Stefano Allesina, University of Chicago

Stefano is a theoretical ecologist who works on food web structure and an number of related phenomena.

website: http://allesinalab.uchicago.edu/

Rising Star in Evolution: Dr Andrea Sweigart, University of Georgia

Andrea is an evolutionary geneticist who works on understanding the genetic factors causing reproductive isolation in monkeyflowers.

website: www.genetics.uga.edu/sweigartlab/Andrea/Welcome.htm l

Atwood Lecturer: Dr Naomi Pierce, Harvard University

This year, the graduate students have selected Naomi Pierce as this year’s Atwood lecturer. Naomi is an eminent evolutionary ecologist who was worked on a wide set of questions in a wide diversity of taxa. She is best known for her work on species interactions.

website: www.oeb.harvard.edu/faculty/pierce/people/pierce/pierce.shtml