Atwood Colloquium in Ecology & Evolution

Mark your calendars & plan to attend the

8th Annual Atwood Colloquium
Friday April 12 & Saturday April 13, 2013

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 Julia Baum,
University of Victoria

Julia Baum (U Victoria) studies how human activities alter marine ecosystems. She focuses on top predators (sharks) how they are affected by human activities and how shark populations influence the structure and diversity of marine communities. Her work bridges basic ecological problems, applied fisheries, and conservation.

website:
http://baumlab.weebly.com/

Rising Star in Evolution: Dr Alexei Maklakov,
Uppsala University

Alexei Maklakov (Uppsala Univ) studies life history evolution and sexual selection, using a variety of empirical systems (fruit flies, guppies, seed beetles, nematodes) to examine competing theories. This work combines principles of evolutionary ecology with evolutionary genetics.

website:
http://www.ebc.uu.se/Research/IEG/zooeko/People/Alexei_Maklakov/

Atwood Lecturer: Dr Johanna Schmitt, NAS,
University of California, Davis

For this year's Atwood Lecture, the graduate students have selected, Prof. Johanna Schmitt, NAS.
Johanna Schmitt (UC Davis) is a plant evolutionary ecologist and quantitative geneticist whose recent work has focused on global change and life history adaptation to climate. Her work integrates molecular biology tools and techniques with large-scale field- and lab-based experiments, all viewed from an evolutionary lens. Dr. Schmitt is widely regarded to be an excellent speaker who also enjoys talking to students about their work. She is genuinely interested in all areas of biology -- conversations with her about research will often yield many new ideas from multiple angles, bringing a bigger perspective into focus.

website:
http://biosci3.ucdavis.edu/FacultyAndResearch/FacultyProfile.aspx?FacultyID=14448