2022 Special Event Awards

2022 Special Event Awards Outcome

The AGA grants awards each year to members to support special events that further the purposes of the Association, particularly to encourage student participation. Eligible events include specialized workshops, short courses in some aspect of organismal genetics, and meetings in areas of great current interest, but any event that would advance the purpose of the Association is eligible for support.

Yucca filamentosa (Agavaceae) and yucca moth. Photo by Robert Klips, courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library. http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org

The AGA Council is pleased to announce the recipients of this year's Special Events Awards:

1. $10,000 to Maria Oliveira-Miranda, María Gabriela Montiel-Villalobos, and Elie Poulin (ReGeneC): XV Taller Latinoamericano de Genética para la Conservación: Preservando la diversidad genética en la era de la genómica (XV Latin American Workshop on Conservation Genetics: Preserving genetic diversity in the age of genomics)

2. $18,500 to Taras Oleksyk and Stephen O’Brien (Nova Southeastern University): Recent Advances in Conservation Genetics 2022

3. $13,720 to Christopher Smith and others (Willamette University):  Genotyping by Sequencing to Infer Pattern and Process in Plant Evolution

Special Event details:

1.  ReGeneC organizes the XV Latin American Workshop on Conservation Genetics: Preserving genetic diversity in the age of genomics to provide to 23 students current tools, both to generate FAIR Data and to access information regarding genetic and genomic data available on digital platforms. With the generation of complete genomes growing exponentially it is absolutely necessary that emerging researchers are aware of the developments and advances in the management of Genomic Big Data. AGA’s funds will be used to support travel grants for students, especially if they come from Latin American countries economically less privileged.

2. ConGen-2022 will be offered at the Mammal Research Institute (Białowieża, Poland). This course will host 25-30 students dedicated to conservation and 20-25 faculty from around the world. The course features the latest methods, interpretation, and computer applications of genetic/genomic analyses for species conservation. World-renowned faculty share their expertise in technologies, research strategies and translation. ConGen celebrates its 25th year of this successful course with emphasis on conservation issues in Eastern Europe.

3. The AGA Special Events Award will support a one-week workshop at the Institute of Ecology and the Autonomous University in Mexico City (UNAM). The workshop will focus on using reduced representation sequencing to address population genomic and phylogenomic problems, with a focus on plant genomes. The workshop will promote collaborative, binational research programs to address problems in evolution, ecology, and biotechnology. AGA funds will support travel for 16 students from the US and Mexico.