This is a reminder that the Call for Challenge entries for the inaugural conference on Informatics for Phylogenetics, Evolution, and Biodiversity (iEvoBio) closes in two weeks on June 21, 2010.
The theme of the 2010 iEvoBio conference challenge is "New visualization methods for evolutionary data". Visualizing evolution is a key part of our discipline and presents opportunities as much as it does obstacles. The iEvoBio Challenge is deliberately wide ranging: entries could range from geophylogenies to visualizing extremely large phylogenetic trees, to mashups showing relationships between lineages and other types of data (e.g. conservation status).
Further information on the nature of challenge entries and how to submit them can be found on the iEvoBio website at http://ievobio.org/challenge.html . Selected candidates will make short oral presentations to demonstrate their visualization in a "Challenge session" at the conference, and will automatically be entered into the Software Bazaar if suitable.
The winners of the Challenge will be judged collectively by the iEvoBio participants. There will be cash prizes for the first place ($1,000) and runner up entries.
Challenge entries are only 1 of 5 kinds of contributed content that iEvoBio will feature. The other 4 are: 1) Full talks (closed), 2) Lightning talks, 3) Software Bazaar entries, and 4) Birds-of-a-Feather gatherings. The Calls for Lightning Talks and Software Bazaar entries remain open (see http://ievobio.org/ocs/index.php/ievobio/2010/), and information on the Birds-of-a-Feather session is forthcoming.
More details about the program and guidelines for contributing content are available at http://ievobio.org. Continuous updates can also be found on the conference's Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/iEvoBio.
iEvoBio is sponsored by the US National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) in partnership with the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB). Additional support has been provided by the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL).
The iEvoBio 2010 Organizing Committee: Rod Page (University of Glasgow) Cecile Ane (University of Wisconsin at Madison) Rob Guralnick (University of Colorado at Boulder) Hilmar Lapp (NESCent) Cynthia Parr (Encyclopedia of Life) Michael Sanderson (University of Arizona)