January 2015 - tdwg - lists.tdwg.org

In Memoriam Dr Richard Pankhurst
by Mergen Patricia 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Dear Colleagues, On behalf of TDWG we are very sorry to inform you that Richard John Pankhurst passed away on Tuesday 26 March after fighting oesophageal cancer for many years. He was a very important contributer and friend of TDWG, as can be judged from his short CV from the BioCISE directory: Dr Richard Pankhurst began his career in computing in the computer section at CERN, Geneva in 1963, and moving back to Cambridge to work on Computer-Aided Design in 1966. In 1971 he moved to the Botany School, Cambridge to begin work on his PANKEY programs for identification and key construction. This was continued at the Botany department of the Natural History Museum from 1974 until 1991, where he was for many years curator of the British herbarium, and also worked on the Flora Meso-Americana. "Biological Identification", 1978, was the first textbook on computer methods in identification. A new version of this book was published by C.U.P in 1991. Also published in that year was the Flora of the Outer Hebrides. With over 50 publications of refereed papers and books in the fields of taxonomic computing he has made major contributions to these fields. Dr. Pankhurst has been very active recently in programming and managing botanical databases (Flora Europaea, BSBI database and PANDORA) and systems with images. He was appointed Principal Scientific Officer at the RGB Edinburgh in 1991. Dr. Pankhurst served on various committees of British and international organizations, among others. Botanical Society of the British Isles, Committee for Scotland and Database Committee. Botanical Society of Scotland, Council. Taxonomic Databases Working Group, convener of Descriptors Group. International Organisation for Plant Information, co-convener of Information Systems Committee, Checklist Committee. Dr. Pankhurst was the head of the Department of Taxonomic Computing at RGBE. After his official retirement, he compiled a large database of the Rose family. His work on recording the wild flowers of the Outer Hebrides took him frequently to these remote islands on behalf of the Botanical Society of the British Isles. His interest in Taraxacum (dandelions) was acknowledged when a species found only on St. Kilda was named *Taraxacum pankhurstianum*. In Richard, not only a very important scientist was lost to our community, but also a very pleasant collaborator and friend . <patricia.mergen(a)africamuseum.be> Dr. Patricia Mergen (General Secretary of TDWG, on behalf of the Executive Committee) Head of Biodiversity Information and Cybertaxonomy Royal Museum for Central Africa Leuvensesteenweg 13 B-3080 Tervuren Belgium + 32 2 769 5 *626* patricia.mergen(a)africamuseum.be

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Call for Proposals, SPNHC 2015: Collections and Zoonotic & Human Disease Research
by Graham, Eileen 21 Jan '15

21 Jan '15

Colleagues: Scientific Collections International (SciColl) is organizing a session at the upcoming SPNHC 2015 meeting on The Role of Collections in Zoonotic and Human Disease Research<http://scicoll.org/ed.html>. We invite researchers and collections managers who are using their collections for human and zoonotic disease research to submit an abstract. We are particularly eager to include presentations about collaborations across collections and disciplines, especially with public health, wildlife, livestock and veterinary sciences. SciColl recently hosted a workshop on this topic with 40 representatives from diverse collections and research perspectives. They agreed that greater cross-disciplinary access to samples and data would help in combatting infectious diseases. If you would like to join us, please follow the submission instructions<http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/spnhc2015/abstract-presentation-info/> provided on the SPNHC 2015 website<http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/spnhc2015/home/>. Please note: * Abstracts are due by January 31st. * To have your submission flagged for this session, answer "yes" to the question "Participant in Titled Organized Session?" at the bottom of the submission form. * Then enter "Engaging Scientific Collections in Zoonotic and Human Disease Research" as the title of the session in the line immediately below. If you have any questions, please email me: grahame(a)si.edu<mailto:grahame@si.edu>. We look forward to seeing you at SPNHC! Eileen Eileen Graham, Program Manager Scientific Collections International e: grahame(a)si.edu<mailto:grahame@si.edu> p: 202-633-0256 t: @sci_coll<https://twitter.com/sci_coll> w: www.scicoll.org<http://www.scicoll.org/> [scicoll_logo_color-small]

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R package for DwC-A
by David Shorthouse 19 Jan '15

19 Jan '15

All, Is anyone aware of an R package for extracting and reading Darwin Core Archive files (occurrence and/or checklists)? Thanks, David

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ICE 2016 - Call for Symposia due 2 March 2015
by Kampmeier, Gail E 15 Jan '15

15 Jan '15

The upcoming XXV International Congress of Entomology will be held in Orlando, Florida, 25-30 September 2016* http://ice2016orlando.org/. Many in TDWG are entomologists (or know entomologists, or count them as friends), and this Congress is a chance for those of us working with biodiversity information standards to reach a wider group of entomologists from around the world and to share information and experiences. I am one of three conveners for Section 5: Biodiversity, Biogeography and Conservation Biology http://ice2016orlando.org/scientific-program/sections-conveners/. So far only two symposia have been submitted for this section, and the deadline is fast approaching (2 March 2015) http://ice2016orlando.org/call-for-symposia-for-the-2016-international-cong…. Nico Franz is soliciting potential speakers for a symposium he is organizing with Katja Seltmann http://taxonbytes.org/ice-2016-orlando-symposium-proposal-building-the-biod… under Section 5, and I’d would love to see additional TDWG-related symposia submitted. This is a wonderful opportunity to feature and involve colleagues from around the globe at this venue. Please consider submitting a proposal for a symposium by the deadline (or earlier!!). Please contact me if you might be interested in submitting a symposium proposal, have an appropriate topic you want to hear, or even if you have a talk you’re thinking about presenting within the theme of Biodiversity, Biogeography and Conservation Biology. All the best, Gail * P.S. For us in the United States, we’re very excited to be bringing the Congress back to the US for the first time since our country’s bicentennial in 1976. I wasn’t even an entomologist then, but I was working with one of the first efforts to convert a traditional library card catalog into something digital (complete with acoustic coupler modem on a phone handset) at the Boston Public Library. Who knew? Gail E. Kampmeier Illinois Natural History Survey Prairie Research Institute University of Illinois 1816 So. Oak St. Champaign, IL 61820 www.inhs.illinois.edu/~gkamp<http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/~gkamp>

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