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 Greetings from the President
Dr. Jason Byrd, PhD, D-ABFE
Bureau Chief
Florida Divsion of Agriculture and Consumer Service
Hello NAFEA Members -
My principle task as the incoming President is to assure the continued
success of NAFEA, and to ensure that the principles outlined within our
founding mission statement are followed. I am pleased and
extremely proud to be nominated and elected as President of
NAFEA. As the first person to be elected President of both
professional forensic entomology organizations in North America (NAFEA
and the American Board of Forensic Entomology), it is indeed an honor
to serve such a distinguished group of individuals.
NAFEA has experienced tremendous success since its creation, and has
proven to be a viable organization serving the mission of promoting and
developing a cooperative environment in which to foster the science of
forensic entomology. I have little doubt that NAFEA will play a
leading role in the continued efforts to professionalize our field of
study and to solidify its incorporation into the mainstream of the
forensic sciences.
The 2008 meeting held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, is continued proof
that our dedicated members can organize and host professional meetings
that serve to facilitate the exchange of ideas, information and
techniques critical to forensic entomology. It also provided an
excellent venue for discussions between those engaged in education,
research, and casework involving forensic entomology. I would
like to thank and extend congratulations to Diana Johnson for
organizing and hosting the NAFEA annual meeting. Without members
like Diana taking the initiative and becoming involved with NAFEA, the
organization would not be self-sustaining.
The NAFEA membership will have some important considerations brought
forth in 2008-2009 to discuss at the 2009 business meeting. First
and foremost is the conversion of NAFEA into a 501(c)(3) corporation as
a charitable, non-profit educational organization. This has many
advantages that will allow NAFEA to grow and develop spending accounts
which allow for increased support of meetings, scholarships, and grant
funded travel. Dr. Jeff Wells, (NAFEA Immediate Past-President)
has initiated the conversion of organizational status and the Officers
of NAFEA will assist and support him in that pursuit.
The 2008 business meeting brought forth another possible change, which
was tabled for discussion until next year. This item is the
possible switch of the NAFEA meeting from an annual to biennial
event. I would like to alert all members of this agenda item for
the 2009 meeting so that everyone will have ample opportunity to
consider the pros and cons of the eventual decision. With a
biennial NAFEA meeting, it would be offered on alternate years so it
will not coincide with the International Congress of Entomology.
The advantage of a biennial meeting is reduced travel costs for annual
travel budgets, as well as allowing more time to elapse to generate
research results for scientific presentations. The
disadvantage is that students at the Master’s Degree level will likely
only have one opportunity to present during the course of their
degree. Additionally, the less frequent meetings will result in
less group interaction overall.
One area in which I will focus my effort as NAFEA President is to
establish a student travel fund so that NAFEA members who are students
in good standing can apply for travel to present research at the NAFEA
meetings. I would also like to create a NAFEA research grant to
be provided on the basis of the most competitive student research
proposal. The creations of such NAFEA funded programs will be
better facilitated by the establishment of NAFEA as a 501(c)(3).
I look forward to serving NAFEA as President, and welcome all
comments and suggestions on improving methods to fulfill our mission
statement.
Regards,
Jason H. Byrd
President
NAFEA
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North American Forensic
Entomology Association
