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 Greetings from the President
Dr. Gail Anderson D-ABFE
Hello NAFEA Members!
It is an honor and a privilege to be the incoming President of the
North American Forensic Entomology Association. I want to extend my
gratitude to our executive committee and in particular, our
past-president Dr. Jason Byrd for all their hard work in making this
organization so successful. We have grown tremendously over just a few
years and provide a leading role in expanding and developing forensic
entomology research and maintaining professional standards across North
America.
We are now all freshly back from an extremely exciting and academically
stimulating meeting in sunny Miami Beach. We had over 50 delegates,
including many international attendees, which is extremely gratifying
for a small organization in the middle of a recession! It clearly shows
the value that people place on our meetings. Over 30 academic
presentations and posters were given, all of extremely high standards
as always. I think that we can all be very proud of the level of
professionalism of our society and the quality, extent and breadth of
the research that is being conducted by our members, advancing our
science tremendously from where it was just a few short years ago.
Aside from the excellent academic presentations at a conference, some
of the most valuable times at a meeting are those that are more social,
allowing more casual conversations, allowing collaborations to build,
and students to meet new supervisors or employers. I think we can
safely say that we made the most of such times in Miami Beach. The Back
to the 80s party and karaoke were a blast, and I was delighted to find
out that my camera has excellent video capabilities.
On a more serious note, we are now very close to achieving 501(c)(3)
status. This will mean that NAFEA becomes a charitable, non-profit
educational organization. Achieving this has been a tremendous amount
of work for several people, most notably our previous Presidents and,
in particular, our most recent Past-President, Dr. Jason Byrd, who has
worked tirelessly on this issue, and we owe him a big thank you for
this. This will be a big change for NAFEA and will allow us to grow as
a charitable organization, making donations and support much easier to
cultivate. It should help us attract and maintain funds that will
support NAFEA activities including student research and student travel
funding.
At our 2009 business meeting, the question of annual versus biennial
meetings was once again discussed and although animated discussion
ensued, the final decision supported by all, was that we should stay
with annual meetings. Although both options have their advantages and
disadvantages, members felt that annual meetings allowed students to
attend more than one meeting during their masters and that our annual
meetings are a great place to exchange ideas and meet colleagues.
I am looking forward to serving as the president of NAFEA and invite
everyone to contact me anytime with questions or comments regarding
NAFEA.
Best wishes,
Gail Anderson
President, 2009-2010
NAFEA
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North American Forensic
Entomology Association
