BGSA Winter Trip!!

Remember Lincoln Logs? You would spend hours meticulously building a two-storey log

cabin with a chimney only to realize that you couldn’t fit into the cabin, no matter how

hard you tried! Well, look no further! The BGSA is offering you the opportunity to stay

in a log cabin you can actually fit in. Come to the beautiful Adirondacks for a weekend of

stargazing, snowshoeing, skiing, and relaxing by the fire with 31 of your BGSA friends.

So, you wanna go?

Friends and partners are welcome! Email Aerin.Jacob@mail.mcgill.ca with the following info:

1. Do you want to stay only Friday night, only Saturday night, or both? In the past most

people stay both nights.

2. Do you have a car? If not, are you 25+ and willing to rent and drive one?

3. Do you have a sleeping bag? Can you bring an extra for someone else?

4. Any dietary restrictions? Vegetarian, vegan, allergies?

5. Are you bringing your own ski/snowshoe gear?

There are only 32 places, so reserve yours ASAP. Be advised that a $20 non-refundable

deposit is due by Wed Jan 12 -- stay tuned.

Check out below for full details

2011BGSAWinterTrip

Stats Workshops - Winter 2011 series

The BGSA R-Stats workshops are back again for another semester!

NEW DAY: MONDAYS 2-4 pm in the Stewart Biology computer lab (N4/17)

Check the website for complete schedule.

New & Improved!

We've changed the format a little, based on all the great feedback we received in the fall.

The most important change is that we have expanded the introduction to R material into 3 FULL WORKSHOPS, in consecutive weeks at the start of the semester. These workshops are designed to get you up & running with R, at a comfortable pace without overloading you with extra material. Even if you took the intro R workshops in the fall, you are welcome to attend these re-designed workshops if you want a refresher or a boost up the learning curve.

We expect the intro workshops to be popular, so registration will be required (register on the web site).

Beginning in February, the rest of the semester will feature various Special Topics, each a self-contained introduction or overview of a specific statistical method and how to implement it in R. There will be NO registration for special topics workshops: space will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so don't be late!

Check out the stats workshops web site for full details:

http://sites.google.com/site/mcgillbgsa/

Cheers,

Jonathan Whiteley

Neeltje Boogert

Corey Chivers

News and Events

hello BGSA folks!

As the weather slips to sub-zero temperatures in Montreal, we thought we'd give you a post with the ghost of bio past, the ghost of bio present and the ghost of bio yet to come.

To kick it off, we've got pictures up from our wildly successful pumpkin carving contest. Check out the pictures here!!! As you can see, the stakes have been raised, yet again. Better start planning for next year!!

Check out the seminar page on the Biology Department website. There are several interesting molecular and organismal seminars coming up. There are also many PhD seminars and PhD defenses, so come out and support your soon to be graduating colleagues - it'll be your turn soon! You can also check out the BGSA calender for events as well. Click on the calendar link on the BGSA page.

Some events to look out for include:

A post-seminar discussion with Dr. Owen McMillan from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute at Thompson House, Room 406 from 4.30-6.30pm.

The first annual symposium: Biodiversity Science in Quebec: 2010 and beyond. Hosted by the Quebec Center for Biodiversity Science, information and registration can be found here

And from the enviro digest, some interesting discussions and events coming up:

Panel Discussion- environment and animal welfare impacts – Nov 8

ENVIRONMENTAL & ANIMAL WELFARE IMPACTS OF INTENSIVE FARMING: EXPLORING THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND POTENTIAL AVENUES FOR CHANGE

Monday, 8 November 2010

5:30pm, Reception to follow

McGill Law Faculty, 3644 Peel St.

Moot Court

Environmental Law McGill and the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund are hosting a panel discussion on the environmental and animal welfare impacts of intensive farming. The panelists will explore the current legal framework surrounding intensive farming, debate potential avenues for change, and share what they view as the most promising ways to mitigate environmental and animal welfare impacts.

This panel will be bringing together three experts from Canada and the United States. Kaitlyn Mitchell is a staff lawyer with Ecojustice, the nation's leading non-profit organization using the law to protect and restore the Canadian environment. Navin Ramankutty is a Professor of Geography and Earth System Science at McGill University, where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Land-Use and Land-Cover Change. David Wolfson teaches animal law, with a particular focus on farmed animals, at Columbia Law School and NYU Law School.

We invite you to attend the panel discussion and join us for a reception immediately following the panel. Hope to see you there!

For more details, visit the website: www.saldf.ca.

***

Geospectives Seminar Series - Nov 8

From pastures to forests: Successional dynamics of tropical rain forests

Dr. Robin Chazdon

Dept. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

University of Connecticut

Geospectives Seminar Series

11-12:30 pm, Monday Nov 8th

Burnside Hall Room 426

McGill University

(refreshments served at 10:45)

***

From Canada to Cancun: Canadian Climate Policy and the UN climate change negotiations

6pm, Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

McGill School of Environment Conference Room

3534 University

Remember COP15 in Copenhagen last December, where we failed to get a fair, ambitious, and binding deal on climate change? Wondering what's up next at the UN climate change negotiations?

The COP16 UN climate negotiations kick off November 29th in Cancun, Mexico. But how does the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) work? And how does Canada's domestic climate policy (or lack thereof) affect our role internationally? Our workshop will cover the basics of the UNFCCC, Canadian climate policy, what to expect from Cancun, some of the key issues Canada faces regarding climate change, and a discussion of what McGill students can do to effect policy change.

This workshop is presented by two members of the Climate And Sustainability Advocacy (CASA) Project who are undertaking an independent study in Canadian Climate Policy. Members of the Canadian Youth Delegation to COP16 will be present to help answer questions and to add to discussions. For more information, please check out http://casamcgill.wordpress.com/.

Cheers,

BGSA

BGSA Events - a taste of what you can expect this year

Dear New, Old, Incoming, Finishing, Procrastinating and Thesis Writing Biology Students,

As you may have noticed with the flurry (no snow, thank goodness, and yes I know, I recycled that joke from last year) of emails from the listserv, the BGSA has some fantastic events in store for everyone for the 2010-2011 year. We think it would be beneficial to show you just how fantastically awesome these events are. So, if you clink the title of this post, it should link you to our photo albums. For those of you still trying to just log onto Minerva or are stuck in dial-up land, I've included a few to whet your appetite for the events to come.

First up, the camping trip. This year, it is scheduled for September 10-12 in beautiful Gatineau Park.

Once everyone was set-up, dinner com- menced, with Allen and Morgan providing musical accompa-niment to the group who not only aligned themselves in pecking order, but also lined up their drumsticks to all face the same way. Later that night, Morgan single handedly battled the growth hormone modified raccoons that roamed the camping site. One raccoon did almost make off with Ben's wallet at one point...

The next day was beautiful, sunny and, as all good grad students know, that mean chilaxing by the water. Believe it or not, the discussion was on the values of baysian statistics in ecology and the latest developments in pipetting techniques...

We found a cave you could go spelunking in, and Maria, with her great smile, mentioned how it would make a great office space.

In the end, a merry band of bio marauders posed for a picture and everyone went home happy and content, and excited for THIS YEAR'S TRIP SO HURRY UP AND REGISTER!!! IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!

And a few more events... Pumpkin carving - an epic battle between labs to show who can not only carve the best pumpkin, but tell the best story about their pumpkin!

And many more - check out the photo website at: http://picasaweb.google.ca/mcgillbgsa

There are more pictures of these and other past events, so we look forward to seeing you at as many of the events as you want to come to!

Cheers,

BGSA

Pumpkin Carving contest!!!

It's that time of the year again.... No, we don't mean midterms, turkeys or even fall colours. We mean it's pumpkin carving time!

· Who: You and your fellow lab/office mates

· What: Pumpkin carving contest!!!!!

· When: Tuesday, October 27^th at 11:30am

· Where: 4^th floor lobby of Stewart Bio

· Why: Because you want to show off you can use the other side of your brain, win prizes and bragging rights and have a good time!

Pumpkins will cost about $6 for a large, ready-to-carve one. Grab your lab or office mates (bonus points if you convince your adviser to help!), any carving materials and lab accessories (no ethidium bromide please!) and let Dragana (dragana.rakic@mail.mcgill.ca) know you want to enter by Friday, October 23.

There will be prizes and bragging rights awarded. Will Abouheif's lab be able to retain their crown? Or will they be toppled by the second place Chapman lab or a team from the shiny, new Bellini building? Come find out on the 27^th!!

You can check out pictures here:

http://www.pidgephotography.com/Personal/Friends/BGSA-Pumpkin-carving/6389481_nVX4i#404153708_iUQUt

See you there!

Cheers

Kiyoko and Dragana

Subscribe to the BGSA Calendar

If you use a calendar application that supports the iCal format, you can automatically include BGSA events in your calendar, so you'll always know what's being planned and never miss out on the fun!

Instructions:

1. open your preferred calendar application (iCal, Sunbird, Outlook, etc.)
2. Use the 'subscribe' command, or equivalent
3. Copy and paste this url when prompted: http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/mcgillbgsa%40gmail.com/public/basic.ics

Note that you can also include our calendar in your own google calendar: see google's calendar help for instructions.

BGSA General Meeting - Sep. 28, 2009

Monday, September 28, 2009. 11am. Stewart Biology Coffee Room.

Free donuts! Find out what's going on in the department! Get involved! Help organize events!

The current agenda is included below. If you would like to add anything, contact the secretary (Richard Feldman).

AGENDA

1. WELCOME
2. RECAP OF SUCCESS OF ORIENTATION AND SEPTEMBER EVENTS
3. UPDATED BUDGET & FINANCIAL STATEMENT
4. NEW ONLINE PRESENCE
1. How best to use Blog, Events Calender, Listserv
5. VACANT COUNCIL POSITIONS
6. UPCOMING EVENTS + SIGN-UP TO HELP ORGANIZE

Pumpkin Carving

Christmas Party

Trivia Night

Curling

Ice-breaker Canoe Trip

McGill open house

Other

7. TA EVALUATIONS
8. COMPOSTING
9. NEW BUSINESS
10. TRAVEL GRANT DRAW
11. CLOSING REMARKS

Biology Wine & Cheese

Celebrate a new academic year, meet new members of the department and catch up with old friends!

The BGSA is happy to present a Wine & Cheese reception for all members of the Biology department (faculty, staff & grad students) on Wednesday September 23rd, 4-7 pm in the Thomson House restaurant (downstairs). Wine & Cheese (and a few other snacks) will be provided.

September BGSA Events

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update about some of the upcoming BGSA events for the month of September. Make sure to check out the softball and BBQ event hosted TOMORROW at "the resevoir" across from Thomson House. We're hoping to see new and returning faces out on the field!

September Events:

Friday, Sept 4
BGSA Softball and BBQ - "eat, drink, and play ball"
4-6pm at "the reservoir" across from Thomson House, new AND returning grad students and post-docs

Tuesday, Sept 8
BGSA Information Session - "an introduction to the department" 10-11am at W2/3 C in the Stewart Biology Building, new grad students and post-docs
&
BGSA Lab Tours - "a tour of the department"
11am-noon at W2/3 C in the Stewart Biology Building, new grad students and post-docs

Friday, Sept 11
TH Housewarming Party - "dancing and socializing"
9pm+ at Thomson House, new AND returning grad students and post-docs

Friday, Sept 11-13
BGSA Camping Trip - "last taste of summer"
Gatineau Park, new AND returning grad students and post-docs
E-mail Caolan at caolanko@gmail.com by Monday, Sept 7 if you're interested in coming!

Thursday, Sept 24
BGSA Wine and Cheese - "mix and mingle"
4-6pm at Thomson House, new AND returning grad students, post-docs, and professors

Monday, Sept 28
BGSA General Meeting - "get involved and enjoy free donuts"
11-12:30am in the coffee room next to W4/12 in the Stewart Biology Building, new AND returning grad students and post-docs