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JAM 2021 and ESC Business Meetings

JAM 2021 and ESC Business Meetings

Recently the ESC Executive Council met with members of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for the meeting to discuss the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic The Council learned that, although the LOC has taken steps to limit financial penalties, in the absence of a legislated prohibition of  meetings, the penalty for cancelling the contract with the meeting hotel would be about $75,000. The Council also learned that the electronic infrastructure at the hotel is not adequate for the meeting to be a “hybrid”, with on-line and in-person participants. We are optimistic in light of Canada’s plans to vaccinate the majority of the adult population for COVID-19 by September 2021. ESC encourages members to attend the JAM if possible, but the Council is aware that some members will not be able to attend an in-person meeting because their employer will not approve travel to the conference. Although a final decision will be made in May 2021, the above information leads the ESC Executive Council to conclude that the most probable scenario for JAM 2021 is:

  • There will be an in-person JAM 2021 on 14–17 November 2021 at Niagara Falls, Ontario as advertised (see https://www.entsocont.ca/esceso-2021-jam-english.html) .
  • The meeting is expected to have lower attendance than normal, but will have the full range of scientific and social events normal at a JAM. There will not be an opportunity for on-line participation in these events.
  • Board meetings and the Annual Meeting of Members, will not occur at the JAM. They will be conducted by video conference in October or November 2021, on dates that do not conflict with JAM.

Further information will be communicated to ESC members by Eblast and ESC News Feeds, as soon as possible, and updates will be published in the June and September issues of the ESC Bulletin.

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Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee Update

The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee is developing strategies for the ESC to become a more inclusive and welcoming society. The committee is currently working on:

  1. Acknowledging the diversity within the society.
  2. Creating an EDI package for current and future Boards of Directors.
  3. Creating a list of resources for members to familiarize themselves with equity, diversity, and inclusion issues and concepts.
  4. Offering workshops for – a) board of directors and b) members, during the JAM.
  5. Having a guest speaker on EDI issues at the JAM.

Please, reach out to the EDI director Sebastian Ibarra sibarra@gov.pe.ca or committee chair Christine Noronha Christine.noronha@canada.ca  if you have any ideas for workshops, speakers, programs, resources, events, or other that you would like the ESC to implement.

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Introducing a Co-EiC Model to The Canadian Entomologist

By Dezene Huber, Suzanne Blatt, and Amanda Roe, Co-Editors in Chief of The Canadian Entomologist.

After consultation with the Entomological Society of Canada’s (ESC) Publications Committee and the ESC Executive Committee, we have instituted this new model for management of Canada’s flagship entomological journal. Following an application process, we are happy to announce that Dr. Suzanne Blatt and Dr. Amanda Roe will join the current EiC, Dr. Dezene Huber, to form a three-person co-EiC team. Incidentally, both will be only the second female EiCs in the journal’s >150 year history. (The first was Margaret Rae Mackay, from 1964 to 1965).

We are very excited to welcome Dr. Roe and Dr. Blatt, and we look forward to their contributions towards the continued excellence of our journal.

Here are introductions from Dr. Blatt and Dr. Roe:

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Suzanne Blatt sitting in an orchard

Dr. Suzanne Blatt

I am Suzanne (Suzie) Blatt and I am excited to be part of the newly formed co-EiC team for The Canadian Entomologist. I have been a research entomologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada since 2011. My formal entomological journey began at Simon Fraser University studying a cone and seed pest in seed orchards and expanded to include agricultural pests in tree fruits and vegetables, but I also dabble in Christmas tree plantations. My focus is on developing or improving pest management methods.

I have been a member of the Entomological Society of Canada (ESC) since 1992, typically as a participant at JAMs. The opportunity to become more involved materialized in 2016 when I served as the Regional Director for the Acadian Entomological Society (AES) to the ESC and since 2018 as a Director-at-Large.

I have served as a reviewer for numerous local, regional and international scientific journals since 2012 and as a Subject Editor for The Canadian Entomologist since 2019. I look forward to serving The Canadian Entomologist in this new role. As The Canadian Entomologist continues to evolve and its reputation grows, so too will the number of submissions. A diverse and engaged editorial board will be critical to ensure the review process remains both rigorous and efficient. I am keen to become better acquainted with our Subject Editors and to enlist their expertise in directing submissions to suitable reviewers. I am very much looking forward to working with Dezene and Amanda to make The Canadian Entomologist a journal of choice for entomologists in Canada and around the world.

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Amanda Roe in a laboratory

Dr. Amanda Roe

Hi! I am Amanda Roe and am excited to join the new editorial team at The Canadian Entomologist. I am a research entomologist at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre in Sault Ste. Marie. I started there in 2016 after a number of years of postdoctoral work in Canada and the USA. I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Alberta on a cone and seed pests in conifer seed orchards (just like Suzie – small world!!). My PDFs took me into the world of Lepidopteran evolution, bark beetle symbionts, and tree hybridization. I am now back into the world of forest entomology, understanding the population and functional genomics of forest pests. In particular, I am interested in the drivers of population differentiation and physiological differences between forest pest populations. In addition to a busy research program, I also lead the Insect Production and Quarantine Laboratory, a state-of-the-art facility that rears multiple forestry pests to support research initiatives within and outside Canada.

I have been a member of the Entomological Society of Canada (ESC) since I started as a graduate student in 2001. I have attended the JAMs numerous times and have always enjoyed making new connections with colleagues at the meetings. I have served as a Subject Editor for The Canadian Entomologist since 2016 and have reviewed for a wide range of regional, national, and international journals.

The Canadian Entomologist plays a vital role in our Society and in the entomological community. It is a highly respected journal in the field of entomology, with a long, influential history. Many articles published here continue to impact our field even decades after publication. I believe The Canadian Entomologist fills an important niche in the publishing landscape, and we need to strive to maintain that influence.

I look forward to this new role as an Editor-in-Chief and to working closely with Dezene and Suzie. I believe it is important to give back to the society and support this research community. Accepting the role as co-EiC gives me the opportunity to do so. Our EiC team can help maintain this high-quality publication and further support the growth and development of The Canadian Entomologist.

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Volunteering as editor-in-chief (EiC) for The Canadian Entomologist is intellectually and professionally rewarding, but it is also a major task. Even with the support of an excellent paid, part-time editorial assistant, depending on the influx of new and revised manuscripts, the EiC typically spends, as a rather conservative estimate, at least five to 10 hours a week on journal-related tasks. This is a substantial amount of time for a volunteer service activity, particularly during teaching semesters and field research seasons.

Several other entomological journals have adopted a co-editors-in-chief model. These include: Environmental Entomology (two co-EiCs), Medical and Veterinary Entomology (two), the Journal of Economic Entomology (three), Insect Systematics and Diversity (two), Agricultural and Forest Entomology (four), Insect Molecular Biology (three), and Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (two). Doubtless a large number of other examples also exist in scientific publishing beyond entomology.

Some of our intentions for this new journal management model include the following:

  • This volunteer task takes a substantial amount of time. Potential EiC applicants will know that there will be a division of labour, and we hope this will result in a more diverse and inclusive pool of applicants.
  • The learning curve for editing a journal is steep. New co-EiCs will benefit from consultation with their peers.
  • This model will allow the Society to choose EiCs who cover a wider swath of expertise than in the existing single-EiC model.
  • Co-EiCs will have the opportunity to discuss difficult decisions with each other, hopefully making for more robust and fair decisions.
  • Co-EiCs could pick up the slack if one co-EiC needed to be temporarily absent due to illness, injury, or other life events. In the past, even vacation times were often interrupted for EiCs.
  • The co-EiC model will also allow for more continuity when one editor leaves the post and a new one takes over.
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Call for nominations: Societal Director (Second Vice-President), Director at Large

The Society will hold an online ballot to select candidates for a Societal Director and Director at Large.
The selected candidates will then be presented as a slate for formal election by members at the Annual
Meeting in Calgary in October. Nominations for these positions must be signed by three active members
of the Society and be received by the Secretary of the Entomological Society of Canada, Neil Holliday
(Neil.Holliday@umanitoba.ca), by 28 February 2020.

 

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