Helping Us Train You

Nile Kemble, SETAC North America, Training and Education Committee

Have you ever thought about being a teacher, volunteer or mentor? Well, here’s your chance to do all three at the same time. SETAC North America is looking for folks willing to help with education and training courses for the SETAC North America 39th Annual Meeting, which will be held from 4–8 November in Sacramento, California. Course topics can vary, and we have even offered non-scientific courses in the past. We would also like to know what courses you want SETAC to offer in the future. The deadline to submit a training course proposal is 16 April. If you have suggestions or questions about proposing a training course, please contact either Nile Kemble, chair of the SETAC North America Training and Education Committee, or Laura Swanson and Nikki Mayo at the SETAC North America office.

Who says you can’t teach a dog new tricks? The Training and Education Committee is hoping to try a few new things this year in Sacramento:

1. Provide a training course with a local theme or on a subject that might be of importance to researchers from the state, city or region
2. Provide a course that allows our members to get training credits (i.e., first aid or hazwoper training)
3. Provide a course on a day later in the week, currently we are looking to try this on Thursday

I want to take a moment to thank all of our course instructors from the past year’s meeting in Minneapolis. We had five full-day courses and one half-day course that were all well attended. We covered topics related to the endocrine system, ecological risk assessment methods for new chemical submissions, pollinators, mercury and selenium interactions, tools and techniques for ecosystem services and natural capital assessments, and an introduction to R statistics.

Lastly, if you ever wanted to get involved with helping your society, here’s your chance. The Training and Education Committee is looking for volunteers to join and assist in the process of recruiting course instructors, reviewing proposals and selecting training courses for the annual meeting. This is a three-year commitment and a wonderful way to meet other members, as well as hone meeting planning and reviewing skills, contribute to SETAC programming, and enhance your professional contributions to the field.

Author’s contact information: nkemble@usgs.gov

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