Southeastern biologists help stage national conference in New Orleans
Contact: Christina Chapple
4/7/06
HAMMOND – Add ichthyologists and herpetologists – the scientists who study fish, reptiles and amphibians -- to the list of people determined to support the recovery of New Orleans, said Southeastern Louisiana University biologist Brian Crother.
After Hurricane Katrina slammed the city and southeast Louisiana, professors around the country planning the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists wondered if they would have to forgo their plans to hold their annual conference in New Orleans this summer.
The host universities – Tulane and the University of New Orleans – were coping with the storm’s devastating aftermath, and the city clearly faced a long and difficult road to recovery. E-mails flew among the various conference organizers. Should they move the conference?
No, insisted Crother and his fellow biology professor (and wife) Mary White. Crother, who is also assistant dean of Southeastern’s College of Science and Technology, quickly volunteered to pick up the conference planning reins.
“Mary and I were already on the local host committee. We told the other society members that we would happily take a larger role,” Crother said. Since Southeastern was able to reopen less than two weeks after the Aug. 29 storm, “We felt like we were in a good position to do this in order to keep the meetings in New Orleans,” he said.
“If, in even the smallest way, we can be a part of bringing New Orleans back, we wanted to do it,” Crother said. “We were thinking that bringing 1,200-1,500 people into the city certainly would be a great way to inject some life and commerce.”
The Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists will take place July 12-17, with headquarters at the New Orleans Sheraton on Canal St. It will encompass the sessions of the American Elasmobranch Society, the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, the Herpetologists League, and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.
Crother and White, along with University of New Orleans Vice Chancellor Robert Cashner have been busy helping organize the various venues for conference events such as the opening reception at the Aquarium of the Americas and a picnic at the Audubon Zoo’s swamp exhibit. They have been making arrangements for non-member activities and soliciting corporate sponsorships.
Southeastern has also contributed administrative and financial assistance to the conference.
Crother said that since some of the visiting scientists indicated that they want to volunteer while in the city, White is working with Habitat for Humanity to arrange for conference participants to spend a day helping with rebuilding efforts in New Orleans’ hard-hit Ninth Ward.
In addition to Crother and White, Southeastern biological science faculty who plan to participate in the conference include William Font, David Sever, Cliff Fontenot, Roldán Valverde, and Kyle Piller. More than a dozen Southeastern graduate students will also attend, many of them working along side local host committee members.
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