It has been a great conference, with numerous, wonderful talks and posters, many advancing the forefront of the study of animal behavior. We have also had the best evening of dancing that I have experienced at an ABS conference. And, of course, we had the debut of a unique and truly memorable event - academic akaoke, featuring remarkable performances by Chuck Snowdon, Chris Evans, and Gail Michener, among others, and a bravura, extraterrestrial, stand-up, ad lib by last year's Allee Award winner, Mitchell Baker. Finally, this year, we were introduced to a radical idea for an Animal Behavior conference - live animals actually exhibiting behavior at ABS - brought to us by Trisha McConnell and her dogs. After all this fun, it is time now for a more solemn moment, my Presidential Address on My Goals for the Society for the year 2000.
Never having been President before, I asked recent presidents and other exalted members of the Society for advice on what I should talk about. The primary advice that I received was as follows: keep it short.
No more than 2 hours. I then asked if I should illustrate my points using flowcharts. To me, flowcharts represent that the rare, beautiful experience that is both scientific and religious. To me, the more boxes and arrows, the better. My students, however, advised against the use of my beloved flowcharts. Their advice: keep it informal.
So, in my attempt to be the People's President, I did what I always do when I am not sure what else to do. I conducted a survey. I asked people - what do you want out of life? What can the Animal Behavior Society do for you?
I first surveyed people in downtown Lewisburg. Oddly, some people did not appear to take me seriously. However, those that did cited some repeated themes, they want love, respect and money.
When I asked members of the ABS - what do YOU want out of life? - surprisingly, only one person mentioned love. I am proud, I suppose, to say that that person was one of my own graduate students. In contrast, many people gave replies that featured sex. Many spoke in terms of euphemisms and the jargon of our field; maximizing fitness via EPCs. Some started telling me about their desires in more graphic detail than I really wanted to hear. Some even provided details on specific people that they had in mind. Much more than I wanted to hear.
Some ABS members gave honorable answers: "to make a difference, to contribute to society". I found this encouraging. However, actually, only two ABS members gave such honorable answers, and for what it's worth, they were both postdocs. In contrast, faculty tended to have more, let us say, personal desires, such as a Porsche. One well known ABS personality had an unusual personal goal &endash; to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Perhaps some of you can guess who that was. Yes, Steve Nowicki. Several people gave inspirational replies: "to be excited every morning when I wake up." Or "to be thrilled every time I start a new project". Or "to be satisfied at the end of every day." These tended to be graduate students and postdocs; i.e., hopelessly naïve. Others, again, graduate students, were wonderfully ambitious &endash; to win the Nobel Prize! My favorite came from Jim Hunt, "to die young as late as possible".
Most people had rather mundane, predictable desires. Graduate students wanted to get their PhDs. New PhDs wanted a good postdoc. Postdocs wanted an assistant professor position. Assistant professors wanted a NSF grant, and associate professors wanted more, bigger grants. One associate professor, a member of my department, wanted his own research foundation. Several established faculty members had intriguing wishes. Penny Kukuk wanted more time for research, in particular, interdisciplinary research. I agreed with her. Steve Lima wanted a world with fewer administrators and university committees. I found myself resonating with that thought. Finally, George Uetz and I showed remarkable convergence in our seemingly idiosyncratic desires. We both wanted time to take a nap, a good assortment of cookies, particularly a great chocolate chip cookie, and we both wished for several clones of ourselves to attend all those university committee meetings.
Underlying all of this was a theme: the wish and need for greater appreciation of the importance of the study of animal behavior from funding agencies, universities, our colleagues, other scientists and the public.
As the new president of this society, I would love to promise to fulfill all these wishes. In particular, I am working now with Rolling Stone to get Steve Nowicki his moment in the sun. I would also love to promise that at all future annual meetings we will have great weather, slide projectors that never jam, and great dance parties every night. Unfortunately, I cannot reasonably promise all of this. In all seriousness, however, I can promise that I will work, together with the ABS Executive Committee, towards enhanced public awareness and institutional appreciation of the importance of the study of animal behavior, both of which should translate potentially into more jobs and better funding. In turn, we hope that this would contribute to continued high quality research, enhanced teaching and outreach, and new interdisciplinary research, integrating behavior with neurobiology, genetics and ecology.
Is this an empty promise? Maybe not. Last year, we made some significant progress. In particular, three prominent animal behaviorists went to Washington DC to meet with relevant representatives from NSF. At least partially as a result of their presentation, funding for animal behavior was increased by more than 20%.
This year, we plan to continue our active advocacy on behalf of animal behavior. In the Spring of 2000, current and recent officers in the ABS will get together for a Summit 2000 to outline specific plans for the near future. Ideas to be considered and implemented include:
In closing, I offer mixed realism and inspiration in the form of words that I saw yesterday, written on a wall in downtown Lewisburg. "Keep interested in your career, however humble. With all its drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world."