To facilitate new progress in research and collaboration at this meeting, the American Society of Naturalists encourages interested groups to organize working groups that meet concurrently with the conference. Working groups would have to arrange their own travel and lodging, and would separately contract with Asilomar to rent an additional meeting room for some or all of the conference duration. These working group costs would be covered by working group participants along with regular registration for the conference. A 20-seat room costs approximately $224 per day (prices may change slightly for 2013). Participants could alternate between working group meetings to make progress on active research activities and attending conference talks. ASN’s goal is to facilitate collaborative research efforts. By having these groups working side-by-side with the conference, the working groups can have access to broader discussions.

An application should include:

1. a one page abstract describing the working group goals
2. a list of participants (name, position, university)
3. a CV of one or more group organizers
4. some indication of how the working group would intersect with the conference. In particular, registration fees may be negotiable depending on the extent to which working group attendees participate in the main conference or not (attending talks and social events).

Images courtesy Hopkins Marine Station