EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2013, one of the main areas of focus for NESCent was sustainability and transition. Earlier this year, the Provosts of Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill met with the NSF site visit panel at NESCent and subsequently encouraged us to submit a proposal continuing a science synthesis center. The final version of the proposal was delivered to the Provosts in mid-October 2013. We have also had success securing funds from foundations and federal funding agencies to support a variety of activities at NESCent.
December 2013: last deadline for Catalysis Meeting and Sabbatical Scholar proposals
January 2014: last deadline for graduate fellowship proposals
Short-term Visitor proposals accepted through April 2014
Given that NSF funding formally ends in November 2014, December 2013 will be the last deadline for Catalysis Meeting and Sabbatical Scholar proposals. Similarly, the last Graduate Fellowship proposal deadline will be in January 2014. We will continue to accept Short-term Visitor proposals at least until April 2014. All meetings and times of residence are expected to be completed by November 2014.
In addition to a full schedule of meetings and courses, NESCent will be organizing Evolution 2014, the annual joint conference of the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE), the Society for Systematic Biology (SSB), and the American Society of Naturalists (ASN). the conference will be held in raleigh from June 20 to 24, in conjunction with the satellite iEvoBio conference (June 24 to 25).
Much of the science done at NESCent continues to have a high impact within the scientific community. This is evident in the quality of NESCent’s publication output; the center’s h-index (a metric reflecting both publication volume and citation frequency) is high, currently at 57. In 2013, NESCent supported 18 of 39 proposals for Working Groups, Catalysis Meetings, Sabbaticals and courses and 28 of 31 applications for Short-term Visits and Graduate Fellowships. As of September 15, 2013, NESCent had 622 participants at the center who attended 32 scientific meetings (21 Working Group meetings and 11 Catalysis Meetings), as well as several meetings by groups involved in evolutionary synthesis but that were not supported by NESCent funds. By the end of 2013, the center will have hosted 13 postdoctoral fellows, 5 sabbatical scholars, 1 triangle research fellow, 10 short-t...