The Ohio State University, with generous financial support from the Willi Hennig Society, will conduct a workshop on phylogenetic methods in Columbus, Ohio, July 13-17, 2009.  The purpose is to provide further instruction and experience to students who already have some familiarity with phylogenetic analysis. The format is a series of lectures and laboratory sessions that will give students the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the logic of the phylogenetic method, parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches, tree search strategies, measures of support, DNA alignment, morphological character coding, weighting, analysis of multiple and large data sets, consensus and character hypothesis testing. 

This year, the workshop will include a new section of enrollment. In addition to the Fellowship student enrollment with lecture and computer lab, we will offer an “Auditor” enrollment that includes lecture and observation. This section differs from the Fellowship section in that it does not include lodging or hands-on training with the computer programs.

The workshop includes a workbook (approximately 300 pages), relevant software (including TNT, POY, Nona, Winclada, Muscle, RaxML, and MrBayes), and lessons led by Gonzalo Giribet (Harvard University), Kevin Nixon (Cornell University), Ward Wheeler (American Museum of Natural History), Christopher P. Randle (Sam Houston State) and John Wenzel (Ohio State University). You can see the syllabus here.

Fellowship enrollment (limited to 20 students) is $1200, with one week of lodging included. These students will receive a $600 Hennig Society fellowship paid directly to the workshop, thus they will be responsible for a workshop cost of only $600, plus the cost of transportation to and from the Ohio State campus, and meals. Auditor enrollment fee is $600. No lodging is provided, but we will assist with local arrangements. Auditors also get the workbook and software packages, and are included in the reception mixer and group dinner.

An application consists of a completed application form, a current CV for the student, and a letter from the student’s advisor regarding the relevance of the course to the student’s career goals.  Applications are due April 30, 2009, and notification of acceptance will begin by May 15.  Auditor enrollment is available by correspondence with osuphylo@osu.edu, and will close on June 15, 2009. Further information may be obtained by emailing osuphylo@osu.edu.

This workshop is sponsored by the Ohio State University Museum of BiologicalDiversity, Departments of Evolution Ecology and Organismal Biology and Entomology, and College of Biological Sciences and the Willi Hennig Society. It is organized by Marymegan Daly, John V. Freudenstein and John W. Wenzel.

Readings to be done in preparation for the workshop:

Giribet, 2007

Hennig, 1965

Wenzel, 2002