NASBR Meeting Postponed

This has been a tumultuous year and we are only half-way through it.  The disruptions from COVID-19 to society and all our lives have been immense and NASBR is no exception.  As you have probably heard from other scientific societies, many annual meetings have been cancelled, postponed, or converted to online or hybrid format.

The NASBR Board has discussed the various options and decided to postpone our annual symposium in Tempe, Arizona from 2020 to 2021 to ensure the safety of all concerned.  The dates for our next meeting in Tempe are October 20-23, 2021.  As you may recall, 2021 was scheduled to be in Winnipeg, Manitoba and we are finalizing the details with the hotel to postpone this meeting until 2023.  The joint IBRC/NASBR meeting in Austin, Texas remains set for 2022.

The Board considered the possibility of having an online meeting this year, but decided against this option because many of us already spend a lot of time online for work and for family.  Adding a few days of intense online meetings did not seem like the best solution for our society.  However, the Board is working with the Program Directors to examine the feasibility of online webinars and workshops on various topics of interest to our membership throughout the year.  We will send out a separate notice on this in the near future and also other updates as they arise.

We are extremely thankful to our Tempe local hosts (Angie McIntire and Marianne Moore) for agreeing to extend their planning for another year, our Winnipeg local host (Craig Willis) for accommodating us in 2023, and the staff at the hotels in Tempe and Winnipeg for understanding our situation and helping us to find a solution under these unusual circumstances.

Burton Lim

NASBR Board Chair