FAQ
We are always keen to hear from all members of the Vanderbilt community about any ideas, suggestions, or questions that you may have. Got one? Please send it to us at evolutionarystudies@vanderbilt.edu.
How do I join Evolution@Vanderbilt?
By clicking the Join Evolution@VU link and filling in the form. Alternatively, you can also join by:
If you are faculty or staff, by sending an email to evolutionarystudies@vanderbilt.edu with the following information: name, title(s), departmental affiliations, email, personal / lab website, a brief statement of research interests (2-3 sentences), and a few research keywords.
If you are a trainee (e.g., a graduate student or a postdoc), by sending an email to Dr. Abigail L. LaBella to join the EVOST (Evolution@Vanderbilt Organization for Students and Trainees). For additional information about EVOST, please check our Trainees page.
How do I nominate a speaker?
We are always looking for speakers on all topics evolutionary and welcome any and all suggestions. Please send an email to evolutionarystudies@vanderbilt.edu with your suggestion and with a brief explanation of why the speaker would be of interest to our group. Please bear in mind that we are a VERY diverse group of scholars so the most suitable speakers are likely those that work / have written books on topics of broad interest.
How can I view/attend seminars?
Virtual seminars will be made available to the public (up to 500 people per seminar). Seminars will be advertised in advance on Twitter and links will be posted up to 1 week before the event on our seminar series page. If and when seminars are conducted in person, dates and locations will be posted on Twitter, our seminar series page, and in our newsletter (subscribe here).
I am teaching a course on an evolutionary topic. How can I get it listed on your website?
Our Teaching page includes the list of Vanderbilt courses that have “evolution” and related words in their titles or descriptions. If your course is not on our list, please send an email to evolutionarystudies@vanderbilt.edu with the course catalog description of your course – we’ll be happy to include it!
I would like to help! How can I do so?
If you are a trainee (e.g., a graduate student or a postdoc), please check the Trainees page in our website and contact Dr. Andy Flick to join the EVOST (Evolution@Vanderbilt Organization for Students and Trainees) and contribute to its activities.
If you are a faculty or staff, please send an email to Professor Antonis Rokas, Evolution@Vanderbilt director, stating your interests and areas that you are most interested in helping out with (e.g., seminar series, outreach, social media, etc.).
You can also support us by clicking here.
Can you feature my work?
We would love to! Featuring our members’ work can take place through various channels. Examples include:
Via twitter: please include the @EvolutionVU handle in your tweets or send us a direct message at @EvolutionVU letting us know of your story. We are also monitoring Vanderbilt and member twitter feeds for articles and stories that we can feature.
Via ResearchNews@Vanderbilt: All ResearchNews@Vanderbilt stories that include the tag “evolution” automatically appear in our website’s “Recent News” feed. To ensure that the story appears in our feed, please request from the Communications team that they include the “evolution” tag to your story (this can easily be done either before or after the story has appeared online). We regularly feature the latest evolution-related stories in the front page of our website.
I really like your logo! What was it inspired by?
Glad you like it! Our logo was designed by Jacob Steenwyk, a graduate student in the Biological Sciences program and Curb Center ArtLab Fellow. The design was inspired by a phylogenetic tree that appears in the textbook that John T. Scopes taught evolution from, and which led to the 1925 Scopes “monkey trial”.