ABLE Returns to Purdue University

Sue Karcher & Anna Wilson, ABLE 2006 hosts
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN

karcher@purdue.edu & wilson@purdue.edu

About 140 conference attendees gathered at Purdue University on June 6-10, 2006 for the 28 th annual ABLE conference. The conference hosts were Anna Wilson and Sue Karcher. ABLE returned to Purdue eleven years after the 1996 17^th ABLE conference.

On Wednesday and Thursday, ABLE 2006 had fourteen 3-hour long major workshops, each presented twice in one day. On Friday, a poster session and seventeen 45-minute long mini workshops were offered. Many participants in the mini workshops commented that some of the topics would be very useful if they were presented as major workshops. So mini workshop presenters, please consider expanding your workshop to give a major workshop at ABLE 2007 at the University of Kentucky, in Lexington, KY!

The subjects in the major workshops ranged from fresh and saltwater aquatic systems to plant fossils to genetics and bioinformatics. Four of the major workshops used computers for topics ranging from evolution to bioinformatics. A recurring theme at the conference was "What are good biological systems to use in the teaching laboratory?"  For example, there were mini workshops on brine shrimp, Artemia franciscana ; Bean Beetles, Callosobruchus maculates; the parasitoid wasp, Nasonia vitripennis , to use as an alternative to the fruit fly, Drosophila; and the freshwater biflagellate algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Systems used in major workshops included the golden nematode, C. elegans; the model plant with a small size and small genome, Arabidopsis thaliana ; tobacco hornworm larvae; and Renilla mulleri , a bioluminescent soft coral. Other major workshops focused on aquatic ecosystems, invasive plant species in ecological communities, and microbial ecology. There were three workshops about aspects of bioinformatics.

Tuesday afternoon activities included a walking tour of trees on the Purdue campus, a visit to the Purdue Bug Barn (featuring ideas on teaching about insects), and a trip to the nearby nature center and trails at Celery Bog. Tuesday evening the conference got into full swing with the opening reception at the Purdue Memorial Union sponsored by the College of Agriculture and the College of Science at Purdue. As well as the usual assortment of beverages, the reception featured a mashed potato bar and tuxedo strawberries. University officials Professor Chris Sahley, Associate Dean of the College of Science, Professor Jim Forney, Head of the Department of Biochemistry, and Professor Richard Kuhn, Head of the Department of Biological Sciences officially welcomed ABLE to Purdue.

After a full day of major workshops on Wednesday, about 60 conference participants gathered to travel by bus to Wolf Park in Battleground, Indiana. This is an educational and research facility that studies wolf behavior, particularly reproductive and inter-pack social behavior. We walked the trails, heard a talk about wolf behavior, and viewed many of Wolf Park's 19 adult wolves and a litter of wolf pups. And as the evening cooled, we raised our voices to join in howling with the wolf pack.

Thursday's day of major workshops concluded with a reception and musicale sponsored by Hayden-MacNeil. There was a delicious dinner buffet, followed by a fun-filled evening of music, singing, and some dancing. The musicale was lead by Mark Kesson of Hayden-MacNeil. Mark played electric guitar and sang songs ranging from oldies, "Under the Boardwalk", and "Oh, Donna", to standards such as Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac", and McLean's "Bye, bye, Miss American Pie". Mark also introduced us to songs from the Canadian folk rock group, Blue Rodeo. Mark is a great performer. ABLE members joined in and came to the stage to sing or to play an instrument. Many ABLE members kicked up their heels that night, joining in dancing, singing, and launching balsa wood airplanes. Thank you so much to Mark Kesson and Hayden-MacNeil for that terrific evening.

Our exhibition hall included exhibits from Hayden-McNeil Publishing, Pearson Custom Publishing, Carolina Biological Supply Company, Modern Biology, and the College of Science at Purdue. Boxed lunches for our conference from Panera's and Camille's were sponsored by Pearson Custom Publishing.

The main part of the conference ended Friday evening with a Purdue Black and Gold banquet at the Purdue Memorial Union. At the finish of the evening, two instructors guided us as we took to the ballroom floor for line-dancing.

The weather for the majority of the conference was bright, sunny, and not too hot. On Saturday, a cold rain fell, but did not hamper the Crawfordsville field trip. About 10 people participated in the trip to the Crawfordsville Strawberry Festival, and tour of the Old Jail Museum. The jail, built in 1882, features a rotary cellblock consisting of a two-story turntable divided into pie-shaped wedges, with a total of 16 cells. The day concluded with a fossil-hunt at Offield Creek, and a delicious meal at the Wilsons' farm. A warm "thank-you" to the Wilsons, our gracious hosts for the field trip.

Hosts of ABLE 2006, Anna and Sue, extend their thanks to all those who made the conference possible. Thank you to the presenters of the Major and Mini workshops. Without all your hard work, we would not have the great laboratory learning experiences that make the ABLE conference unique. Thank you to the chairs of the workshop selection committees: Anne Cordon and Donna Bozzone for major workshop selection; Ralph Preszler, Tom Fogle and Catherine Teare Ketter for mini workshops selection; and Tom Fogle for organization of the Friday Poster Session.

A special thanks to the undergraduate and graduate students who were "hands-on" helpers for the workshops. We especially appreciated the tremendous help from the ongoing set-up and tear-down efforts of Debbie Anderson, Mat Vross, and LeAnn Blankenship. We thank the lunchtime speakers, Professor Tom Turpin, and Professor Ralph Williams and Patrick Jones, of the Department of Entomology, for their informative, enjoyable, and entertaining talks.

We gratefully acknowledge support for the conference from the College of Agriculture, the College of Science at Purdue University, the Department of Biochemistry, and the Department of Biological Sciences. We thank Professor Jim Forney, Head of the Department of Biochemistry, and Professor Richard Kuhn, Head of the Department of Biological Sciences, for their support. We thank the exhibitors for their time to exhibit their materials and their financial support. Thanks to Hayden-MacNeil, Pearson Custom Publishing, and Modern Biology.

We say a very special "thank you" to John Wilson, who was the general "go-for" for the conference, helping with pick up and transportation of materials such as lunches and snacks and the set-up of almost everything.

The efforts of so many made ABLE 2006 run smoothly. Thanks to all of you! It was an enjoyable, memorable conference. We look forward to seeing you at ABLE 2007 in Lexington, Kentucky!