News and Publications

Society of Fellows

The Society of Fellows had a successful 41st year as we continued our mission of enhancing the postdoctoral training at TSRI by promoting interactions between the Scripps postdoctoral fellows and the TSRI and greater scientific communities. The Distinguished Lecture Series, a career development series, 2 research symposia, and many social functions were sponsored by the Society this year.

The Society continued its tradition of bringing in outstanding scientists as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series. In August 2002, Alfred Wittinghofer, director of the Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, presented "GTP-Binding Proteins: News and Views on a Conserved Switching Module." In March 2003, Stephen Kent, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, spoke on "Total Chemical Synthesis of Proteins."

In October 2002, the Society held the sixth annual Fall Research Symposium. The symposium was an all-day affair with sessions in chemistry, structural biology, immunology, and cell and molecular biology. Each session began with a presentation given by an invited speaker. After the keynote seminars, TSRI postdoctoral fellows and graduate students had the opportunity to give a talk on their research and to compete for travel awards. The winners of the $600 travel awards were Brian D. Adair, Roshan M. Kumar, Antije Gohla, and Dan Calarese. The $200 travel award winners were Dennis W. Wolan, Keith M. Wilcoxen, David Granville, and Satyajit K. Mitra.

Another major event sponsored by the Society was the 15th Annual Spring Research Symposium and Vendor Show. At the spring symposium, members of the Society were invited to present their work through posters and again to compete for travel awards. This year at the vendor exposition, 75 chemical, biotechnical, and instrumentation companies displayed their latest scientific equipment and technology. The fall and the spring symposia were extremely successful events and will be continued in the coming years.

Our career series was again busy this year. The Society held the second TSRI-San Diego biotech happy hour in September 2002. Also, in collaboration with the Department of Human Resources, the Society sponsored "How to Write an NIH Grant" in October 2002 and a fellowship writing workshop in March 2003. Finally, the Society entered new conceptual territory this year with a sold-out job-interviewing workshop featuring Marla Goonan, a professional development coach.

The Society sponsored a trip to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, a ski trip to Big Bear Mountain, and a whale watching trip. In addition to these outings, 3 parties at the Martin Johnson House at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a mixer for members of the Society and members of the Postdoctoral Association of the University of California, San Diego, at the university's Porter's Pub offered plenty of opportunities for meeting other postdoctoral fellows. In September 2002, the Society celebrated its 40th anniversary, with the Ruby Gala, a formal party that included a special speech by Frank Dixon, former president of TSRI and founder of the Society of Fellows.

The executive committee expresses its appreciation to the office of the President for enthusiastic support of the Society's activities.

Executive Committee 2002-2003