Modelling, Estimation, and Decision Making in Ecology

A Symposium to honor the career + contributions of James D. Nichols

134 days 12 hours 50 minutes 33 seconds

August 8-9, 2015 - St. John's College - Annapolis, Maryland, USA

Note: until this website is 'fully operational', much of the 'news' concerning the symposium will be distributed by e.mail. To join the maillist (if you're not on it already), simply click here and send the generated email 'as is', in simple text format (not HTML mail).


About the symposium.

After nearly four decades at the U. S. Geological Survey, James D. (Jim) Nichols will retire on May 30, 2015. To honor one of the most prolific, and influential ecologists of his time, a symposium entitled "Modeling, Estimation, and Decision making in Ecology" will be held from August 8-9 at St. Johns College in Annapolis Maryland, USA.



When.

The symposium is scheduled for 8-9 August, 2015. The current working plan is for the session(s) on the first day to begin 9 AM, with the final afternoon session to be done 4-5 PM. On the closing day (August 9), sessions will again begin at 9 AM, with a projected close of the symposium at 1 PM that afternoon. There will be an informal social the night before (7 August), and possibly a closing fest of some sort afternoon of 9 August.

Where.

The symposium and other events will be held in the 'Great Hall' at St. John's College, in Annapolis, Maryland, USA. The College was founded in 1696 as 'King William's School', a preparatory school. Since 1937, it has followed a distinctive curriculum, the 'Great Books Program', based on discussion of works from the Western canon of philosophical, religious, historical, mathematical, scientific, and literary works; it is probably for this program that the school is best known.

The 'formal' agenda.

The proposed agenda (which is still 'under construction') is intended to be as diverse in scope as have been Jim's contributions to ecology, conservation and management. We anticipate there will be sessions devoted to general problems in estimation from repeat encounter data, use of monitoring approaches in the context of making informed management decisions, and related subjects.

The 'informal' agenda.

Too much event planning (and too much formality) will attenuate the intention that the symposium is a communal 'celebration' of Jim's contributions, and to the larger community of his friends and colleagues. To minimize the risk of being overly serious, there will be several opportunities to pay homage to Jim in whatever fashion suits (emphasis on bawdy and embarrassing implied).


Travel + Accommodations.

Annapolis is the capitol of the State of Maryland. Having said that, there are a few minor challenges in getting there from anywhere else. St. John's College is across the street (literally) from the US Naval Academy, and a very good collation of basic travel + accommodation information can be found here.


CAR.

Driving to Annapolis (in general), and the area near St. John's and the Naval Academy, is relatively easy. Parking is a different matter. All day parking is available at the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium, Rowe Blvd., in the Noah Hillman Parking Garage (accessible from Duke of Gloucester or Main Streets) or at two-hour parking meters around City Dock. The Noah Hillman Parking Garage is the closest public garage. The entrance on Duke of Gloucester St. is on the left, just past Conduit St. Once parked in the garage, look for the stairs in the northeast corner of the garage. At the bottom of the stairs, walk straight down Gorman St to Main St. The Annapolis City Dock is just a block down the hill on Main St. There is closer parking on Dock St, just on the other side of the City Dock, but it is metered with 2-hour maximum limit.

AIR.

We assume that anyone not within 6-8 hours driving distance of Annapolis will be flying. Annapolis doesn't have an airport, so short of landing a private plane at the US Naval Academy (which is probably a very bad idea), your best bet is flying to either Baltimore Washington International Airport, BWI (best choice by a considerable margin), or Washington National Airport (DCA - also known as Reagan). The best option for getting from BWI to Annapolis is the SuperShuttle.

HOTELS.

Annapolis is the state capitol, home of the US Naval Academy, and a major center for yachting and sailing, and the like. As such, there is no shortage of hotel options, varying in price from 'you must be kidding?' to 'does that price include roaches and bedbugs for no additional charge?'. General prices decline as a function of distance from city center, which (of course) is where St. John's is located. In part, this is why we did not in the end contract with one particular hotel to serve as the 'official' hotel for the symposium. As such, you're on your own for finding a hotel. Your best bet is to consult the USNA listing, here, and spend a bit of quality time with TripAdvisor.