The Polistes Foundation, Schedule



The following is the schedule for the upcoming Polistes Foundation annual meeting. If you have any questions please e-mail Kevin Weick at weickkd@aol.com or telephone him at (617) 484-6428.

Schedule For Polistes Foundation Annual Meeting 28th-29th September, 2002

Saturday, September 28th
1:30 - 2:15	Depart from Peabody Museum of Anthropology for Walden Pond*
2:15	Nature Walk in Walden Woods with Peter Alden
4:15 - 5:00	Return to Peabody Museum
5:00 - 6:30	Wine and appetizers at the Peabody Museum Courtyard*
Evening free for personal dinner plans

Sunday, September 29th
9:30	Coffee and Donuts
10:00 - 11:00	Technology Show and Tell - www.discoverlife.org*
11:00 - 12:00	Geographic Information System (GIS)*
12:00 - 1:00	Lunch
1:00 - 3:00	General Session - Brainstorming*
3:15 - 4:00	Presentation of Chad hominid skull*
4:15 - 6:15	General Session -Strategic Planning*
7:00	Cocktails and Dinner

(* additional information)

Additional Information:
Saturday, September 28th
1:30 - 5:00	Nature Walk
We will leave the Peabody Museum in private cars for Walden Pond, where Peter Alden will guide a tour of the native and invasive flora and fauna in Walden Woods. Various field biologists in our group will be on hand to kibbitz and otherwise harass Peter's exposition during the tour. Peter is also seeking permission for us to visit the Walden Wood's Project and the Thoreau Archives. We anticipate that invitees will have had lunch, but if your travel plans are too tight, and we have advance notice, we will arrange a box lunch. If your travel plans are too late to connect with our 1:30 departure time, and if you give us your ETA and plenty of advance notice, we will try to arrange alternate transportation to Walden for late arrivals.

5:00 - 6:30	Wine and appetizers
Wine and appetizers in the courtyard between Peabody and the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.

Sunday, September 29th
10:00 - 11:00	Technology Presentation
A demonstration of www.discoverlife.org. There will be additional discussions to address user needs, implementation issues, and future enhancements.

11:00 - 12:00	Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Presentation and discussion of GIS system capabilities of assembling, storing, manipulating, and displaying geographically referenced information; further how GIS technology can be used for areas such as scientific investigation, education, resource management, and development planning.

1:00 - 3:00	General Session - Brainstorming
This session focuses on understanding how to use the technology to further your efforts to investigate and provide analysis in specific areas, e.g. endangered species, invasive species, curriculum development, conservation, forestry, national parks, agriculture, pollinators, etc.

3:15 - 4:00	Presentation of Chad hominid skull
We have arranged with Professors David Pilbeam and Daniel Lieberman to present and let us closely examine the only copy of the skull recently found in Chad, Sahelanthropos tchadensis ("toumai"). At about 7 million years old, it is not only the oldest hominid fossil ("Lucy" is about 4 million years), but reveals an unexpected and provocative mosaic of hominid and pongid traits.

4:15 - 6:15	General Session - Strategic Planning
We will present to the group details of the progress to date, current projects, and milestones met. There will be a brief analysis of working alliances, e.g. Roots and Shoots, Topozone, First Hand Learning, Missouri Botanical Gardens, USGS, and BIONET. Following this, we will have an open discussion of our strategic plan and how we can continue to move forward in meeting those goals.