Non Technical Summary
The aquaculture genomics community will host a two-day session at the Aquaculture 2025 meeting being held in New Orleans on March 6-10, 2025. The session will include talks from invited speakers, researchers, and students studying all aspects of aquaculture genomics. This includes experts studying finfish, shellfish, and algae. The conference funding will go to support the travel expenses of invited speakers and 10 graduate or undergraduate students from the community. The goal in providing this travel support is to bring innovative ideas to the meeting and to encourage the development of students who are interested in pursuing aquaculture genomics as a career. Finally, the funding will support a networking event that will be held jointly with the aquaculture physiology community to encourage the exchange of ideas and the establishment of research collaborations. Overall, the genomics session will significantly benefit US aquaculture genomics research by stimulating new research directions and promoting community engagement.

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
304	3999	1080	100%

Knowledge Area
304 - Animal Genome;

Subject Of Investigation
3999 - Animal research, general;

Field Of Science
1080 - Genetics;

Goals / Objectives
Commercial aquaculture species are numerous and span many diverse taxonomic groups creating challenges when seeking to develop genomic resources to improve production. Collaboration and knowledge sharing is therefore essential for the aquaculture genomics community to ensure that genomic resources and discoveries are rapidly made available to the community and efforts are coordinated to maximize efficiency. It is also important to have other scientific and industry groups have a role to play in how genetic and other 'omic information is used to advance aquaculture production. In order for genomics to meet its full potential in the aquaculture industry, a close collaborating community, that spans species groups and research areas, and interacts regularly is critical.The funding will be used to support a two-day symposium encompassing the most cutting-edge science in the broad aquaculture genomics field, to be held at the World Aquaculture Societies, Aquaculture 2025 Meeting. The meeting will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 6-10, 2025 at the Marriot New Orleans on Canal St. near the French Quarter of the city. The triennial meeting of the World Aquaculture Society is the single most important meeting for the aquaculture community, which only occurs every three years. This makes Aquaculture 2025 the ideal venue for bringing the community together for new ideas and collaborative opportunities to propel the field forward.The funding for the symposium will be used for 3 primary objectives during the meeting:Objective 1. Foster innovative ideas and out-of-the-box thinking through the invitation of invited speakers. We will invite two speakers who are leaders in their field to open each day of the two-day conference session, sharing their unique knowledge with the aquaculture genomics community. The invited speakers will be individuals whose expertise could be a catalyst for new ideas that could make an impact in the aquaculture genomics community.Objective 2. Provide opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to develop and inspire the next generation of aquaculture genomics scientists. The proposed conference funds will support the travel of 10 students to attend the Aquaculture 2025 meeting. We will target current graduate students as well as high-achieving senior undergraduate students who might be considering an aquaculture genomics career to come to the meeting, present their research, and interact with leading scientists in the field. Promoting the engagement of students is essential in ensuring that the aquaculture genomics community continues to thrive.Objective 3. Facilitate the sharing of ideas and the establishment of collaborations through a joint aquaculture genomics and aquatic physiology community networking event. We plan to join the aquatic physiology group for a community networking event where our two scientific fields can interact and develop ideas for establishing collaborative research at the intersection of genomics and physiology. This is intended to foster new breakthroughs in our understanding of gene function in aquatic organisms. Successful completion of these objectives will help inspire innovation and productivity in the aquaculture genomics community. This will benefit the United States aquaculture industry by increasing data and knowledge sharing among researchers while helping the community to develop new approaches for improving the resilience and productivity of cultured aquatic organisms.

Project Methods
The conference will use in person oral and poster presentations. There will be 2 talks from invited speakers, who will present at the beginning of each day of talks. The bulk of the talks will be from academic, government, and industry researchers. All of the 10 invited students will be given time to speak about their research and will present a poster at the meeting. We will also host a networking event with food in coordination with the aquaculture physiology group.