Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The majority of the funding provided by this conference funding was allocated to support graduate students with free registration for this conference. The conference brought together public and private researchers from around the world working in the area of modeling and unitization of quantitative tools and resources for the genetic dissection of economically important complex traits and to improve the efficiency of breeding outcomes in plants and animals and personalized human medicine. The conference brought approximately 520 participants to the city of Madison, WI for this conference. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The conference brought together researchers from diverse areas of interest within the quantitative genetics world including those working in plants, animals and humans and from both, the public and the private sector. The conference was organized to have a single session, with the specific goal of maximizing the interaction among members of these diverse focus areas. Students and postdocs had the opportunity to ask questions after each formal presentation and to interact with other participants during lunch and coffee breaks as well as poster sessions. During the lunch break on the Thursday of the conference, an informal gathering was organized for students to participate of conversations with industry representatives. This was a very well received event. Some of the commentary from students participating can be found below: "I had the opportunity to not only further and expand my education, but also to network with potential future employers, both in academia and industry." "I found the last day of talks the most engaging. I was also excited by the amount of networking that happened at my poster during the poster session - connecting with some industry folks was great for my career path." "I had several really good discussions with students, faculty, and industry representatives during the poster sessions." "I was impressed with the attention to helping graduate students connect with industry. The conference format allowed ample time to connect with researchers regarding their posters and talks, and with the two-room layout, it was easy to find people, even in the crowd." "During ICQG5, an informal session for Q&A between students and professionals from industry was organized. This was really useful." How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Abstracts of invited speakers and posters were published in a proceedings book and distributed to all participants of the ICQG5. Also, an editorial about the conference was published in the Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics "ICQG5 on Madison's Isthmus links genomics and statistics of complex traits" - Journal of Anim. Breed. Genet. 133: 249-250 (2016 - doi:10.1111/jbg.12231) What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The 5th International Conference in Quantitative Genetics (ICQG5) was very successful in accomplishing the primary objectives proposed for this scientific event, which were listed above. The conference was attended by approximately 520 participants from around the world and had a nice mix of representation from junior to more senior researchers as well as a good number of students. The conference included presentation from 38 invited speakers that were divided into nine sessions: Genetic Dissection of Quantitative Traits, Evolutionary Genomics of Complex Traits, Role of "Big Data" in Genomics, Advances in the Utility of Visual Networks and Identification of Causality in Genetics, Population Genomics of Complex Traits, Genomic Information in Prediction, Utilization of Quantitative Tools for the Dissection of Gene by Gene and Genotype by Environment Interactions, and the Development of Tools and Resources for Translational Quantitative Genetics. In a survey completed by ICQG5 attendees at the end of the conference showed that 44% of the survey participants found the quality of the exposition to be excellent and an additional 33% very good. Approximately, 78% of the participants indicated that the conference program was excellent or very good and another 18% good. About 82% of the attendees that responded to the survey indicated the quality of the volunteered posters to be excellent or very good with an additional 16% rated as good. The focus conference directly addressed the focus areas of the particular USDA-NIFA program that supported it. That is, to improve methodology for germplasm enhancement, through the use of selection theory and applied quantitative genetics tools. ICQG5 also provided an ideal setting for advancing training, education and recruitment of the next generation of plant breeders. Through formal presentations and informal (over lunch) deliberations, ICQG5 provided an opportunity to discuss topics that have the potential to directly contribute to five of the six AFRI priority areas (1."Keep American agriculture competitive while ending world hunger"; 2."Improve nutrition and end child obesity"; 3."Improve food safety for all Americans"; 4."Secure America's energy future through bioenergy production"; 5."Mitigation and adaptation of agriculture to climate variability and change); and have indirect impact on priority 6 ("Solve critical water resource problems in rural and agricultural watersheds across the US).
Publications
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