Therevid PEET Team Attends PEET III The Therevid PEET team just returned from a National Science Foundation -sponsored PEET III workshop on "The Monographic Process". PIs and trainees of the various PEET (Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy) grants assembled for this three day conference and 2-day student workshop at the Smithsoninan Institution in Washington, DC. Nearly 200 scientists and graduate students participated in the meetings, including Mike Irwin (PI) and Brian Wiegmann (co-PI, NC State); Martin Hauser, Kevin Holston, and Mark Metz (UIUC grad students); Longlong Yang (NC State grad student), Shaun Winterton (Univ Queensland grad student), Steve Gaimari (former UIUC PEETster, now post-doc at the Smithsonian), Jill Mullett (scientific illustrator and UIUC grad student), Gail Kampmeier, and Don Webb (collaborators).

Mark Metz was on the organizing committee for the meeting and led a panel discussion on training in monography. Mike Irwin was part of a panel discussion on the handling of specimens and collections and moderated the panel discussion on the dissemination of modern monographic products, which included the participation of Steve Gaimari on the panel. Jill Mullett demonstrated electronic illustration techniques whetting appetites for a half-day workshop in computerized scientific illustration by George Venable of the Smithsonian. Gail Kampmeier presented "WebKeys and WebMandala: It's a Start", showing a part of the dissemination efforts by the Therevid PEET group. Kevin Holston presented his Systematic Database of Thereva Names. In addition, three posters were presented "MANDALA: A Database Weaving Together Information on Specimens, Nomenclature, and Literature for Systematics Research" (Gail Kampmeier; Michael Irwin; F. Chris Thompson); "Specimen label eccentricities from antiquity to the present" (Amanda Buck; Joe Dunlop; Jill Mullett; & Gail Kampmeier); and "The MANDALA Names.fp3 datafile: Stepping beyond the catalogues to complete the nomenclatural picture" (Kevin Holston & Gail Kampmeier).

The breadth of taxonomic interests represented by the attendees was staggering, everything from liverworts to parasites of sharks to flies. There have now been three competitions for PEET awards, beginning with the "Class of 1995", who are nearing the end of their funding. Five of the original awardee groups, including ours, were granted a 5-year renewal in the third competition, and each was featured in the PEET III meeting logo and mousepad*. A fourth PEET competition was announced by James Rodman, Program Director at NSF, with a deadline of March 1, 2001 (watch the NSF PEET site for details).

*Further note about the PEET III logo: Two entomology projects were renewed (find the fly!) and two projects from the state of Illinois (UIUC and SIU), a distinction we share with Kansas (who had the other entomology project and also 2 projects renewed).

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