What a whirlwind the past six months have been! Shortly before the 2019 SOT Annual Meeting, Council revealed an important update related to the Society’s Strategic Plan: the Education Committee was being reorganized to better serve the needs of toxicology faculty, students, and early-career trainees.
The former Undergraduate Education Subcommittee watched the sun set, and the sun rose on the SOT FUTURE (Faculty United for Toxicology Undergraduate Recruitment and Education) Committee. As I told the Subcommittee members during the transition, “We got an upgrade!” FUTURE has full Committee status and an impressive budget to match.
Of course, transitions come with new opportunities as well as new challenges and a bit of confusion. So, with the honor of serving as the first FUTURE Chair, I also have the obligation to help inform SOT members about the changes and what they mean for undergraduate faculty and their students.
We have grant opportunities for faculty to support professional development and undergraduate research projects. We support both the Domestic and the International ToxScholar Outreach Grant programs. We also offer grants to Regional Chapters to expand involvement of undergraduates. Additionally, we provide fantastic programming for faculty and undergraduates at the Annual Meeting, including Symposia and a special Poster Session. And of course, we have the Big Two: the Pfizer SOT Undergraduate Student Travel Awards and the SOT internship matching funding for summer undergraduate research. Information about these programs and others of interest to faculty is featured in the September UEN e-Newsletter.
FUTURE members are working diligently to promote these programs to faculty, students, Special Interest Groups, Regional Chapters, and the membership in general. We all have a role in recruiting and developing the next generation of toxicologists. We appreciate your help in spreading the word about these great opportunities.
The deadlines for many of these programs and Annual Meeting abstract submission are coming up soon, in October. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need more information or help taking advantage of what FUTURE has to offer you and your students.