Minutes of the Business Meeting of the American Association of Anthropological Genetics

April 14, 2016 Atlanta, Georgia

The business meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm by President Abigail Bigham. The minutes of the 2015 annual meeting were approved in a voice vote.

President’s Report: Dr. Bigham reported that there was a substantial increase in the number of students and postdoctoral fellows applying for the Outstanding Trainee Presentations in Anthropological Genetics (OTPAG) awards given each year by AAAG to the best poster and podium presentations given by trainee members at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and Human Biology Association meetings. She encouraged everyone to continue to support AAAG through membership dues, as this money goes to support these trainee awards. Dr. Bigham also noted the large number of trainees participating in the networking and outreach events including this year’s speed networking event, despite taking place on Monday. Dr. Bigham recognized the 2015 OTPAG award winners and reported that 2015 was the first year AAAG recognized presentations by postdoctoral researchers, becoming the first group to do so at the AAPA meetings. The 2015 winners were:

• • Outstanding Student Podium Presentation: Brittany Hollister, Improving Access to Socioeconomic Data for Genetic Studies of Racial Health Disparities.

• • Outstanding Student Poster Presentation: Jaime Mata-Míguez, Investigating the Genetic Effects of Spanish Colonialism: A Comparison of Ancient and Modern Mitochondrial DNA from Xaltocan, Mexico.

• • Outstanding Postdoc Podium Presentation: Kelly Harkins, Genomic Analysis of Pre-Columbian Tuberculosis from the New World.

• • Outstanding Postdoc Poster Presentation: Anne Justice, Identifying Genetic Associations with Central Adiposity in Hispanic Subgroups: The HCHS/SOL Study.

Seventeen trainee members applied for the 2016 awards, which will be presented at the closing ceremony on Saturday, April 16.

Following the establishment of the ethics committee started by Past President M. Geoffrey Hayes, Committee Chair Deborah Bolnick finalized the committee membership in November. In the next year, they will draft an ethics statement for AAAG and address with additional ethical concerns in an ad hoc manner.

AAAG continues its commitment to supporting our official journal, Human Biology. Amy Non and Dr. Bigham have translated the 2015 AAAG symposium, The Genetic Anthropologist’s Contribution to Understanding Race and Racial Health Disparities, into a special edition of the journal.

At the 2015 business meeting, Anne Stone suggested the education committee apply to host a Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution satellite meeting. Spearheaded by Amy Goldberg, this funding was awarded, and AAAG will be cosponsoring a meeting on the Genetics of Admixed Populations at Texas Biomedical Research Institute in May. Dr. Bigham’s goal as president this past year was to seek ways to increase diversity in the AAAG. To achieve this aim, she established an award for underrepresented students to attend AAAG education events. Prizes have been awarded to Erika Landa and Juan Rodriguez, both graduate students at the Laboratorio Nacional De Genómica Para La Biodiversidad (LANGEBIO), to attend the SMBE satellite meeting. These scholarships will be awarded to support student attendance at the Applications of Genomics to Anthropological Research (AGAR) workshop in even years and the AAPA education workshop at AAPA in odd years. To ensure our ability to sustain these awards, AAAG will be instituting an option for people to donate directly to the student scholarships or other targeted giving.

We note with great sadness the recent passing of noted anthropological geneticist and AAAG member Professor Henry Harpending. His work will live on in the many students he trained, but will be greatly missed in the field.

Vice President’s Report

Vice President Omer Gokcumen reported on the AAAG Symposium, which he organized in conjunction with Aaron Sams. The symposium, Ancient Alleles in Modern Populations: Ancient structure, Introgression, and Variation-Maintaining Adaptive Forces, included an excellent roster of speakers resulting in a well-attended session on this interesting and emerging topic.

Secretary/Treasurer

Secretary/Treasurer Ellen Quillen submitted the 2015 Treasurer’s Report, which was accepted as submitted on a voice vote. In 2015, $2,723 were brought in from membership dues and $2,929 were spent, with AAPA meeting expenses in St. Louis as the largest expenses. These were unusually high and are anticipated to...