2026 SSB Breakout Meeting

Jan. 9-11, 2026

Baton Rouge, LA

The Importance of Natural History Collections

A picture of a boy visiting the LSU Museum of Natural Science.

Program Overview

A picture of the inside of the Manship Theatre in Baton Rouge.

Jan. 9th (Fri)

  • Workshops and Small Group Meetings (Hilton Hotel)
  • Informal Mixer (Location TBD)

Jan. 10th (Sat)

Jan. 11th (Sun)

There is still room for workshops on Jan. 9th! Those interested in giving a workshop should contact Jeremy Brown (jembrown@lsu.edu) as soon as possible.

Registration

Registration for the meeting is now open!

Register Now

All registrants must be members of SSB. To join SSB, renew your membership, or check on your membership status, please visit the SSB website.

Meeting attendance is capped at 200 people. Don't wait to register.

Early bird meeting registration fees are $75 for student & postdoc members of SSB and $175 for professional SSB members.

(120 confirmed registrations - updated 9/8/25)

Accommodations

A picture of the front of the Hilton in Baton Rouge.

A limited block of hotel rooms at a reduced rate has been reserved at the Hilton Capitol Center for SSB meeting attendees.

Reserve your room today!

(91% of room nights are currently booked. - updated 9/20/25)

SSB Early Career Travel Funds

The SSB DEIC offers funds for early career researchers to travel to meetings. The goal of these funds is to fully support the participation of early career SSB members at regional, national, and international SSB conferences. Applicable costs include registration, lodging, travel, and visa acquisition (if applicable). A call is currently open for applications to receive funding for the 2026 SSB breakout meeting.

Learn more and apply

Contributed Talks

All contributed talks will be lightning talks (5 min, including questions).

A link for talk submissions will be posted here soon. Talk slots will be prioritized based on the order of meeting registrants. The first to register will be given highest priority.

Confirmed Panels

The Future of Natural History Collections

Chaired by Corrie Moreau


Creating Meaningful Collaborations Across Communities and Natural History Collections

Presented by the SSB DEIC

Confirmed Workshops and Activities

Introduction to Phylogenetics Workshop

Led by the SSB Graduate Student and Postdoc (GraSP) Committee


Open Tree of Life Workshop

Led by Emily Jane McTavish and Mark Holder


Rev the Bayes and Q the Matrix Workshop

(aka Discrete Character Evolution in RevBayes)

Led by Rosana Zenil-Ferguson


A Primer for Phylogenetic Causal Inference Workshop

Led by Orlando Schwery and Josef Uyeda


NSF Program Officer Meet and Greet

Led by April Wright and Lauren Esposito


FishPhyloMaker: A Supertree Tool for Ray-Finned Fishes

Led by Bruno Soares


Generalized Bayesian Phylogenetics to Infer Simultaneous and Multifurcating Divergences

Led by Jamie Oaks


SSB Council Check-in

Led by Tracy Heath and Elizabeth Jockusch


LSU Museum of Natural Science Tours

Led by Nick Mason


LSU Herbarium Tours

Led by Laura Lagomarsino


Systematic Biology Editor Meet and Greet

Led by Bob Thomson