I wanted to take advantage of the 1 month anniversary of the 2013 Bodega Bay applied phylogenetics workshop to do a quick debrief of the week, now that we’re all (hopefully) rehydrated and caught up on sleep.

So first, a HUGE thank you to the instructors, the staff at Bodega Bay marine labs (especially our principal contact, Lisa Valentine), the UC Davis EVE administrative staff, and our sponsors, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and Lagunitas Brewing Company.   And of course, a HUGER thank you to the students of 2013, probably the best class that has ever passed through the course, with the notable exception of the class of 2011, which, incidentally, is when I was a student in the workshop.  Seriously, one sentence can’t hold enough superlatives to describe how exciting your research is.

Second, as part of a continuing effort (the new website, the blog, the tweeting!) to maintain a more cohesive community outside the one-week-a-year workshop, we wanted to encourage this year’s students, and those of workshops past, to stay in touch.  Specifically, it’d be great if you could keep us apprised of any papers you publish that use skills you picked up at the Bodega Bay workshop.  We’d love to profile your work on the blog, both to give you the Treethinkers bump and to advertise the value of the course for future students.  So please, keep us abreast of the latest and greatest in phylogen* research, and send us your papers!

Third, because they aren’t going to thank themselves, I’d like to lead everyone in a round of applause for this year’s faculty: {Peter, Brian, Bob, Luke, Sam, Rich, John, Bruce, Jonathan, Tracy, Jeremy}.  Based on all the comments on the course evaluations, the students really benefitted from all the mental horsepower you brought to the room!

Finally, what I’m sure has been on all of our minds: the Bodega Shake video.  I’m not going to post it, because, you know, some of us probably want to be hired somewhere at some point, but if you need to see it, send me an email or find me at a conference (I’ll be at Snowbird this summer!).

Thanks again to everybody for a great week!  Already excited for #Bodega2014…