As part of the strategic development process currently underway, the Board recently reviewed the structure of the standing committees. Most of these committees have been standing since the founding of the Society and some of their missions have not changed since then, although their needs have. In light of these changes, we have combined certain committees, and also created a new one. Please take a moment to review these opportunities for participation.

The Academic Outreach Committee (AOC) focuses on enabling greater interaction among academia, government, pharmaceutical research companies and suppliers. During its last meeting, the Board approved incorporating the Endowment Committee into the AOC. The endowment was established a number of years ago with the purpose of supporting educational grants in the area of biomolecular sciences.

The Awards Committee is responsible for managing the various SBS awards given each year at the annual meeting. The committee solicits and researches nominations, and then selects the award recipients. If you are interested in submitting a nomination for an award, descriptions of the various awards can be found on the SBS website. Any member can nominate a candidate for an award, and we encourage you to do so.

The Conference Committee is responsible for managing the annual conference and various SBS symposia. Currently, the committee supports programming for three symposia each year in addition to our annual meeting. The Conference Committee acts as a scientific advisory board to the Program Committee (which is newly selected by the conference committee to manage the content of each meeting) and is responsible for the scientific content and quality. The success of this work is reflected in the continued improvement of the scientific quality of our programming. The Board recently expanded the mission of the Conference Committee to also be responsible for managing the interaction of the scientific and commercial programming within each meeting.

The Education Committee manages education and professional development opportunities, including online courses, short courses, conferences and symposia. Our online courses have been extremely well received and the committee is currently looking at ways to expand their offerings.

The Member Services Committee was newly formed at the last Board meeting by combining the Partners in Commerce and Membership committees. This new committee is responsible for enhancing the value of SBS membership by identifying member needs, developing practical solutions and collaborating on the implementation of programs and tools that would be most useful to members. Its mission is to equally serve our different member demographics including professionals involved in research, sales, marketing, and business development among others.

The Publications Committee manages publications developed by and under the SBS name, including the Journal of Biomolecular Screening and SBS News. It is chaired by the Editor-in-Chief of JBS. Current activities of the committee include looking into potential for SBS-labeled books.