This is a brief report on how I used the funds that I was awarded in April 2023 to attend the joint meeting of the International Mammalogical Congress (IMC) and American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) meeting that was held in Anchorage AK, July 14-20 2023. This was my first time attending the IMC, as it is usually held outside of the United States. It was a wonderfully run meeting, with many international attendees and lots of symposia and thematic talks. I was able to present my poster “Investigating the species status of Sherman’s short-tailed shrew (Blarina shermani): preliminary insights” and had some great discussions about its findings. I was also able to connect again with our incoming mammal curator Jon Nations, as he was also at that meeting. For ASM, I am the chair of the Public Education Committee as well as a member of both the Biodiversity Committee and the Program Committee. It was great to catch up with the committee members and talk about future progress and directions for those committees. This particular meeting was an expensive one due to the joint aspect of the meeting and its location, so I am very grateful for the Natural History Travel Awards committee for helping me attend when I otherwise would not have been able to.
Verity Mathis is a Collection Manager of Mammalogy at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
The CMSS 2023 Summer Travel Awards are funded with the support of the FLMNH Directors Office and the Department of Natural History.