The 9th North American Paleontological Convention (NAPC-2009), will be held on the campus of the University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH), June 21-26, 2009. The centrally-located Cincinnati region is world renowned for its Upper Ordovician fossils and strata, and has a long-established heritage of paleontological research and teaching.

NAPC provides an opportunity to bring together an unusually wide range of scientists with a common interest in the history of life, and the organizing committee is planning a slate of activities to provide a memorable experience for all participants.  There will be a variety of regional field trips; a plenary session commemorating the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Darwin and the sesquicentennial of the publication of "The Origin of Species;" workshops on the creationism/evolution controversy and other topics; an evening banquet at the Cincinnati Museum Center; a special social event for students and postdocs; and numerous other social and educational activities.  Pending procurement of funding, the organizing committee expects to be able to offer deep discounts for students.  A conference Web site has been established at http://www.napc2009.org/ , where preliminary details can be found, including information about on-campus facilities and housing.  The Web site will continue to evolve as additional plans for the meeting are developed.

The organizing committee is currently soliciting proposals for symposia, which will form the backbone of the meeting. The deadline for proposal submission is September 15, 2008.  Please note:

--Symposium organizers must identify a minimum of eight invitees who have agreed to participate in the proposed session.
--All talks at the meeting, except for plenary-session presentations, will be fifteen minutes in duration.
--When abstracts of talks are submitted beginning in Fall 2008, authors will have the opportunity to volunteer their submissions to symposium sessions that are not already fully subscribed with invitees (16 presentations for a half-day session).
--Symposium organizers will have the option of sponsoring an accompanying poster session. 

Because the electronic-submission site, which can be accessed at http://www.napc2009.org, was constructed for submission of talk abstracts, a few items might seem a bit confusing.  Therefore, "author" and "co-authors" really mean "convener" and "co-conveners".  In addition, "abstract" really means "symposium" throughout the submission pages.  If  symposium proposers have any questions or problems they should feel free to contact Dr. Arnold I. Miller (arnold.miller@uc.edu ), chair of the NAPC organizing committee. Upon submission of a proposal, an e-mail should also be sent to Dr. Miller  to ensure that the submission is viewed promptly. Submission of abstracts of presentations will commence during Fall, 2008, with a deadline of February 12, 2009.

In addition, the organizers are soliciting proposals for field trips, to take place immediately before or after the meeting, or on the planned mid-week "break" day on Wednesday, June 24.  Interested parties should contact Dr. Carl Brett (brettce@email.uc.edu ), who will be organizing field trips.  

We hope to see you in Cincinnati for NAPC!