You might notice that in each issue of the Newsletter you see the same names mentioned in the by-lines over and over again. If it weren't for the contributions of these people, this newsletter wouldn't be a good source of information for those in the field of Mathematical Biology. I know the newsletter is popular because, as the webmaster, I notice that the newsletter pages get the most hits on our website.

However, this newsletter is not only supposed to be for all of the members of SMB to enjoy, it is also supposed to be a place for members to contribute. I would like to remind everyone that it doesn't take long to write a short (one-half to one page) summary of a recent meeting you've attended, a new book you have found helpful, an informative website, or anything else that might be useful to other members of the SMB community. Also, if you have any ideas for regular columns in the Newsletter please let me know and the publications committee will take it into consideration.

On the note of usefulness, I am proud to announce that our website has been rated in the top 5% of Webs Most Linked on the Internet. (Meaning of the web domains in the Webs Most Linked database, ours is in the top 5% for number of links pointing to our website from others throughout the World Wide Web.)

I try to design the website so it is accessible to the majority of people on the Internet today. Unfortunately for some, this means the website is mostly designed for people operating Windows or Mac systems. There have been some reports of problems with fonts appearing too small when viewing the website from a Unix system. If you are experiencing this problem the best solution may be to override the fonts defined by the webmaster on the page. If you are unsure how to do this, please contact your systems administrator for help. He or she should be able to tell you how to do this for the web browser on your system.

Last I'd like to talk about where the Newsletter and the website meet. The SMB Newsletter is published three times a year, and is both mailed to SMB members in hard-copy form as well as published on our website at http://www.smb.org/newsletter/. From time to time the members of the publications committee who publish the Newsletter discuss whether there is a need for a paper version to be produced. The last time this question was asked, the answer was a resounding Yes! As the editor, I now have the resources available to create PDF (Portable Document Format) files, which would be another way to publish the Newsletter onto our website. We would like to poll SMB members as to which format they prefer to read the newsletter: paper, pdf or on the website as it is currently published. Please send email to me at pdf@smb.org and let me know if you have a preference.