Dear members of the Society for Mathematical Biology,

In preparation for our members open meeting this year at Knoxville I went through some contributions the SMB makes to the world of mathematical biology and was impressed by the breadth of impact. I would like to share some of these contributions with you.

The annual meeting is an opportunity for members to share new research results and to interact. Thanks to Lou Gross and colleagues for organizing an excellent meeting at Tennessee this last July. Next year's meeting will be held in Dundee Scotland, August 6-9, 2003.

The Society owns the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. This is a world class journal devoted to the interface of mathematics and biology. Both the journal impact factor and number of electronic downloads per year have grown substantially in the last few years.

Training the next generation of mathematical biologists is crucial for our field. The Society is active in a wide variety of educational initiatives to initiate and promote education in mathematical biology. There are funds available for students (both graduate and undergraduate) to attend the annual SMB meeting and the Society supports students in travel to other math biology meetings. There is also a mentoring program to help students interact with senior faculty at the annual meeting.

Through world outreach support, the Society helps foster mathematical biology in developing countries. Much of this money goes to support meetings and help with travel when other funds are not available.

The activities in mathematical biology and of the Society are communicated to members through this newsletter. The newsletter is for the whole Society, and you are encouraged to contribute. The activities listed here happen through the dedicated service of volunteers including committee chairs (see http://www.smb.org/officers.shtml) and the funds for the outreach are primarily generated by the Bulletin. Feel free to contact me, committee chairs or board members with ideas or requests. Thank you to those who volunteer their effort to make things happen in this Society!

Best wishes for a good fall season

Mark Lewis