US-IALE 2018 Annual Meeting
April 8-12 | Chicago, Illinois
Take a look at the schedule here: http://www.usiale.org/schedule.html

Greetings from Chicago!

The US-IALE 2018 Annual Meeting will be held April 8-12 in Chicago, Illinois at the historic Palmer House Hilton. Easily accessible to public transportation and a block from Grant Park and its attractions, the Palmer House was built out of love, burned to the ground in the Great Chicago Fire, rebuilt, and now newly renovated.

Chicago straddles the massive ecological transition zone from the deciduous forests to the east and the oak woodland/tallgrass prairies to the west. The city also straddles the boundary between the two largest watersheds on the continent: the Mississippi River watershed and the Great Lakes watershed. As William Cronon described it, Chicago is “Nature’s Metropolis”, with its urban core tightly linked to the agricultural and natural ecosystems that expand beyond it. The scale of Chicago’s ecological connections to water, food, and biodiversity will generate a truly unique, interdisciplinary conference.

While its namesake wild garlic (shikaakwa in Miami-Illinois language) might be hard to find downtown, food and fun will not be. Grab a bite at one of the hundreds of restaurants within walking distance, or take some food to-go and explore the landscape architecture of Grant Park (please note that ketchup on hot dogs is a misdemeanor within the city limits). In the evening, tag some colleagues and share a cab to visit one of the many comedy clubs or blues bars within the Loop or north in Wrigleyville. If you need a morning run or lunchtime walk, head due east from the hotel through Grant Park and pick up the Lakefront Trail. It offers 18 miles of stunning views of the lake and the city. Bringing kids? Want to bring back your inner child? Go visit the Museum Complex at the south end of Grant Park (Field Natural History Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, and the Museum of Science and Industry), or have some fun at the Children’s Museum at Navy Pier just north of Grant Park. If you love heights, you can’t get any higher than The Skydeck at the top of Willis Tower, but please call it the “Sears Tower” when asking for directions or the locals will get confused.

Planning is well under way for the 2018 Annual Meeting. Check out the “Updates & Announcements” section below to learn about the latest developments. We also invite you to join our mailing list to receive updates and reminders about the Annual Meeting as the event nears.

We look forward to seeing you in Chicago in April!

The Host Committee
–Emily, Amélie, Brian, and Audrey

Updates & Announcements

Attendee registration is open! There are several ways to save on your registration expense, including registering early (by February 26), staying at the host hotel, and by being a current member of US-IALE. Visit the Annual Meeting, Registration section of this site for more information, and to sign up to attend.
The schedule of technical sessions and symposia and their abstracts will be added to the agenda online soon; please check back for updates. In the meantime, review these recently added highlights:

​Be sure to check out the interactive schedule at-a-glance (hosted in SCHED) which allows you to build your own agenda, search within the schedule, or filter to show items only occurring on a certain day, or within a track.

Event Overview

​The meeting will bring together leaders in landscape ecology who are dedicated to preserving and protecting our natural resources, including educators and practitioners in the fields of geology, ecology, biology, geography, urban and regional planning, and landscape preservation and design. Highlights will include in-depth, hands-on workshops, thought-provoking plenary sessions, special symposia and contributed papers, oral presentations and posters, scientific excursions, and numerous social and networking opportunities.