The North American Paleontological Convention (NAPC) is a quadrennial gathering of paleontologists from a variety of disciplines. The meeting planned for June 19 through June 26, 2005 at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia will be the eighth NAPC. Each previous convention has been judged an excellent opportunity for the presentation of the results of new research and for discussions of current areas of paleontological research. One aim of NAPC is to allow specialists who would not otherwise normally be in contact to meet and exchange ideas. For example, micropaleontologists and vertebrate paleontologists have different professional societies that meet at different times, yet some members of these two groups work on fossils from the same rock units. Based on past experience, the Organizing Committee for NAPC-2005 expects that more than 500 professionals will attend and interact during three days of meetings and on several field trips. NAPC provides an outstanding educational opportunity to obtain focused presentations of paleontological information from talks and poster presentations without the other distractions presented at a general geological meeting.
The Organizing Committee believes that the continued interest of students is critical to the health of the field. Not only will students maintain the study of past life, they are the ones who will provide fresh approaches and examine old fossils with new eyes. NAPC allows students the ready opportunity to meet with leaders in the field and to discuss their research in progress, both formally and informally, in a venue not provided by a national or regional geologic meeting.
