Avida-ED

Wednesday at NABT’s national conventions are usually reserved for workshops and field trips. This year a late entry to the workshop program caught my eye and sparked my interest. Dr. Rob Pennock scheduled a workshop to introduce a student resource for exploring evolution concepts in a sophisticated artificial life environment while learning to actually do biology–Avida-ED. He had told me about this work two years before and I was really looking forward to its unveiling. Due to the late announcement of the workshop there were only a few attendees but I guarantee all were impressed. I was able to recruit several NABTer’s and they were not disappointed. Our own Eric Kessler was one and he has promised that he will be adding a post here, as he explores Avida and tries it out with his students. In the meantime, you can try it out yourself–check it out.

BW