Membership

Chromodoris willani
Chromodoris willani

Membership renewals are due once a year in May. This is the beginning of our fiscal year and this will hopefully simplify the renewal process for not only the Treasurer but all members. This also allows SCAMIT a general yearly operating budget with which to plan major expenses. General reminders will be posted on the website and in the newsletter and if members haven't renewed by the end of May, separate personal reminders will be sent to members in June.

New members may join at any time and will be informed of our annual dues then. It has always been SCAMIT's policy not to drop members late with their dues, especially long term members. This will continue. As always if this presents any sort of difficulty for anyone please contact the Treasurer directly (see below) to see what can be worked out.

Questions? We're all pretty busy with work but email us and we promise we will get back to you. If you're sending in your check for a new SCAMIT membership, we'll get back to you even sooner!

If paying by check

Membership rates if paying by check:

To join or renew by check, please fill out the SCAMIT membership form, and send it with a check made out to SCAMIT and mail it to:

Treasurer: Erin Oderlin
C/O SCAMIT
PO BOX 50162
Long Beach, CA 90815
USA

If paying via Paypal

Membership rates if paying via Paypal (slightly higher to include transaction fees):

To pay via Paypal:

  1. Fill in the electronic membership form; then
  2. Select a membership status and click Buy Now below.

    Membership rates

Thank you for your interest in SCAMIT.

About SCAMIT

Shipdeck winch

History

SCAMIT was formed in 1982 with the goal of promoting the study of marine invertebrate taxonomy in Southern California and developing a regionally standardized taxonomy. To accomplish this, SCAMIT provides a regular monthly forum to address problems in taxonomy, organizes taxonomic workshops, and maintains a reference collection and library of taxonomic literature. SCAMIT’s activities contribute to the scientific value of the many surveys of marine benthic invertebrate communities conducted in Southern California by assuring standardized taxonomy and compatibility between various taxonomic data sets.

Ann Dalkey has compiled a pictorial history of SCAMIT on the occasion of SCAMIT’s Twenty Year Anniversary (January 2003).

SCAMIT Constitution

The SCAMIT Constitution is the formal document that describes the structure and procedures of the organization (revised 26 March 2018).

SCAMIT Activities

Members meet monthly (usually on the second Monday) in various locations around Southern California. Our meetings include taxonomic workshops and/or speakers who lecture on the systematics and related ecology of a particular taxonomic group. Special workshops, by visiting investigators and experts from various institutions and museums, are also an integral part of SCAMIT. Descriptive information and comparative characteristics of species examined during these meetings are summarized in voucher sheets and tables distributed in the SCAMIT Newsletter.

In addition to our standardization program, SCAMIT supports with a grant program member projects to improve the quality of taxonomic data through development and revision of taxonomic keys and publication of new species descriptions. Members interested in applying for a publication grant should read the Taxonomic Publication Support Policy for further information and instructions.

In 1994, SCAMIT developed a comprehensive listing of local marine invertebrates from the infaunal monitoring programs in the Southern California Bight. This Taxonomic Listing of Soft Bottom Macroinvertebrates is periodically updated as knowledge of the marine invertebrate fauna expands.

SCAMIT Support

We are an entirely volunteer non-profit organization, with no employees. Costs of newsletter production and distribution, website costs, publication support grants, and stipends for out-of-area guest speakers are virtually our only expenses. Dues from membership partially offset these costs, but we also depend on financial support from outside agencies. Equally important is support of the agencies who allow their officer employees to conduct SCAMIT business as part of their work, and the companies and agencies that allow employee participation at the monthly meetings. Without such support it would be very difficult to find time to conduct the organization’s business. We are also supported by the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History (LACMNH), which provides us the physical space to maintain our voucher specimen and literature collections. As an organization we owe all of the above contributors and supporters a debt of gratitude.

SCAMIT Members

Initially formed by taxonomists associated with Southern California wastewater treatment programs, the SCAMIT membership has diversified over the years. It now also includes consultants, museum scientists, and both students and researchers in the academic realm. Despite our local origins we have members from one coast of the U. S. to the other, and a scattered contingent of international members. Distance prevents most from active meeting participation, but we attempt to include everyone through the newsletter and website.

Alliances

Besides the numerous public agencies with which SCAMIT is involved, we are beginning to explore cooperation with other related organizations. A recent contact is with the Southwest Association of Freshwater Invertebrate Taxonomists (SAFIT). The two organizations have jointly sponsored two taxonomic workshops on fauna of common interest (hydrobiid snails and estuarine crustaceans). We plan to continue that collaborative interaction with other topics in the future.

More Information

If you need any other information concerning SCAMIT please feel free to contact any of the officers:

President: Brent Haggin
Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts
562-908-4288 ext. 5672
BHaggin@lacsd.org
Vice-President: Leslie Harris
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007
213.763.3234, fax: 213.746.2999
exogone@hotmail.com
Treasurer: Erin Oderlin
Ocean Assessments Unit, Environmental Monitoring Division
LA Sanitation, Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant, City of Los Angeles
12000 Vista del Mar
Playa del Rey, CA 90293
310.648.5477
erin.oderlin@lacity.org
Secretary: Megan Lilly
Public Utilities Department
City of San Diego
mlilly@sandiego.gov
Webmaster: Cody Larsen
LA Sanitation, Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant, City of Los Angeles
310.648.5360
cody.larsen@lacity.org