Poster design by Theresa Ong, Ivan Monagan and Gordon Fitch

From May 6 to 8, 2016, over 200 people gathered in Ann Arbor to celebrate the achievements in science and activism of Professor John Vandermeer. For this VandyFest, two days of talks, discussions, and meetings were accompanied by social gatherings on and around the campus. The symposium on Saturday and Sunday featured 50 speakers, including many of John’s former and current students, collaborators, and colleagues. The theme of the symposium was “Science with Passion and a Moral Compass.” People attending the symposium came from many parts of the United States, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Spain, and Japan. 

This website commemorates the symposium with the program of events, a list of participants, videos of the presentations, photographs from the VandyFest weekend and from several decades of John’s life and work, and tributes from colleagues who were unable to attend. The energy, love, and commitment to create a better world animated the entire weekend and connect John’s colleagues and collaborators across time and space.

Funding and support for the symposium were provided by the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the School of Natural Resources and Environment, the Program in the Environment, the Department of American Culture/ Latino/a Studies, the Center for the Study of Complex Systems, the Institute for the Humanities, the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, the Museum of Natural History, the Science Technology and Society Program, and the Department of Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental Biology.

Please click the following links to see John’s message to all of us and John’s message to the organizing committee