58th Annual Symposium on Family Theory and Family Psychotherapy

The Annual Symposium on Family Theory and Family Psychotherapy is the most important meeting on Bowen theory and its applications. It brings together the liveliest minds in the Bowen network to present, question, and discuss their latest research and ideas. The Symposium also features a Distinguished Guest Lecturer from another scientific discipline whose research is relevant to Bowen theory.

Distinguished Guest Lecturer: Corrie Moreau, PhD

Dr. Corrie Moreau is the Martha N. and John C. Moser Professor of Arthropod Biosystematics and Biodiversity at Cornell University in the Departments of Entomology and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in Ithaca, New York, USA. She is also the Director and Curator of the Cornell University Insect Collection with over 7 million specimens. Dr. Moreau earned her PhD in Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University and was a Miller Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. Before this, she completed her undergraduate and Master's degrees at San Francisco State University. Dr. Moreau was elected a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America in 2020, an AAAS Fellow in 2018, a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences USA in 2016, a National Geographic Explorer in 2014, and highlighted as a Woman of Impact by the National Geographic Society in 2018. In addition, she has two species named after her!

Dr. Moreau will be speaking on the following topics at the Spring Conference:

• Ants as Diverse Social Animals and the Role of Anatomy, Ecology, and Behavior in Their Evolutionary Success
  Traits from anatomy to behavior can influence the evolutionary and ecological success of an organism. With a robust phylogenetic hypothesis for a group one can use this evolutionary family tree to ask how many times these traits have evolved, when they arose, and if they are linked to the diversification of groups of organisms. In this talk, Dr. Moreau will explore how aspects of their anatomy, niche use for nesting, diet preference, and complex behavioral characters have evolved across the ants and what this tells us about their evolutionary and ecological success.

• You are More Than What You Eat: The Role of the Gut Microbiome in Ant Nutrition
  Each organism is a walking rainforest supporting an entire ecosystem within and on it. We know that for many organisms their microbial partners may even outnumber the host’s own cells. Not all of these partners are pathogenic and in many cases are, in fact, necessary for the host to thrive and survive. Within the ants there is variation in the diversity and reliance on gut-associated bacteria, but for some groups they are absolutely essential. For herbivorous ants, gut bacteria synthesize important nutrients. Microbial contributions to ants are not limited to diet enrichment and we are now finding evidence for their role in cuticle formation. These multiple lines of evidence are illuminating a more complete picture of ant evolution and providing novel insights into the role that symbiosis plays to promote biological diversity.

The conference day provides a maximum of 10 hours of Category I continuing education credit for social workers and for counselors.