Frequently asked questions:
What is Evolution Tree?
How do I navigate the tree?
Where does the information on this site come from?
How do I add new information?
How do I sign up?
Why isn't there a tree for my field?
What if I find a mistake?
How do I become a site editor?
Can I print out a tree that looks nice?
How do I report a bug or recommend an improvement for the site?
Who owns the data in the tree?
What about privacy?
How do you calculate "mean distance"?
Can Evolution Tree tell me my Erdos number?
Are there other sites or resources like this?

What is Evolution Tree?
The Academic Genealogy of Evolutionary Biology is a free, volunteer-run website designed to help you track your academic genealogy. Our goal is to collect information about the graduate student and postdoctoral connections between most researchers in the field.

How do I navigate the tree?
There are several ways to wander around Evolution Tree. The basics are summed up in the commands at the top of each page:

• Tree - Jump to a random node on the tree
• Search - Search for a specific person or people at a specific institution
• Recent additions - List the most recent additions
• Distance - Trace the connection between two people in the tree
• Add person - Add a new person to the tree (and be a good citizen!). You must sign up for an account to make additions.

Where does the information on this site come from?
Data in the tree is provided largely by visitors to the site (like you!). A group of volunteer editors works to keep the data accurate, and we hope all contributors will do the same. Contact the site administrator if you're interested in helping out with editing.

How do I add new information?
Sign up for an account. Then you will be able to contribute information to the site. To add a new person, click "New Person" on the top naviation bar. To add a new connection to an existing person, click "New Child" or "New Parent" on their info page.

How do I sign up?
Click here to sign up for a new account. You will have to provide a username and a password. This will give you permission to add new information.

Why isn't there a tree for my field?
Because you haven't started one yet! It's easy. This tree is just one in the Academic Tree project. Just send us an email and we'll tell you what's involved in setting up a tree that focuses on your field of research.

What if I find a mistake?
Try to fix it yourself. Once users are logged in, they can edit their own tree entry as well as any other entries they have made. We protect other entries from editing to prevent vandalism. If you can't fix the error yourself, you can click on a "report error" link and send us an email with the relevant info. Alternatively, if you'd like to fix errors yourself, you can request to be a site editor.

How do I become a site editor?
We'd love to have your help! Send an email to gina.baucom AT gmail DOT com asking for editor privileges for your account. This will allow you to edit all the existing entries on the site and help us manage error reports submitted by other users.

Can I print out a tree that looks nice?
Print quality varies with browsers. We have had decent luck with Firefox. Hopefully someday we will develop a cleaner system for printing. In the mean time, this is what works best:

1. Click to the desired tree page
2. Choose the smallest size from the display options.
3. Go to the browser page setup/print options window and choose a) landscape, b) shrink page to fit, c) margins as small as possible and d) print background colors and images
4. Try printing. If you want to get rid of the headers, print to a pdf and edit them out.

How do I report a bug or recommend an improvement for the site?
Send an email to gina.baucom AT gmail DOT com.

Who owns the data in the tree?
The data are owned by academictree.org, but they are shared under the Creative Commons License (CC-BY 3.0). You may use the data in the tree however you want, as long as you attribute the source, academictree.org.

What about privacy?
We have no interest in annoying or taking advantage of users who have generously donated their time to this effort. To that end, we will not share personal information (i.e., email addresses) with any commercial interests. The information that is displayed (name, institutional affiliation,home page, photo, mentor, etc.) is presumed to already be public knowledge. However, if you wish to have any information about you removed from the site, contact the administrator (gina.baucom AT gmail DOT com), and we will respond promptly.

How do you calculate "mean distance"?
D(a)=1/(mean(1/d(a,b)))
where d(a,b) is the number of steps between people a and b. Averaging the inverse distance allows us to include unlinked people (d(a,b)=infinity) in the calculation. An analysis of mean distance for the whole tree can be found here.

Can Evolution Tree tell me my Erdos number?
No. The Erdos number is based on coauthored publications. Links in this tree are based on mentorship relationships. These include graduate students, research assistants, and post-docs. Although students and their mentors often co-publish, there is not a strict relationship between the two. If you are interested in calculating your Erdos number, a good place to begin is here: http://www-users.med.cornell.edu/~jdvicto/erdos.html.

Are there other sites or resources like this?
Evolution Tree runs on software developed for Neurotree, the academic family tree of neuroscience. We hope eventually to merge tree from several disciplines into a single larger scale genealogy project at academictree.org. If you are interested in developing a tree for another field, please contact us at gina.baucom AT gmail DOT com!

Elsewhere on the internet, we have located some similar projects, both large and small:

• The Mathematics Genealogy Project (a big one)
• The AI Genealogy Project (similar design to the Mathematics Project)
• Family Tree of Trade Economists (more focused but thorough)
• Brown University planetary geology family tree (a smaller one)
• Here's a diagram of relations between participants in the 2001 Cold Spring Harbor course on computational vision (contributed by Tony Movshon).

If you know of any other relevant links, let us know, and we'll add them to the list!