Happy New Year loyal BITeS reader! I hope 2016 is off to a great start for you. I am currently in Claremont, California at an IONiC VIPEr project meeting. I am joined here by Nancy Williams, Adam Johnson, Joanne Stewart, Barb Reisner, Lori Watson and Jeff Raker. We are being joined remotely by Sheila Smith, Hilary Eppley and Betsy Jamieson. It has been really productive so far. We have been working on a new grant proposal to continue to build this wonderful community. We have some tremendous ideas to continue our current workshops and start some new ones. We are discussing some of our plans for the next six months including the ACS meeting in San Diego, crowd sourcing lab assessment and the workshop for this coming summer. So, we really are working hard. Sure, there is some fun too. Participants from our workshop this past summer will be glad to know that karaoke dance parties don't just happen in dorms at the University of Washington. So, stay closely tuned to BITeS to learn about upcoming opportunities to participate.