The Sino-US Critical Transitions Workshop 2015 was held at the Field Museum of Natural History at Chicago, United States on April 4-6, 2015, with sponsorship from the US National Science Foundation and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). As the convener of China side, Prof. WANG Xiangdong with other 8 scientists from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences attended the workshop.

The intent of this workshop is to bring together expert paleontologists and evolutionary biologists from the US and China to explore and define emerging frontiers in studying the history of life on Earth and to foster international collaborations. The 2015 workshop focused on “The Rise of Modern Biodiversity – A Workshop addressing Critical Transitions in the History of Life”. With over 50 participants and 42 talks and poster presentations, it presented a wide-ranging and rich discussion of current progress in paleontology and evolutionary studies.