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ASPB News THE NEWSLETTER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANT BIOLOGISTS Volume 35, Number 5 September/October 2008 Inside This Issue Sally Assmann Assumes Presidency October 1 President’s Letter Sarah M. (Sally) Assmann, Penn State Another major research focus of Tuan-hua David Ho Is University, is ASPB’s new president. She Sally’s group is on roles of heterotri- President-Elect succeeds Rob McClung, Dartmouth meric G-proteins in plant plasticity Kathy Osteryoung University, who became immediate past and plant stress tolerance. She has Elected to Executive president on October 1. The Society’s demonstrated that these key signaling Committee new president-elect is Tuan-hua David proteins regulate a diversity of ion ASPB Participates in Ho, Washington University in St. Louis. transport, hormonal, and develop- FESPB Congress Sally currently is the Waller Profes- mental processes and is extending this sor of Biology at Penn State University. research from the model plant Ara- She received her BA in biology from bidopsis to the oilseed crop canola. Williams College in 1980 and her PhD Sally teaches introductory plant Sally Assmann in biology from Stanford University in physiology to freshmen and a labora- 1985. After a postdoctorate at UC–Riverside with tory course on cell biology techniques to beginning Rob Leonard, she joined the Organismic and Evolu- graduate students. Her professional activities include tionary Biology Department at Harvard University grant review panels for NSF, DOE, and USDA; in as an assistant professor in 1987 and continued there 2004, she was program manager for the USDA as an associate professor. In 1993, she moved to the Developmental Processes in Crop Species panel. She Biology Department at Penn State. has served in an editorial capacity for a number of During her PhD research with Eduardo Zeiger on journals: subject editor for Plant, Cell, & Environ- stomatal responses to light, Sally developed a fascina- ment from 1997 to 2000; editorial board member of tion with cellular signaling, an emphasis that is Plant and Cell Physiology from 1998 to 2001; and retained in her laboratory to this day. Her group takes monitoring editor for Plant Physiology from 1994 to a multilevel approach to guard cell biology and draws 1997. She has been a coeditor for The Plant Cell since on methods ranging from single-cell electrophysiolo- 1998. Other ASPB service includes membership on gy and ionic imaging; to molecular genetic, genomic, the Publications Committee from 2000 to 2005, cur- and proteomics approaches; to whole plant physiolo- rent membership on the board of directors of the gy. Recently, Sally has begun collaborating with sys- Education Foundation, and co-organizer of the tems biologists to construct predictive models of “Biology of Transpiration” meeting held in 2006. Sally’s guard cell signaling. In 2006, she was one of a team of K–12 outreach activities include teaching special scientists awarded an NSF Arabidopsis 2010 grant to programs on plant biology to elementary school elucidate the membrane interactome. The project’s classes and production of “Roots of Discovery,” a 30- aim—to define the protein–protein interaction net- minute science education video. Her most extensive work of several thousand membrane proteins and outreach effort has been development of a week- soluble signaling proteins—should provide a wealth long summer science camp on plant biology for 4th of information to the plant science community. continued on page 7 The ASPB News is delivered online as well as in print. Members will be alerted by e-mail when a new issue is posted. The ASPB News welcomes member feedback. Contact the editor at [email protected]. ASPB Executive Committee & Staff CONTENTS President Sarah M. Assmann 814-863-9579 1 Sally Assmann Assumes Presidency President-Elect Tuan-hua David Ho 314-935-4632 Immediate Past President C. Robertson McClung 603-646-3940 5 President’s Letter Secretary Danny Schnell 413-545-4024 Treasurer Mark R. Brodl 210-999-7246 Chair, Board of Trustees Dan Bush 970-491-2442 David Ho Elected to Lead ASPB in 7 Chair, Publications Committee Sally Mackenzie 402-472-6997 2009–2010 Chair, Women in Plant Biology Committee Judy Brusslan 562-985-8133 Chair, Minority Affairs Committee MariaElena B. Zavala 818-677-3342 8 Kathy Osteryoung Elected to Executive Chair, Education Committee Jane Ellis 864-833-8416 Committee Chair, International Committee Leon V. Kochian 607-255-2454 Chair, Membership Committee Mel Oliver 573-882-9645 Addressing Ethical Standards Chair, Committee on Public Affairs Gary Stacey 573-884-4752 Elected Members Steven Huber 217-265-0909 9 AAAS/ASPB Mass Media Fellow Alan Jones 919-962-6932 ASPB Participates in FESPB Congress Katherine W. Osteryoung 517-355-4685 Sectional Representatives Midwestern John Kiss 513-529-5428 10 Online Arabidopsis Book Posts New Northeastern Lawrence Smart 315-470-6737 Content Southern Timothy D. Sherman 251-460-7529 Mid-Atlantic Robert Donaldson 202-994-6094 11 People Western Anireddy S. N. Reddy 970-491-5773 13 Women in Plant Biology Executive director Crispin Taylor, ext. 115 [email protected] 15 Bioethics Executive and governance affairs manager Donna Gordon, ext. 131 [email protected] Assoc. director of finance & administration Kim Kimnach, ext. 140 [email protected] 16 Membership Corner Accounts receivable specialist Stephanie Liu-Kuan, ext. 143 [email protected] Junior accountant Jotee Pundu, ext. 144 [email protected] Director of meetings, marketing, & membership Jean Rosenberg, ext. 110 [email protected] 17 Public Affairs Manager of marketing and web services Wendy Sahli, ext. 123 [email protected] Membership and marketing research assistant Shoshana Kronfeld, ext. 122 [email protected] 25 ASPB Education Foundation Subscriptions manager Suzanne Cholwek, ext. 141 [email protected] Director of public affairs Brian M. Hyps, ext. 114 [email protected] Education foundation assistant Katie Engen, ext. 116 [email protected] 41 Obituaries Director of publications Nancy A. Winchester, ext. 117 [email protected] Publications assistant Diane McCauley, ext. 133 [email protected] Managing editor John Long, ext. 119 [email protected] Science writer, Plant Physiology Peter Minorsky, 845-878-4570 [email protected] Production manager, Plant Physiology Jon Munn, ext. 130 [email protected] Manuscript manager, Plant Physiology Leslie (Ash) Csikos, ext. 125 [email protected] Deadline for January/February 2009 ASPB News: December 5, 2008 News and reviews editor, The Plant Cell Nancy Eckardt, 970-495-9918 [email protected] Production manager, The Plant Cell Susan Entwistle, ext. 118 [email protected] Manuscript manager, The Plant Cell Annette Kessler, ext. 120 [email protected] ASPB News is distributed to all ASPB members and is published six ASPB News times annually, in odd-numbered months. It is edited and prepared by ASPB staff from material provided by ASPB members and other Headquarters Office interested parties. 15501 Monona Drive Copy deadline is the 5th day of the preceding even-numbered Rockville, MD 20855-2768 USA month (for example, December 5 for January/February publication). Phone: 301-251-0560 Submit copy by e-mail whenever possible; submit all other copy by Fax: 301-279-2996 mail, not by fax. Contact: Nancy A. Winchester, Editor, ASPB News, 15501 Monona Drive, Rockville, MD 20855-2768 USA; [email protected]; 301-296-0904. © 2008 American Society of Plant Biologists AAAS/ASPB 2009 Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellows Program Are you interested in science writing? Do you want to help people understand complex scientific issues? Apply for the AAAS/ASPB Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellows Program and learn how to increase public understanding of science and technology. Fellows in the 10-week 2009 summer program will work as reporters, researchers, and production assistants in mass media organizations nationwide. Deadline: January 15, 2009. Former host sites include: Chicago Tribune The Los Angeles Times Newsweek Visit http://www.aaas.org/ programs/education/ National Public Radio MassMedia/index.shtml for more details and to Popular Science download an application brochure, or call 202-326-6441 for more information. President’s Letter Turn! Turn! Turn! Timing is every- The challenges of meeting this goal are frequently at a handicap in debating com- thing (says the exacerbated by the diversion of arable land plex issues with zealots who profess certi- circadian biolo- from agriculture and also by the degrada- tude where none is justified. Education is gist). Pete Seeger tion of our environment and climate critical to allow people to evaluate available wrote the peace through human activities. I was surprised evidence, to recognize when further evi- anthem (Turn! to see that Pliny the Elder had said, “With dence is required, and to understand that Turn! Turn!) that man, most of his misfortunes are occa- uncertainty is not an excuse for inaction. expresses this concept most poetically. The sioned by man” (4). Apparently some Where, as in the case of global warming, Byrds made it number 1 (1), and Judy things never change. the preponderance of evidence indicates Collins rendered one of the most beautiful As I write, a political campaign is play- that change is occurring and that anthro- covers (2). One year ago, in my first letter as ing out in the United States of America. pogenic activities are contributing substan- president, I spoke of transitions. As I write Current and future energy supplies are at tially, action is urgent as the risks are com- my final letter as president, my thoughts the forefront of this campaign, and Pliny pounded by procrastination. The time to have returned to that theme. Pliny the the Elder addressed one of the more sim- develop crops and agronomic practices Elder, Roman scholar and scientist (c. 23– plistic responses to sustaining energy sup- better able to respond to global warming is 79 AD), wrote, “From the end spring new plies: “Everything is soothed by oil” (5).