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Big Challenges Require Broad Thinking by ROB LAST Michigan State University July/August 2019 • Volume 46, Number 4 p. 4 p. 9 p. 12 Maureen McCann Plant Scientists ASPB Legacy Elected to Lead Elected to National Society Update— ASPB in 2020–2021 Academy of Sciences And a Look Ahead to Our Centennial Campaign THE NEWSLETTER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANT BIOLOGISTS President’s Letter Big Challenges Require Broad Thinking BY ROB LAST Michigan State University This continues the experiment suing a chemistry major, of publishing the President’s I minored in both botany Judy Callis Assumes Letter as part of a collection and zoology. These de- of essays and other resources partments were highly Presidency October 1 related to the topic (https:// organismal in focus, and tinyurl.com/HumanNetworks). thus we studied animal udy Callis becomes ASPB president Please also have a look at the behavior, ornithology, on October 1, 2019. She succeeds Rob previous collections on the plant taxonomy, and my- Last, who becomes immediate past future of not-for-profit sci- cology. In this molecular J president. ence organizations (http:// biology–emergent time, Judy is a faculty member in the Department bit.ly/futurenonprofitscience), even the evolutionary of Molecular and Cellular Biology and a member security (http://bit.ly/ biology curriculum had member of the PhD graduate programs in plant SecuringFuturePlantBiologists), no nucleotides and few biology, biochemistry and molecular biology, and future careers (http://bit. protein sequences. In and genetics at the University of California, ly/NextGenerationCareers) and send your retrospect, it is apparent how lucky I was to Davis. She was born in Ohio but grew up in St. feedback about these topics and collections to be able to learn chemistry in one department Louis, Missouri, and received her AB degree [email protected] or @Biokid001 on Twitter. and organismal biology in two others. from Washington University in St. Louis in Graduate school at Carnegie Mellon and s a kid growing up in a suburb of 1977. She is grateful for excellent mentorship postdoc research at MIT opened my eyes New York City, neither biology in as a student and postdoc. As an undergraduate to the predominance of molecular biology Ageneral nor plants specifically were a Judy had the privilege of working in the labo- and model organism genetics in the biol- major fascination until 1976, when college at ratory of Virginia Walbot, which started her ogy of the 1980s. It made sense: you could Ohio Wesleyan University brought me into long interest in plant biology research. contact with organismal biology. While pur- do so much with Escherichia coli, baker’s continued on page 6 continued on page 7 Contents Council members highlighted in blue ASPB Council also serve on the Board of Directors. President Rob Last Immediate Past President; Chair Harry Klee President-elect Judy Callis Secretary Andrew Bent 1 President's Letter Treasurer; Chair, Board of Trustees Rick Vierstra Elected Members Christine Foyer Maureen McCann 1 Judy Callis Assumes Presidency October 1 Chair, Membership Committee Jill Deikman 3 What If Plant Scientists Were as Diverse as the Chair, Minority Affairs Committee Gustavo MacIntosh Plants We Study? Chair, Publications Committee Neil E. Olszewski Chair, Women in Plant Biology Committee Laura Wayne Chair, Education Committee Sarah Wyatt 4 Maureen C. McCann Elected to Lead ASPB in 2020–2021 Chair, International Committee Anja Geitman Chair, Science Policy Committee Nathan Springer 5 Clint Chapple Elected to Board of Directors Sectional Representatives Mid-Atlantic Section Hua Lu People Midwestern Section Gustavo MacIntosh Northeastern Section Carolyn Lee-Parsons Southern Section Ashlee McCaskill 9 Plant Scientists Elected to the 2019 Class of the Western Section Kulvinder Gill National Academy of Sciences Mexico Rubén Rellán Álvarez Environmental and Ecological 11 Natasha Raikhel Appointed Honorary Doctor at SLU's Plant Physiology Section Andy VanLoocke Faculty of Forest Sciences Primarily Undergraduate Institutions Section Leeann Thornton ASPB Staff 12 ASPB Legacy Society Update—And a Look Ahead to Chief executive officer Crispin Taylor, [email protected] Our Centennial Campaign Chief financial officer Clara Woodall, [email protected] Executive and governance affairs administrator Sylvia Lee, [email protected] Accounting manager Teressa Leath, [email protected] Section News Senior staff accountant Jotee Pundu, [email protected] Senior staff accountant Francky Rakotomanana, [email protected] 13 Plant Biology in the Mid-Atlantic Region Director of meetings and events Jean Rosenberg, [email protected] Conference coordinator Teresa Myers, [email protected] 14 ASPB’s Southern Section Holds a Successful Annual Senior membership manager Shoshana Kronfeld, [email protected] Meeting at Clemson Community engagement administrator Katie Rogers Web systems manager Mark James, [email protected] Legislative and public affairs director vacant Membership Corner Executive coordinator, Plant Science Research Network Natalie Henkhaus, [email protected] 15 Beverly Agtuca Education coordinator Winnie Nham, [email protected] Director of publications Nancy A. Winchester, [email protected] Publications assistant Diane McCauley, [email protected] Science Policy Subscriptions manager Suzanne Cholwek, [email protected] Subscriptions assistant Linda Palmer, [email protected] 17 Policy Update Managing editor Jennifer Regala, [email protected] Science writer, Plant Physiology Peter Minorsky, [email protected] 18 Fond Farewell to Tyrone Spady, ASPB Legislative and Production manager, Plant Physiology Jon Munn, [email protected] Public Affairs Director Peer review manager, Plant Physiology Ashton Wolf, [email protected] Senior features editor, The Plant Cell Nan Eckardt, [email protected] Features editor, The Plant Cell Mary Williams, [email protected] Education Forum Production manager, The Plant Cell Susan Entwistle, [email protected] Peer review manager, The Plant Cell Annette Kessler, [email protected] 19 Plant BLOOME 2019 Winners Announced The ASPB News is distributed to all ASPB members and is also available online. It is published six times annually in odd-numbered months. Its purposes are to keep membership informed 21 Announcing the 2019 Summer Undergraduate Research of ASPB activities and to reinforce the value of membership. The ASPB News is edited and Fellows (SURF) produced by ASPB staff from material provided by members and other interested parties. Copy deadline is the 5th day of the preceding even-numbered month (for example, April 5 for May/June publication). Contact: Nancy A. Winchester, Editor, ASPB News, 15501 Monona Drive, Rockville, MD 20855-2768 USA; [email protected]; 301-296-0904. © 2019 American Society of Plant Biologists 2 ASPB NEWS | JULY/AUGUST 2019 What If Plant Scientists Were as Diverse as the Plants We Study? BY JENNIFER NEMHAUSER, University of Washington and ELIZABETH HASWELL, Washington University in St. Louis his spring, in collabora tion Committee, and representatives at all examine the rationales we on how we should restructure with Joanna Friesner, we the recent Plant Summit (http:// give for our efforts at improv- our educational programs (see Tlaunched DiversifyPlantSci bit.ly/NAASCPlantSummit). ing diversity and inclusion. One Resources sidebar on page 8). (https://tinyurl.com/Diversify One of us cohosts a podcast commonly heard justification is At the professional society level, PlantSci), an online directory of that tackles issues of scien- that diverse teams are more effec- plant biologists must do better at self-nominated plant scientists tific culture (https://plantae. tive and innovative (and this is establishing community norms who share identity with groups org/podcasts/the-taproot/), strongly supported by data). Yet, and expectations that include all that are currently minoritized in and the other is chair of her do we really want to convey to facets of professional life (for a STEM fields. DiversifyPlantSci department’s Graduate Student our trainees that their productiv- great example, see https://paleo was inspired by many different and Postdoctoral Scientist ity and efficiency are the ultimate soc.org/ethics-and-inclusion/). groups hosting similar efforts, Committee. All of that said, measure of their worth? Instead, Another necessary shift is in particular DiversifyEEB we do not consider ourselves we should improve diversity and to properly value the contribu- (https://diversifyeeb.com/). experts. We see writing this arti- inclusion in plant science simply tions of our colleagues. Beronda DiversifyPlantSci membership cle as an opportunity to reflect because it is the right thing to do. Montgomery (see Beronda’s now exceeds 250 people and in- on what we have learned, share Everyone deserves to have equal contribution to the Plantae cludes scientists who identify as some hard-won insights, and (we access to the privilege and joy of collection at https://tinyurl.com/ belonging to racial or ethnic groups hope) inspire the entire plant doing plant science and to be a HumanNetworks), Gina Baucom, other than White European or science community to enter into respected and valued member of and others doing similar work American, those who identify a deeply important conversation our community. in this space (see Resources as women, those who have dis- that results in action. Next, we must recognize that sidebar) should be compensated abilities, and those who identify Like any other STEM disci- effective solutions to diversity, for their work. This compen- as members of the LGBTQ com- pline, the plant sciences
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