September/October 2012 • Volume 39, Number 5 p. 8 p. 17 p. 23 Plant Biology 2012 The Future of Where Are They Meeting Highlights Science Now? More than 1,200 mem- The future of science is A new column that bers gathered in Austin in better undergraduate looks into the current for Plant Biology 2012. eduction. A perspective activities of influential from David Asai. members. THE NEWSLEttER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANT BIOLOGISTS Peggy Lemaux Assumes Presidency October 1 Alan Jones Elected to eggy G. Lemaux, sity about foods, agriculture, University of California, genetics, genomics, and tech- Lead ASPB in PBerkeley, is ASPB’s new nologies used in producing president. She succeeds Steve food. 2013–2014 Huber, USDA-ARS/University The major research of Illinois. The Society’s new goals of Peggy’s laboratory president-elect is Alan Jones, are threefold: (1) to utilize University of North Carolina at genomics tools to unravel Chapel Hill. complex pathways and Peggy received her BA from identify genes of interest for Miami University in Ohio and crop improvement, (2) to her MS and PhD in micro- solve remaining challenges biology from the University for genetic engineering of of Michigan in 1977, where Peggy Lemaux recalcitrant crops, and (3) she studied with Frederick C. to create new value-added Neidhardt. Her first postdoctoral mentor crops. Her laboratory has developed effec- was Stanley N. Cohen at Stanford University tive transformation methods for major Medical School, and her second was Arthur cereal species, notably barley, wheat, and Grossman, Department of Plant Biology, sorghum. Resulting technologies have been Alan Jones Carnegie Institution of Washington at transferred to laboratories worldwide and Stanford. In 1988, she joined the Department have led to issued patents, now licensed Alan Jones became president-elect of Plant Genetics at DeKalb/Pfizer Genetics to both start-up and major agricultural October 1 and is slated to become as a research scientist, where her group was biotechnology companies. Her laboratory ASPB president next October for the the first to publish the successful genera- currently uses the approaches developed to 2013–2014 term. tion of fertile, transgenic maize. In 1991, she address basic and applied questions in plant Alan, known as “AJ” by many of became a faculty member at UC Berkeley, biology and has led efforts to use maize his ASPB colleagues, received his BS where, as a cooperative extension specialist, transposable elements for gene delivery and magna cum laude from the University she conducts research on crop plants, nota- for gene tagging in small grain cereals. Her of Florida at Gainesville in 1978 and bly cereals, and leads an outreach program applied contributions include development continued on page 6 to educate individuals outside the univer- continued on page 4 Contents ASPB staff are dedicated to serving our members. We welcome your questions and feedback. For quick response, e-mail us at [email protected] or visit our FAQ at www.aspb.org/faq. ASPB Executive Committee 1 Peggy Lemaux Assumes Presidency October 1 President Steven C. Huber Alan Jones Elected to Lead ASPB in 2013–2014 Immediate past president Nicholas Carpita President-elect Peggy Lemaux 3 President’s Letter Secretary Julia Bailey-Serres 5 Karen Koch Elected Secretary-elect Treasurer Jonathan Monroe Chair, Board of Trustees Mary Lou Guerinot 7 MariaElena Zavala Elected to Executive Committee Chair, Publications Committee Sally Mackenzie Chair, Women in Plant Biology Committee Marta Laskowski Plant Biology 2012 Chair, Minority Affairs Committee MariaElena B. Zavala Chair, Education Committee Erin Dolan 8 Meeting Highlights Chair, International Committee Leon V. Kochian Chair, Membership Committee David Horvath 13 Austin Was Awesome for Associating with Undergraduates! Chair, Committee on Public Affairs Richard Sayre 15 Rallying Around Research Elected members Gloria Muday Marguerite Varagona 17 The Future of Science Is in Better Undergraduate Education Richard Vierstra Sectional Representatives Section News Midwestern Sarah E. Wyatt Northeastern Om Parkash Dhankher 21 A Focus on Plastids at the 2012 NEASPB Meeting Southern Kent Chapman Mid-Atlantic Zhongchi Liu Minority Affairs Western David Logan 22 Reaching Out to Promote Inclusion ASPB Staff Executive director Crispin Taylor, [email protected] Where Are They Now? Executive and governance affairs administrator Sylvia Lee, [email protected] Assoc. director of finance and administration Kim Kimnach, [email protected] 23 Larry Vanderhoef Accounts receivable and payable specialist Stephanie Liu-Kuan, [email protected] Senior staff accountant Jotee Pundu, [email protected] Director of meetings, Jean Rosenberg, [email protected] Public Affairs marketing, and membership 26 Policy Update Manager of marketing and web services vacant Membership manager Shoshana Kronfeld, [email protected] 27 Public Affairs Increases Presence at Annual Meeting Subscriptions manager Suzanne Cholwek, [email protected] Subscriptions assistant Linda Palmer, [email protected] Education Forum Assoc. director of public affairs Kathy Munkvold, [email protected] Education coordinator Katie Engen, [email protected] 29 PB 2012 Education and Outreach Posters Director of publications Nancy A. Winchester, [email protected] Publications assistant Diane McCauley, [email protected] 30 PB12 Education Booth Managing editor Patti Lockhart, [email protected] 32 Plant Biology 2012 Education Workshop Science writer, Plant Physiology Peter Minorsky, [email protected] 33 Education and Outreach Minisymposium Production manager, Plant Physiology Jon Munn, [email protected] Manuscript manager, Plant Physiology Ashton Wolf, [email protected] 35 Winning Outreach Senior features editor, The Plant Cell Nan Eckardt, [email protected] 37 New! The ASPB Master Educator Program Features editor, The Plant Cell Mary Williams, [email protected] Production manager, The Plant Cell Susan Entwistle, [email protected] 39 Positive Results for PlantingScience Manuscript manager, The Plant Cell Annette Kessler, [email protected] 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 Obituary membership informed of ASPB activities and to reinforce the value of membership. The ASPB News is edited and produced by ASPB staff from material provided by members 41 David Alan Walker and other interested parties. Copy deadline is the 5th day of the preceding even-numbered month (for example, December 5 for January/February publication). Contact: Nancy A. Winchester, Editor, ASPB News, 15501 Monona Drive, Rockville, MD 20855-2768 USA; [email protected]; 301-296-0904. © 2012 American Society of Plant Biologists 2 ASPB NEWS | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 President’s Letter Thank You, ASPB! STEVE HUBER ASPB President, University of Illinois am writing this ibly successful Providence, Rhode Island. Be sure am so impressed with the dedica- final letter as meeting—great to save the date (July 20–24, 2013) tion and talent involved. Thanks I president upon science in an so that you can attend! to all of you who give so freely and my return from excellent venue, ASPB runs on two legs: the bring so much to the table. Plant Biology 2012 with lots of fun many members who volunteer and In order for ASPB to run on in Austin. I wanted and good eat- give selflessly to Society work and two legs, there needs to be a struc- to take this oppor- ing very close to the professional staff at headquar- ture and capacity to pivot, and that tunity to say a few the Convention ters. I tried this year to highlight is provided by our most capable words about the Center. The pro- the staff in my letters, as they are executive director, Crispin Taylor. meeting (see other gram this year was often hidden in the background if With a PhD in plant biology and articles in this issue truly exceptional you aren’t directly involved with years of diverse administrative for more details on and included an activity. As president, I had experience, he is uniquely quali- PB12) and to thank expanded op- the unique opportunity to sit in fied to keep ASPB’s two legs work- Steve Huber some people with portunities for and participate with many of the ing together in harmony. whom I have worked closely this networking and career develop- Society’s standing committees and And ASPB has been running past year. Those of you who were ment that we will continue to get better acquainted with both the this past year! The fruit of in Austin know it was an incred- enhance for next year’s meeting in staff and volunteer members, and I continued on page 4 the larger scholarly publishing Crispin Taylor, PhD arena, serving on the council of the Association of Learned and Short Biography Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP; http://alpsp.org/ngen_ Crispin Taylor is ASPB’s execu- resource for early public/) and on the Scholarly tive director. He immigrated career scientists. At Publishing Roundtable that to the United States from the Next Wave (now a was convened in 2009 by the UK after receiving a bachelor’s part of the Science U.S. House of Representatives degree in microbiology from Careers website; Science and Technology the University of Surrey and http://www.science Committee (http://www.aau.edu/ obtained a PhD in genetics at careers.org), Crispin policy/scholarly_publishing_ the Michigan State University participated in the roundtable.aspx?id=6894). Department of Energy Plant site’s geographic Crispin is supported in all Research Laboratory (http:// and topical growth, he does by his family—spouse, www.prl.msu.edu/) in 1993. overseeing new Cynthia; daughter, Emma; and After a postdoc at the University components of the son, Dylan—all three of whom of North Carolina at Chapel site dedicated to European and he has stayed active in efforts joined him recently in the ASPB Hill, Crispin began his career in Asian scientists and to U.S. post- to broaden participation in the outreach booth at the 2012 nonprofits as news and reviews docs.