November/December 2015 • Volume 42, Number 6 p. 4 p. 7 pp. 9–11 ASPB Officers Assume Plant Biology 2016 Awards and Honors Posts for 2015–2016 Call for Abstracts Graham Farquhar, New ASPB Officers and Keiko Torii, Steve Committee Members as of October 1 Kay, Wolf Frommer, Joanne Chory THE NEWSLETTER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANT BIOLOGISTS President’s Letter On Your Mark, Get A Lot to Think About Set . Nominate! BY RICHARD DIXON It Will Soon Be Time to University of North Texas, Denton Recognize and Honor Excellence in Our Fellow t’s amazing how quickly nimbly and decisively in Plant Scientists my year as president-elect addressing topical issues, Iof ASPB has passed, and I the Society has reorganized now find myself writing my first its governance structure he 2016 Call for ASPB Award President’s Letter. I echo the this past year to replace the Nominations will be sent to all mem- words of my predecessor, Julian current Executive Committee bers on January 4, 2016, and nomina- Schroeder, when I say that it is with two bodies: the Board T tions will be due by Wednesday, February 17. truly an honor to serve this im- of Directors and the Council. ASPB encourages you to participate in the portant Society. The former is the primary 2016 awards program by nominating highly It is also a somewhat daunt- body for ensuring efficient deserving individuals. Please watch for the ing experience. Before becom- and timely implementation Call for Nominations in your e-mail inbox, ing president-elect, the last of the Society’s initiatives, Rick Dixon on our website, and via social media. In the time I had served on an ASPB whereas the latter will take meantime, please visit ASPB’s awards pages committee was 20 years ago (Publications a more long-term, deliberative approach to (http://bit.ly/1iORD7B) so that you can see Committee, 1991–1995), and it seems that the development of policies. The discussions who among your colleagues has received the world in which we live and operate has around these changes were lively during my these awards in the past and determine who become a much more complex place since first meeting on the soon-to-be-phased-out might be most deserving in the future. All then. My experience this past year, as I have Executive Committee, and many varying that is required to make a nomination for tried to get back up to speed on all of ASPB’s points of view were expressed and debated, ASPB’s awards is a one- to two-page let- activities through engaging with the Society’s but everyone came together in the end to ter of nomination and a detailed CV of the various committees, has made me realize how acknowledge that changing times require new nominee. Nomination committees may opt important and necessary the Society is for approaches. to go back to the nominator to ask for addi- promoting plant biology through these diffi- The same has been true concerning the tional information if they deem it necessary. cult times. design, implementation, and upcoming roll- Nominations should be submitted electroni- It is also clear that the Society is well out of ASPB’s new digital ecosystem, Plantae, cally as a single PDF. The names of the 2016 prepared to take on new challenges. In real- which will underpin a totally new business ization of the need to be able to respond continued on page 3 continued on page 6 Contents ASPB Council President Richard Dixon Immediate Past President, chair Julian Schroeder President-elect Sally Mackenzie 1 President’s Letter Secretary Alice Harmon Treasurer; Chair, Board of Trustees C. Robertson McClung 1 On Your Mark, Get Set…Nominate! Elected Members Lisa Ainsworth 4 ASPB Officers and Committee Members Assume Posts Joe Kieber for 2015–2016 Maureen McCann Chair, Membership Committee Jill Deikman 5 2015–2016 Awards Committees Chair, Minority Affairs Committee Adán Colón-Carmona Chair, Publications Committee Neil E. Olszewski 7 Plant Biology 2016—Call for Abstracts Chair, Women in Plant Biology Committee Marisa Otegui 8 Winning Entries of August 2015 Teaching Tools Chair, Education Committee Sarah Wyatt Proposal Competition Chair, International Committee Tuan Hua David Ho Chair, Science Policy Committee Patrick Schnable People Sectional Representatives 9 Graham Farquhar Receives 2015 Prime Minister’s Prize Northeastern Section Peter Melcher for Science in Australia Western Section Camille M. Steber Mid-Atlantic Section Hemayet Ullah 9 Plantum Leaps to the Future of Plant Biology Midwestern Section Ed Cahoon Southern Section Becca Dickstein 10 Keiko Torii Wins Japanese Saruhashi Prize for Top Council members highlighted in blue Woman Scientist also serve on the Board of Directors 10 Steve Kay Named President of Scripps Research Institute ASPB Staff 11 Wolf Frommer Elected to German National Academy of Executive director Crispin Taylor, [email protected] Sciences Leopoldina Director of finance and administration Kim Kimnach, [email protected] Executive and governance affairs administrator Sylvia Lee, [email protected] 11 Joanne Chory Elected to American Philosophical Society Accounts receivable and payable specialist Stephanie Liu-Kuan, [email protected] 13 ASPB/AAAS Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellows Senior staff accountant Jotee Pundu, [email protected] Director of meetings and events Jean Rosenberg, [email protected] Where Are They Now? Conference coordinator Stacy Loewentritt Director, digital strategy and member services Susan Cato, [email protected] 17 Ralph W. F. Hardy Manager, member services Shoshana Kronfeld, [email protected] Meetings, marketing, and membership assistant Melanie Binder, [email protected] Science Policy Legislative and public affairs director Tyrone Spady, [email protected] 20 Policy Update Executive coordinator Plant Science Natalie Henkhaus Research Network 22 Ongoing National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Education coordinator Katie Engen, [email protected] and Medicine Study Examines Current Understanding Director of publications Nancy A. Winchester, [email protected] of GE Crops Publications assistant Diane McCauley, [email protected] Subscriptions manager Suzanne Cholwek, [email protected] Education Forum Subscriptions assistant Linda Palmer, [email protected] Managing editor Patti Lockhart, [email protected] 23 Chronicling Change, Inspiring the Future Science writer, Plant Physiology Peter Minorsky, [email protected] Production manager, Plant Physiology Jon Munn, [email protected] 25 A Master Educator: Making a Case for Case Studies Manuscript manager, Plant Physiology Ashton Wolf, [email protected] 26 My Introduction to Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Senior features editor, The Plant Cell Nan Eckardt, [email protected] Learning (POGIL) Features editor, The Plant Cell Mary Williams, [email protected] Production manager, The Plant Cell Susan Entwistle, [email protected] 27 PlantingScience Awarded $2.9 Million NSF Grant Manuscript manager, The Plant Cell Annette Kessler, [email protected] 28 ASPB Is Conference Collaborator for Creating The ASPB News is distributed to all ASPB members and is also available online. It is pub- lished six times annually in odd-numbered months. Its purposes are to keep membership Connections—Biology in Action! 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 and other Obituaries interested parties. Copy deadline is the 5th day of the preceding even-numbered month (for example, December 5 for January/February publication). 29 Larry Vanderhoef Contact: Nancy A. Winchester, Editor, ASPB News, 15501 Monona Drive, Rockville, MD 31 Jan Anderson 20855-2768 USA; [email protected]; 301-296-0904. © 2015 American Society of Plant Biologists 2 ASPB NEWS | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 PRESIDENT’S LETTER of plant biology, believe that a free and unfettered discourse issues we might see as being continued from page 1 their work is ultimately for the between the private and commer- specifically related to plant biol- model for the Society around public good. And many want to cial sectors to ensure that basic ogy often transcend our area provision of a wide range of see that work benefit humankind science discoveries make it to the of expertise, and we therefore online services. It will be excit- through either publicly funded consumer. I will be discussing this need to understand and engage ing to experience the new face of or commercial outlets. Sadly, topic in more detail, on the basis with other disciplines to more ASPB in 2016. this perception is not shared by a of my own experiences working effectively communicate with the When I agreed to run for pres- small but increasing proportion with industry, in a future issue. public to promote our science ident, I naively felt that the main of the general public. Just as the The U.S. National Academy of and its goals. Just explaining the issues that might require attention climate change debate has become Sciences is currently working on science is often not enough. would be these internal issues of hotly political, issues surrounding a report to be entitled Genetically Another important point that the Society. It is always good to biotechnology in agriculture and Engineered Crops: Past Experience all ASPB members will under- keep monitoring the effectiveness interactions of plant science with and Future Prospects. This will stand is the speed at which tech- of an organization’s governance industry have, over the past few be the most detailed and broad- nology is developing and the ways structure, and it is indeed possible years, become similar hot-button ranging report on the topic to it can outpace both expert reports that we will, collectively, make topics. date. The committee has now and the regulatory systems tweaks here and there to improve The reasons are complex, but wrapped up its fact-finding work, designed to provide the public the effectiveness of committees, generally they center around fears and a draft report is in review with confidence that products of channels of communication, and over genetically modified crops stage.