January/February 2017 • Volume 44, Number 1 p. 5 p. 7 p. 9 Say Aloha to Plant ASPB Members Good Science Biology 2017! Elected to Conquers Greatest 2016 Class of Fear: The Unknown June 24–28 AAAS Fellows Honolulu, Hawaii THE NEWSLETTER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANT BIOLOGISTS President’s Letter Adjusting to an Uncertain Future BY SALLY MACKENZIE University of Nebraska–Lincoln s we enter 2017, plant is a seeming lack of respect biologists face uncer- by the new government for Atainty with the arrival science, its process, and its Aloha! of President Trump. The new importance to America’s administration has provided health, safety, food security, few hints about a position on and technological advantage. science, and what comments Now more than ever, it will have been made appear worri- be crucial that we justify the some. A Trump administration value of science not simply is not what most of us were for science’s sake, but as expecting based on polling the engine that fuels U.S. June 24–28 data and, in fact, was not what competitiveness. Comments by the Trump Honolulu, Hawaii biologists had hoped for. A Sally Mackenzie 2013–2014 survey found that campaign regarding climate FIVE MAJOR SYMPOSIA only 5% to 6% of self-described profes- change, safety of vaccinations, and envi- sional biologists considered themselves ronmental protection raise the question of Away from the Brink—Toward the Sustainable Use of N and P in whether sound science will hold sway in “conservative” or “far right” in political views Agriculture (Reardon, 2016). this new political climate. As Zhang (2016) One key concern, of course, is the future wrote in a recent Atlantic article, “The trap- Evolution of Cellular Development budget for science. Trump focused most pings of science can be decoupled from the The Chemical Dictionary of Plants: of his public statements on issues such as actual rigor of science. In a post-fact, post- Origin and Translation expert world, science still holds currency. It national security, deteriorating infrastruc- Plants and Fungi: Friends or Foes? ture, and immigration. Whether pursuit just has to be your facts and your experts.” of the administration’s goals in these areas AAAS CEO Rush Holt (2016) noted in his Plant Scientist: Entrepreneur will shrink the science budget remains to be recent commentary in Science that this lax coverage starts on page 5 seen. A second, even more pressing concern continued on page 4 Contents ASPB Council President Sally Mackenzie Immediate Past President, Chair Richard A. Dixon President-elect Harry Klee Secretary Alice Harmon Treasurer; Chair, Board of Trustees C. Robertson McClung 1 President’s Letter Elected Members Joe Kieber Maureen McCann 3 Let’s Nominate! Chair, Membership Committee Jill Deikman Chair, Minority Affairs Committee Adán Colón-Carmona 3 2016–2017 Awards Committees Chair, Publications Committee Neil E. Olszewski Chair, Women in Plant Biology Committee Marisa Otegui Chair, Education Committee Sarah Wyatt 5 Say Aloha to Plant Biology 2017! Chair, International Committee Leon Kochian Chair, Science Policy Committee Nathan Springer People Sectional Representatives Mid-Atlantic Section Hua Lu Midwestern Section Ed Cahoon 7 Members of the ASPB Community Elected to the Northeastern Section Peter Melcher 2016 Class of AAAS Fellows Southern Section Becca Dickstein Western Section Camille M. Steber 8 Emanuel Epstein: No Intelligent Life on Solid Ground in Council members highlighted in blue the Universe Without the Existence of also serve on the Board of Directors. Rooted Organisms ASPB Staff 9 Good Science Conquers Greatest Fear: The Unknown Chief executive officer Crispin Taylor, [email protected] Director of finance and administration Kim Kimnach, [email protected] Executive and governance affairs administrator Sylvia Lee, [email protected] Luminaries Accounts receivable and payable specialist Stephanie Liu-Kuan, [email protected] Senior staff accountant Jotee Pundu, [email protected] Director of meetings and events Jean Rosenberg, [email protected] 11 Marja Timmermans Conference coordinator Teresa Myers, [email protected] Director, digital strategy and member services Susan Cato, [email protected] Science Policy Manager, member services Shoshana Kronfeld, [email protected] Meetings, marketing, and membership assistant Melanie Binder, [email protected] Legislative and public affairs director Tyrone Spady, [email protected] 15 Policy Update Executive coordinator, Plant Science Natalie Henkhaus, [email protected] Research Network 16 ASPB and Other Leading Scientific Organizations Reach Education coordinator vacant Out to Trump Director of publications Nancy A. Winchester, [email protected] 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] 17 ASPB Education and Outreach Road Show Science writer, Plant Physiology Peter Minorsky, [email protected] Rolls On: NABT 2016, Denver Production manager, Plant Physiology Jon Munn, [email protected] Manuscript 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] New Staff Production manager, The Plant Cell Susan Entwistle, [email protected] Manuscript manager, The Plant Cell Annette Kessler, [email protected] 19 Teresa Myers 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 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 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. © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists 2 ASPB NEWS | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 Let’s Nominate! he Call for Nominations outreach, and service to be ASPB relies on a number of a nomination at http://excom. for ASPB Council posi- presented during Plant Biology dedicated individuals in lead- aspb.org/. A list of prior presi- Ttions and ASPB awards 2017 in Honolulu, Hawaii. To ership who commit time and dents who have served ASPB is in full swing. A message was read more about each award energy to leading the Society. can be viewed at http://aspb. sent out to all members on being offered, go to http://aspb. Members will be voting for a org/about/past-presidents/. January 3, 2017. Nominations org/awards-funding/aspb- president-elect and an elected The deadline for nomina- for both are due Friday, awards/. It is important to our member of the Council. We tions is fast approaching, so join February 17, 2017. profession that we recognize need nominees to consider for your colleagues and nominate ASPB is offering numerous our colleagues’ efforts by taking these positions, so do partici- today! n awards for individuals who have time to nominate them for pate in the process and let your excelled in research, education, awards. voice be heard by submitting 2016–2017 Awards Committees Listed below are awards committee members for the current year. The year in which each committee member’s term ends is indicated in parentheses. ASPB Innovation Prize for Charles Reid Barnes Life Eric E. Conn Young Martin Gibbs Medal Agricultural Technology Membership Award Investigator Award Wolf Frommer (2019), chair Chris Somerville (four award Bob Buchanan (2017), chair Danny Schnell (2021), chair Craig Pikaard (2017), past winner cycles), chair Karen Koch (2017), past winner Christophe Maurel (2019) Alice Cheung (2017) Jeff Dangl (two award cycles) Barbara Mazur (2017) Laurie Smith (2021) Gerald Berkowitz (2017) Jane Langsdale (three award Bill Lucas (2019) Caren Chang (2021) cycles) Stephen Hales Prize Toni Kutchan (three award cycles) Corresponding Membership Excellence in Education Award Alex Webb (2019), chair Elliot Meyerowitz (two award Award Stan Roux (2018), chair Gloria Coruzzi (2017), past winner cycles) Hiroo Fukuda (2017), chair Candace Galen (2017), past winner Harkamal Walia (2019) Renate Scheibe (2019) Becca Dickstein (2018) Charles Albert Shull Award Natalia Dudareva (2019) Alejandra Covarrubias (2020) MariaElena Zavala (2019) Steve Briggs (2017), chair Wataru Sakamoto (2020) Summer Undergraduate Jiří Friml (2017), past winner Jian-Kang Zhu (2020) Fellow of ASPB Award Research Fellowship John Shanklin (2017) Jaakko Kangasjärvi (2017), chair Burkhard Schulz (2017), cochair Peggy Ozias Akins (2019) Early Career Award Janet Braam (2017) Michael Campbell (2017), cochair Michael Hahn (2017), chair Ann Hirsch (2018) Joseph Jez (2018) Cora MacAlister (2017), past Sheila McCormick (2019) Devi Prasad V. Potluri (2018) winner Amy S. Verhoeven (2018) Jin Suk Lee (2017), past winner Keiko Torii (2017) ASPB NEWS | VOLUME 44, NUMBER 1 3 PRESIDENT’S LETTER restrictions on genetic technolo- reducing agricultural input costs, members with as much insight continued from page 1 gies for crop improvement as well. empowering farmers with vital as possible. It is also the goal of attitude toward scientific data is Until now, regulatory hurdles to predictive capabilities for crop ASPB, as always, to find every not limited to this most recent the introduction of novel genetic