ASPB News Volume 38, Number 3 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANT BIOLOGISTS May/June 2011 ASPB Invited to Host Science Outreach Inside This Issue at White House Plant Biology 2011 Society Helps Families Dig into Plant Biology Making Your Way to Minneapolis! During 2011 Easter Egg Roll ASPB 2011 Award Recipients Announced ASPB had an “egg-ceptional” day on Monday, April Th e theme of this year’s Easter Egg Roll was “Get 25, as Society members and staff “hopped to it” to Up and Go!” It was designed to coordinate with Social Media Revolution host a plant-based activity during the 2011 White First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative, House Easter Egg Roll (http://www.whitehouse.gov/ an ongoing national campaign to combat childhood AAAS/ASPB Mass Media Fellow Spending Summer eastereggroll). Th is “eggstra”-popular event is the obesity. Aspects of nutrition were featured in various at NPR largest hosted by the White House. For this year’s activities across the South Lawn, including growing, 133rd celebration, more than 205,000 applications preparing, and eating fresh produce. Plant biology for the online ticket lottery yielded approximately was a natural fi t. 30,000 ticket winners representing all 50 states. To fulfi ll the fi rst family’s request for science- Several fi lm clips of the action on the South Lawn related activities, ASPB was one of three science can be viewed on the White House website at http:// organizations invited to participate by the White www.whitehouse.gov/live. House Offi ce of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). ASPB coordinated with OSTP to adapt continued on page 25 ASPB President Nick Carpita chats with First Lady Michelle Obama about plant biology. 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 Nicholas Carpita 765-494-4653 President-elect Steven C. Huber 217-265-0909 Immediate Past President Tuan-hua David Ho 314-935-4632 1 ASPB Invited to Host Science Outreach at the White House Secretary Judy Callis 530-752-1015 Treasurer Jonathan Monroe 540-568-6649 Chair, Board of Trustees Mary Lou Guerinot 603-646-2527 4 President’s Letter Chair, Publications Committee Sally Mackenzie 402-472-6997 Chair, Women in Plant Biology Committee Marta Laskowski 440-775-6596 6 Plant Biology 2011 Chair, Minority Affairs Committee MariaElena B. Zavala 818-677-3342 Chair, Education Committee Erin Dolan 540-231-2692 8 2011 ASPB Awards Announced Chair, International Committee Leon V. Kochian 607-255-2454 Chair, Membership Committee Mel Oliver 573-882-9645 9 The Social Media Revolution Chair, Committee on Public Affairs Richard Sayre 314-587-1437 Elected Members Gloria Muday 336-758-5316 10 AAAS/ASPB Mass Media Fellow Katherine W. Osteryoung 517-355-4685 Spending Summer at NPR Marguerite Varagona 636-737-6394 Sectional Representatives Midwestern Section Meets at Purdue Midwestern John Kiss 513-529-5428 Northeastern Estelle Hrabak 603-862-0716 11 Mid-Atlantic Section Spring Meeting Southern Timothy D. Sherman 251-460-7529 Mid-Atlantic Zhongchi Liu 301-405-1586 12 Report on the Western Section Western David Logan 306-966-4409 Annual Meeting Executive director Crispin Taylor, ext. 115 [email protected] 13 People Executive and governance affairs manager Donna Gordon, ext. 131 [email protected] Assoc. director of fi nance & administration Kim Kimnach, ext. 140 [email protected] 16 Women in Plant Biology Accounts receivable specialist Stephanie Liu-Kuan, ext. 143 [email protected] Junior accountant Jotee Pundu, ext. 144 [email protected] 18 Membership Corner Director of meetings, marketing, & membership Jean Rosenberg, ext. 110 [email protected] Manager of marketing and web services Wendy Sahli, ext. 123 [email protected] 19 Public Affairs Membership, meetings, & marketing specialist Shoshana Kronfeld, ext. 122 [email protected] Subscriptions manager Suzanne Cholwek, ext. 141 [email protected] Subscriptions assistant Linda Palmer, ext. 142 [email protected] 22 Public Affairs Update Director of public affairs Adam Fagen, ext. 114 [email protected] Education foundation coordinator Katie Engen, ext. 116 [email protected] 25 ASPB Education Forum Director of publications Nancy A. Winchester, ext. 117 [email protected] Publications assistant Diane McCauley, ext. 133 [email protected] 41 Obituaries Managing editor Patti Lockhart, 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] Deadline for September/October 2011 Manuscript manager, Plant Physiology Leslie (Ash) Csikos, ext. 125 [email protected] ASPB News: August 5, 2011 Senior features editor, The Plant Cell Nancy Eckardt, 970-495-9918 [email protected] Features editor, The Plant Cell Mary Williams, +44-141-339-4960 [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 times ASPB News annually, in odd-numbered months. It is edited and prepared by ASPB staff from material provided by ASPB members and other interested Headquarters Offi ce parties. 15501 Monona Drive Rockville, MD 20855-2768 USA Copy deadline is the 5th day of the preceding even-numbered month Phone: 301-251-0560 (for example, December 5 for January/February publication). Submit not Fax: 301-279-2996 copy by e-mail whenever possible; submit all other copy by mail, by fax. [email protected] Contact: Nancy A. Winchester, Editor, ASPB News, 15501 Monona Drive, Rockville, MD 20855-2768 USA; [email protected]; 301-296-0904. © 2011 American Society of Plant Biologists G_`c`gj>i\\eGfn\iC<;jdXb\pflic`^_ki\Z`g\jnfib @dgifm\^ifnk_Xe[jXm\\e\i^p <oXZkcpkle\c`^_kc\m\cXe[jg\Zkildkf^ifnk_Zfe[`k`fej >fc[Y`fefnf]]\ijG_`c`gjC<;k\Z_efcf^p]fidlck`cXp\iZlck`mXk`fe :Xcc(%/''%)+/%.-'0fi^fkf^fc[Y`f%Zfd]fidfi\`e]fidXk`fe >fc[9`fk\Z_efcf^pL%J%I\^`jkiXk`feEf*#),.#0). #>fc[Y`fL%J%I\^`jkiXk`feEf*#),.#0)- Xe[>9KL%J%I\^`jkiXk`feEf*#),/#'.* Xi\i\^`jk\i\[kiX[\dXibjf]>fc[9`fk\Z_efcf^p#@eZ%G?@C@GJ`jXi\^`jk\i\[kiX[\dXibf]Bfe`ebc`ab\G_`c`gj<c\Zkife`Zj%E%M% ASPB News, Vol. 38, No. 3 • 3 President’s Letter ASPB and Global Food, Water, and Energy Security At a U.S. State Department aft er the Green Revolution made Although rich nations are awash in food, ceremony announcing the award India a grain-exporting country their aid to developing nations continues of the 2009 World Food Prize to (4). World Bank President Robert on a downward spiral—a decrease that was Gebisa Ejeta, Secretary Hillary Zoellick warns that the political accelerated by the downturn in the global Clinton began with a reminder: upheavals in North Africa and economy, just when the funding is needed “Th is morning, 1 billion people the Middle East, a region that most. Fortunately, several private founda- around the world woke up hun- imports almost half its food, tions and nongovernmental agencies have gry, and tonight, they will go to have each been kindled by food stepped up in a signifi cant way to augment sleep hungry” (1). Aft er decades shortages, and the rising cost much-needed support. Th e Lugar-Casey of complacency about agricul- of food is the biggest challenge Global Food Security Act promises to fur- tural productivity in the wake of Nick Carpita facing developing nations (5). ther stem the decline, but it is not without the Green Revolution, the political events of Th is is an unsustainable course that demands its detractors because of its willingness to the past year have reawakened our senses to far greater input from rich countries. For the include genetically modifi ed organisms how precipitously close we are coming to po- United States, the drop in disposable income (GMOs) as part of the solution. As coauthor tentially catastrophic food and water short- needed to buy food because of the successes, Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) explains, ages in the developing world, with ripple or excesses, in agricultural productivity has “Food insecurity is a global tragedy, but it is eff ects that will aff ect even well-fed, rich translated into marked decreases in funding also an opportunity for the United States. We nations. According to Ejeta, whose decades for the science and technology needed to are the indisputable leader in agricultural of research have led to new drought-tolerant sustain the trajectory for continued advances technology. A more focused eff ort on our and Striga-resistant sorghum varieties for now lagging on a global scale. part to join with other nations to increase sub-Saharan agriculture, world leaders and Th e Green Revolution meant major ad- yields, create economic opportunities for development agencies have fi nally come to vances in agriculture for Mexico, India, and the rural poor, and broaden agricultural a sobering realization: we need to provide Indonesia, but how did it miss sustained support for agricultural science Africa? According to Ejeta, and technologies if we are to transform agri- when the Green Revolution cultural productivity in developing countries was launched in Asia, the to anything close to the levels enjoyed by institutional capacity essential rich nations (2). As the planet’s population for an agricultural revolution rapidly approaches the 7 billion mark this in Africa was virtually non- year, our worldwide ASPB membership existent: “Africa was simply becomes an ever more crucial link to supply not ready for a science-based the fundamental underpinning research that development campaign at the will keep the steady trajectory we need to time.