May/June 2012 • Volume 39, Number 3 p. 14 p. 19 p. 17 Crispin Taylor Testi- Luminaries ASPB Members fies Before Congress A new column. Students Elected to NAS ASPB Executive Direc- and postdocs interview Plant biologists join tor Crispin Taylor prominent scientists. select group of top testifies at House hear- scientists. ing on public access to scholarly publications. © Greg Piepol THE NEWSLetteR OF THE AMERICAN SOCIetY OF PLANT BIOLOGIsts Society “Hops to It” to Bring Plant Biology to 2012 Easter Egg Roll A New ASPB News BY DAVID HORVATH Chair, Membership Committee [email protected] With this issue, the Membership Committee and staff are excited to introduce to you a new and im- proved ASPB News. A year or so ago, we conducted a survey of the membership to learn what you’d like to see more (and less) of in your Society’s newsletter. In response, you’ll find in these pages a brand new, full-color layout. We hope that over the coming months you will also note some of the steps we’ll be taking to publish more articles that are of greater inter- est to you by enlisting the support of an editorial board of volunteer members from the United States and abroad to help seek out and vet news articles of interest. Please, if you know of any exciting news that you think might be of interest to other ASPB members, feel free to alert Nancy Winchester (nancyw@ First Lady Michelle Obama greets ASPB President Steve Huber at this year’s White House continued on page 4 Easter Egg Roll. See our story on page 32. 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 President Steven C. Huber Immediate past president Nicholas Carpita President-elect Peggy Lemaux Secretary Julia Bailey-Serres Treasurer Jonathan Monroe Chair, Board of Trustees Mary Lou Guerinot Chair, Publications Committee Sally Mackenzie Chair, Women in Plant Biology Committee Marta Laskowski Chair, Minority Affairs Committee MariaElena B. Zavala Chair, Education Committee Erin Dolan Chair, International Committee Leon V. Kochian Chair, Membership Committee David Horvath Chair, Committee on Public Affairs Richard Sayre Elected members Gloria Muday p.11 Plant Biology 2012 Marguerite Varagona Richard Vierstra Sectional Representatives The Austin Convention Center Midwestern Sarah E. Wyatt Northeastern Estelle Hrabak Southern Kent Chapman Mid-Atlantic Zhongchi Liu Western David Logan 1 A New ASPB News ASPB Staff Executive director Crispin Taylor, [email protected] 3 President’s Letter Executive and governance affairs manager vacant Assoc. director of finance and administration Kim Kimnach, [email protected] Accounts receivable and payable specialist Stephanie Liu-Kuan, [email protected] 5 ASPB Award Winners Senior staff accountant Jotee Pundu, [email protected] Director of meetings, Jean Rosenberg, [email protected] 11 Plant Biology 2012 marketing, and membership Manager of marketing and web services vacant Membership manager Shoshana Kronfeld, [email protected] Subscriptions manager Suzanne Cholwek, [email protected] 14 People Subscriptions assistant Linda Palmer, [email protected] Assoc. director of public affairs Kathy Munkvold, [email protected] 19 Luminaries Education coordinator Katie Engen, [email protected] Director of publications Nancy A. Winchester, [email protected] Publications assistant Diane McCauley, [email protected] 21 Southern Section Meeting Report Managing editor Patti Lockhart, [email protected] Science writer, Plant Physiology Peter Minorsky, [email protected] Production manager, Plant Physiology Jon Munn, [email protected] 23 Public Affairs 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] 29 Education Forum Production manager, The Plant Cell Susan Entwistle, [email protected] Manuscript manager, The Plant Cell Annette Kessler, [email protected] 41 Obituaries ASPB News is distributed to all ASPB members and is published six times annually, in odd-numbered months. It is edited and prepared by ASPB staff from material provided by ASPB members 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 | MAY/JUNE 2012 President’s Letter Plant Biology 2012 doesn’t just happen. It is the fruit of labors of many people led by Julia Bailey-Serres (ASPB secretary and See You in Austin! chair of the Program Committee) and ASPB staff members Jean STEVE HUBER, ASPB PRESIDENT Rosenberg and Shoshana Kronfeld. [email protected] ou won’t want to miss this year’s Plant Biology Jean Rosenberg Ymeeting! We will have Director of Meetings, an outstanding opportunity to Marketing, and Membership come together in Austin to share results and soak up recent de- Since coming to ASPB in 2004, velopments across plant biology. Jean has worked to establish a Although I enjoy small, special- group of skilled professionals to ized meetings, I also appreci- support ASPB’s annual meeting ate—and, frankly, benefit more and all its components. Jean is from—meetings that allow me known in the meetings industry to catch up on the wide range of as a steward concerned about topics that can only be covered every facet of an attendee’s at a broad meeting such as Plant participation. She really enjoys all the aspects of her multi- Biology. This year’s symposia dimensional work at ASPB supporting membership and range from the molecular to Steve Huber the journals. Both Jean and her husband are active in their the whole-plant level, and they communities, consummate “foodies,” and art buffs; they like cover both fundamental and to meet in small groups. Do you to think of themselves as “world citizens.” translational aspects of plant bi- want to meet new people work- ology research. I encourage each ing in areas of mutual interest? of you to come and contribute to You can sign up to go with a Shoshana Kronfeld the breadth and depth of science group for a meal. Membership Manger presented in Austin. Thinking about looking In addition to excellent sci- for that next job, whether a Shoshana joined ASPB in ence, this year’s meeting also will postdoc or a permanent posi- March 2006 and since then has have an expand- tion? There are been heavily involved in sup- ed array of lots of different porting ASPB’s annual meeting. opportunities Plant Biology 2012 opportuni- Each year, she is the person you for network- is all about cutting- ties. Perhaps see almost 24/7 at the registra- ing and career you would tion desk. Behind the scenes, development. edge science, like to talk she is responsible for manag- These op- networking, and with someone ing all meeting registrations, portunities are career development. working in abstract submissions, and our new mobile meeting app. In described in a particular addition to Shoshana’s meeting-related responsibilities, she detail else- organiza- is the primary contact for ASPB’s members. Outside work, where in this newsletter, but let tion (e.g., PUI, Shoshana likes to spend her time with her husband and two me draw your attention to just government, or private children. She particularly enjoys listening to her son play a few of them. sector) or engaged in a type of guitar, watching her daughter at ballet, and grabbing any Do you want to grab one or work you’re not familiar with spare moments that happen along to read a book or listen to two colleagues you know and (such as science policy, science music. just sit and talk? The Austin writing, marketing, and so on). Convention Center has lots of Perhaps you also would like to “conversation space” for people continued on page 4 ASPB NEWS | VOLUME 39, NUMBER 3 3 President’s Letter PRESIDENT’S LETTER to take advantage of this new Regardless of your particular Plant Biology 2012 is all continued from page 3 opportunity. career stage, perhaps you would about cutting-edge science, Maybe you are ready for like to continue expanding your networking, and career devel- have someone look at your CV your next career move and horizons. Take advantage of opment. In addition, Austin is to make sure you are presenting would like to apply for some career development workshops, well known for its music, food, yourself in the most effective open positions. If so, come to organized by the Membership and nightlife. That combination manner? Well, you can do both the Career Center Luncheon on Committee and the Women sounds like a perfect recipe for at the same time in Austin! Sign Saturday, July 21, to post your in Plant Biology Committee, work–life balance. I hope to see up to meet during designated CV and meet with representa- which will address jobs beyond each of you in Austin! n hours with representatives from tives from companies and orga- academia and the challenge of different groups, and be sure nizations with open positions. maintaining life–work balance. A NEW ASPB NEWS notable members of ASPB that aspb.org/newsletter/luminaries. the electronic version of this continued from page 1 we are simply calling “Lumi- cfm). Student/postdoc authors newsletter accessible to anyone naries.” We hope you will be of interviews that are published who visits the ASPB web page. aspb.org), Dr. Frank Dohleman enlightened (pun intended) by will be given a $50 Amazon gift Our hope is that by sharing our (frank.g.dohleman@monsanto.