ASPB News THE NEWSLETTER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANT BIOLOGISTS Volume 37, Number 6 November/December 2010 President’s Letter Inside This Issue A New Land-Grant Mission for the 21st Century New Officers/Committees As I begin my term as president, I growth curve at which instabilities in Assume Posts express my appreciation for the op- food and energy security mount as portunity to serve the one society that resources of arable land and adequate Call for 2011 ASPB Award Nominations has molded my entire professional fresh water diminish. We are on a career. Over my 35 years as a member trajectory to reach 9 billion people Teaching Tools Featured of ASPB, I’ve seen the Society become a by 2030, increasing food, water, and at FESPB Congress truly global community that promotes energy demand by at least 50%, with- Call for Applications: SURF and serves plant biology research: out considering aggravating factors almost one-half of our membership of climate change, increased urban- currently resides outside the United ization, and increased demand from States. I also thank my immediate two Nick Carpita developing countries to attain Western predecessors, Tuan-hua David Ho and standards of living. Sally Assmann, for their superb job in strengthen- Developed countries have brought these issues ing focus on the role ASPB continues to play in into political focus as a basis of establishing new the globalization of plant biology. Together they funding priorities for the research needed to meet provided guidance for the formation last year of unprecedented needs. Not only is it a moral impera- the Global Plant Council (GPC), a new partnership tive for the most prosperous countries of the world of plant societies spanning six continents. Spear- to meet the challenge, but it is also in the interest of headed by ASPB’s Mel Oliver, with Willi Gruissem, global economic security. The European Commis- president of the European Plant Science Organiza- sion’s “Knowledge-Based Bio-Economy” (KBBE) tion, Zhihong Xu, president of the Chinese Society continues a €1.94 billion ($3.1 billion), seven-year of Plant Biologists, Kasem Zaki Ahmed, former program to merge life sciences and biotechnology president of the African Crop Science Society, and with sustainable agricultural production and 10 other representatives, the GPC strives to create management—an investment in what is viewed to partnerships and collaborations for plant scientists be a €1.5 trillion industry (1). Brazil, a progressive to address together the issues of world hunger, en- developing country, is a world leader in the propor- ergy security, climate change, health and well-being, tion of per capita spending in science, particularly and environmental protection. in research to improve sugarcane as an energy Never has there been a greater need for the crop that has provided energy independence (2). collective work of plant biologists worldwide to Brazil’s investment in science will reach 2% of the be brought to bear on these grand challenges. By country’s entire GDP in the coming year. The fund- the time ASPB holds its 2011 annual meeting next ing investments by developed countries are not as August in Minneapolis, the world’s population will rosy elsewhere. For example, the United Kingdom have surpassed 7 billion. We have already passed continues a two-decade-long stagnation in funding the “inflection point” along the human population continued on page 4 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 President’s Letter Secretary Judy Callis 530-752-1015 Treasurer Jonathan Monroe 540-568-6649 5 ASPB Officers Assume Posts for Chair, Board of Trustees Mary Lou Guerinot 603-646-2527 2010–2011 Chair, Publications Committee Sally Mackenzie 402-472-6997 Chair, Women in Plant Biology Committee Marta Laskowski 440-775-6596 2010–2011 Awards Committees Chair, Minority Affairs Committee MariaElena B. Zavala 818-677-3342 Chair, Education Committee Erin Dolan 540-231-2692 7 2011 Awards—Get Ready to Nominate! Chair, International Committee Leon V. Kochian 607-255-2454 Chair, Membership Committee Mel Oliver 573-882-9645 Chair, Committee on Public Affairs Richard Sayre 314-587-1437 9 Teaching Tools Featured at the FESPB Elected Members Gloria Muday 336-758-5316 Katherine W. Osteryoung 517-355-4685 11 Women in Plant Biology Marguerite Varagona 636-737-6394 Sectional Representatives 14 Membership Corner Midwestern John Kiss 513-529-5428 Northeastern Estelle Hrabak 603-862-0716 Southern Timothy D. Sherman 251-460-7529 15 Public Affairs Mid-Atlantic Zhongchi Liu 301-405-1586 Western David Logan 306-966-4409 17 Public Affairs Update Executive director Crispin Taylor, ext. 115 [email protected] Executive and governance affairs manager Donna Gordon, ext. 131 [email protected] 21 ASPB Education Forum Assoc. director of finance & administration Kim Kimnach, ext. 140 [email protected] Accounts receivable specialist Stephanie Liu-Kuan, ext. 143 [email protected] 33 Obituary Junior accountant Jotee Pundu, ext. 144 [email protected] Director of meetings, marketing, & membership Jean Rosenberg, ext. 110 [email protected] Manager of marketing and web services Wendy Sahli, ext. 123 [email protected] Membership, meetings, & marketing specialist Shoshana Kronfeld, ext. 122 [email protected] Subscriptions manager Suzanne Cholwek, ext. 141 [email protected] Deadline for March/April 2011 Subscriptions assistant Linda Palmer, ext. 142 [email protected] ASPB News: February 5, 2011 Director of public affairs Adam Fagen, ext. 114 [email protected] Education foundation assistant Katie Engen, ext. 116 [email protected] Director of publications Nancy A. Winchester, ext. 117 [email protected] Publications assistant Diane McCauley, ext. 133 [email protected] Managing editor John Long, 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] Manuscript manager, Plant Physiology Leslie (Ash) Csikos, ext. 125 [email protected] 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 Office 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 Fax: 301-279-2996 copy by e-mail whenever possible; submit all other copy by mail, not by fax. [email protected] Contact: Nancy A. Winchester, Editor, ASPB News, 15501 Monona Drive, Rockville, MD 20855-2768 USA; [email protected]; 301-296-0904. © 2010 American Society of Plant Biologists Philips GreenPower LEDs make your light recipes work • Improve growth and save energy • Exactly tune light level and spectrum to growth conditions • Goldbio now offers Philips LED technology for multilayer cultivation • Call 1.800.248.7609 or go to goldbio.com for more information Gold Biotechnology (U.S. Registration No 3,257,927), Goldbio (U.S.Registration No 3,257,926) and GBT (U.S. Registration No 3,258,073) are registered trademarks of Gold Biotechnology, Inc. PHILIPS is a registered trademark of Koninklijke Philips Electronics.N.V. President’s Letter conduct research of direct relevance to the $0.26 billion to support competitive research continued from page 1 growers. No one would argue that the impact this year, while greater than the amount of basic science. And in Japan, researchers of the USDA-SAES system on U.S. agricul- expended over the entire first decade of the are breathing easier only after plans for aus- ture has been anything short of spectacular. CRGO’s existence, is barely one-quarter of tere cuts did not materialize, in part due to However, by the late 1970s a perception grew the amount spent by a single private com- collective protests from almost every living that the decades of mission- and commodity- pany for plant biotechnology (7). Japanese Nobel laureate (3). oriented successes would soon stagnate if not Even with such modest funding levels, In the United States, the primary source augmented with basic knowledge derived the advances that plant biologists have of funding of agricultural research is the from fundamental science (5). The 1972 already created in the combined university, Department of Agriculture (USDA), which Pound Report of the National Academy of government, and private sectors have made has endured decades of dismal research Sciences (6) gave a scathing assessment that crop plants more productive, more nutri- funding capacity compared to the National the “outmoded, pedestrian, and inefficient” tious, and better adapted to marginal envi- Science Foundation (NSF), Department of USDA-SAES research system was in need ronments. While an overhaul of regulatory Energy (DOE), and National Institutes of of reshaped administrative philosophies to constraints is badly needed to allow these Health (NIH). The recent reorganization address the support for basic sciences that advances to be put into practice (8), there is of the USDA’s competitive grants program underpin agriculture, and so take advantage realization that we have to do more and with into the National Institute of Food and of the revolutionary advances being made.