The Charles Albert Shull Award

This award was initiated in 1971 by the Society to honor Dr. Charles A. Shull, whose personal interest and support were largely responsible for the founding and early growth of the Society. It is a monetary award made annually for outstanding investigations in the field of plant biology by a member who is generally under forty-five years of age on January 1st of the year of presentation, or is fewer than ten years from the granting of the doctoral degree. Breaks in careers will be considered when addressing the age limit of this award. The recipient is invited to address the Society at the annual meeting the following year.

2025 Winner: Patrick Shih

University of California, Berkeley

Patrick Shih, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, is the recipient of the 2025 Charles Albert Shull Award. Patrick is a synthetic biologist whose research is addressing both fundamental biological questions and practical applications in agriculture and human health. He has applied synthetic biology approaches to topics as diverse as improving Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, developing promoter toolkits to control genetic circuits in plants, and engineering plants for production of human milk oligosaccharides. He is also performing ground-breaking basic research on the evolution of photosynthesis, with a particular emphasis on the origins of Rubisco. Patrick provides leadership to the plant biology community through his roles as Director of Plant Biosystems Design and Deputy Vice President of the Feedstocks Division at the Joint BioEnergy Institute, a DOE Institute dedicated to the development of plant-based biofuels.

Sally Assmann, Chair (2024-2026)
Patrick Shih, Past Winner (2025-2026)
Aaron Rashotte (2023-2026)
Aaron Wyman (2023-2026)
Sylvia Lee, Staff Liaison