Jane Silverthorne Early Career Award
The Early Career Award, which was instituted by the Society in 2005, was renamed in 2023 to honor the contributions of Jane Silverthorne to the science of plant biology – and, in particular, her commitment to programs that nurture early career researchers. The award, which recognizes outstanding research by scientists at the beginnings of their careers is a monetary award made annually for exceptionally creative, independent contributions by an individual, whether or not a member of the Society, who is generally not more than seven years post-Ph.D. on January 1st of the year of the presentation. Breaks in careers will be considered when addressing the time limit of this award.
2025 Winner: Gozde Demirer
Gozde S. Demirer is recognized as the recipient of the 2025 Jane Silverthorne ASPB Early Career Award. Gozde obtained her BS in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Koc University in Istanbul, and her PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. During her PhD with Markita Landry, she developed novel nanotechnology tools for efficient plant genetic engineering without transgene integration. During her postdoc with Siobhan Brady on nutrient use efficiency, she developed innovative functional genomics tools to investigate gene regulatory networks in tomato. Gozde joined the faculty at Caltech in 2022, where her group develops exceptionally creative synthetic biology and nanotechnology resources for improved plant genetic and plant microbiome engineering.
Paula McSteen, Chair (2020-2026)
Gozde Demirer, Past Winner (2025-2026)
Marisa Otegui (2025-2028)
Ravishankar Palanivelu (2023-2026)
Sylvia Lee, Staff Liaison