Name: Clifford Louime
Title: Assistant Professor
Place of Work or School: Florida A&M University
Research Area: BioEnergy
Member since: December 2005

1. Why has being a member of ASPB been important to you?
True plant biologists are a dying breed. Somehow ASPB managed to keep us well and alive. The shared networking opportunities offered by the Society not only though its website, but also through its yearly summit, are well worth fighting for. Therefore, I promise to continue my support to the Society in the years to come.

2. Was someone instrumental in getting you to join ASPB?
A former ASPB scholarship recipient convinced me to join the Society two years ago. As a MAC Award recipient myself, I can attest that MAC Award recipients can be used as one of the best assets of the Society to get the word around.

3. What would you tell colleagues to encourage them to join?
Because I’m a member of a minority institution, it will not take a lot of convincing from me to get my colleagues to join, due to the vast networking opportunities offered by ASPB. The Society goes the extra mile to get minority scientists, who have been and continue to be underrepresented in the sciences, involved in its multitude of activities. One of ASPB’s most prominent opportunities is its Diversity Bank, which allows scientists all across the board to connect and exchange. This platform can easily be used as a recruiting tool.

4. Have you enhanced your career using ASPB job postings or through networking at an ASPB function?
Not too long ago I submitted a project request under the Diversity Bank for specialized training in Bioinformatics. I got in contact with several colleagues who are now trying to make this happen for me. Thank you, ASPB, for the opportunity.

5. Do you read print journals? If so, where do you usually read them?
As an ASPB member I have online access to The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology. However, for other journals that I cannot access online, I visit our library on campus.

7. What do you think is the next “big thing” in plant biology?
Global warming seems to have an unprecedented detrimental effect on several crops. Higher temperatures promote new diseases and old pests in areas where they were nonexistent before. The next big thing in plant biology will have to come from a concerted effort requiring different disciplines to bring their expertise together in order to address these new and emerging challenges. Fundamental research using local nontraditional crops that have shown tolerance or resistance to pests and diseases will emerge and serve as a basis for improving commercial cultivars. We might even see a major geographical shift in cultivation of specialized crops known for a specific location.

8. What person, living or deceased, do you most admire?
Nelson Mandela’s ability to forgive and forget has always amazed me.

9. What are you reading these days?
Obama’s The Audacity of Hope. His compelling story of how the child of an African immigrant and a woman from Kansas managed to make it to the “big time” fascinates me.

10. What are your hobbies?
Computers and sports.

11. What is your most treasured possession?
I guess I can call the fact that I still have my parents one of my most treasured possessions. They are well and living together after more than 40 years of marriage. Something to shoot for!

12. What do you still have left to learn?
Everything! I called my doctorate degree “a license to learn,” although some might consider it a final degree.