1. Has being a member of ASPB helped you in your career? If so, how?
Yes, of course. When I was a graduate student, I had the opportunity to present a talk at an ASPB annual meeting. It was quite an experience for me back then. Through the meeting, I also met many plant biologists from all over the world, which really broadened my horizons. The ASPB News keeps me updated about things going on in plant biology. I was so proud when ASPB reported my discovery on the convergent evolution of syringyl lignin, which was published in PNAS in 2008.
2. Why has being a member of ASPB been important to you?
It’s a great channel for me to stay connected with the plant biology community.
3. Was someone instrumental in getting you to join ASPB?
Yes, my PhD adviser, Clint Chapple, highly recommended that I join ASPB.
4. What would you tell nonmembers to encourage them to join?
It’s the best society to join for a plant biologist.
5. Have you found a job or hired anyone using ASPB job postings or networking at the annual meeting?
No.
6. Do you still read print journals? If so, where do you usually read them: work, home, library, in the car, on the bus, or somewhere else?
Although I read most of the journal articles online these days, I do enjoy thumbing through the printed journals. I usually do this at home or during leisure time in the lab. While reading online articles is often very targeted, I always learn interesting, random things in other fields when reading the printed journals.
7. Have there been any issues in plant biology in which you thought ASPB should be involved or that led you to consider becoming active in the governance of the Society, and if so, what were they?
Climate change and global warming. Climate change in the past must have left marks on plants during their evolution. Plants are also key players in the fight against global warming. ASPB should be involved in getting more government support in research projects that address these important societal issues.
8. What could ASPB do better?
Promote plant biology’s connections with other scientific disciplines, such as medical sciences and environmental sciences.
9. What do you see as the most important role for scientific societies such as ASPB?
Connecting plant biologists with the bigger scientific community, funding agencies, and the general public.
10. What advice would you give to a plant scientist just starting out?
Plants are amazing organisms to work with! They do not move around as animals, but because of that, they’ve evolved some fascinating biological mechanisms to deal with their environmental niches. Advances in plant biology can not only solve big problems in agriculture, but can also have a huge impact on human health and the future of renewable energy.
11. What do you think is the most important discovery in plant biology over the past year, and why?
The identification of PYR/PYL/RCAR family of START proteins as ABA receptors. It’s the last missing piece found for the ABA signaling puzzle, which has bugged the plant biology community for decades. It opens up a whole set of new opportunities for crop improvement and herbicide development.
12. What do you think is the next “big thing” in plant biology?
Going from model plants in the lab to plant diversity in the wild and linking molecular biology to ecology.
13. What are you reading these days?
Texts on neutral mutation network and evolvability.
14. What do you still have left to learn?
Biological computation. |
