ASPB members share a common goal of promoting the growth, development, and outreach of plant biology as a pure and applied science. This column features some of the dedicated and innovative members of ASPB who believe that membership in our Society is crucial to the future of plant biology. If you are interested in contributing to this feature, please contact ASPB Membership at info@aspb.org.

Membership Corner

Name: Joohyun Lee
Title: Graduate Student/ASPB Ambassador
Place of Work or School: Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College
Research Area: Plant nutrition and biotechnology
Member since: 2006

1. Why has being a member of ASPB been important?
ASPB is a leading organization that publishes two of the three top plant journals—The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology. Therefore, being a member and participating in the organization shows my support for all that ASPB does. Although I have attended some small meetings and seminars before, the Plant Biology 2006 meeting in Boston was the largest meeting I had ever attended. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to serve as a graduate student ambassador of ASPB. When I was at the conference, I talked to many graduate students, including international students, shared my opinions about ASPB and plant biology, and made many new friends who I look forward to seeing at future ASPB meetings. It was a great experience for me.

2. Was someone instrumental in getting you to join ASPB?
My current adviser, Mary Lou Guerinot, recommended that I join ASPB. Thanks, Mary Lou!

3. What would you tell colleagues to encourage them to join?
There are a lot of graduate students in plant biology, but not many of them are members of ASPB, the largest and most active professional society in this field. I would tell other graduate students that joining a professional society is important for our careers. First of all, we would all like to publish our papers in The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology, which are top plant journals from ASPB. Graduate students can also get discounts when they register for ASPB meetings. Moreover, there is an opportunity to serve as an ASPB ambassador. Personally, I did not realize how great an organization ASPB was before I joined it.

4. Have you enhanced your career using ASPB job postings or through networking at an ASPB function?
I am a graduate student, so I have not yet had a chance. However, I will try to use the job postings when I graduate, hopefully soon!

5. Have you had any success at finding candidates as a result of a job posting at the meeting or on our online Job Bank?
Not yet, since I am a graduate student! When I become a PI someday, I will absolutely use them.

6. Do you read print journals? If so, where do you usually read them?
I sometimes read print journals in the library when I cannot find a reference online.

7. What do you think is the next “big thing” in plant biology?
Biofortification of crop plants is probably the next “big thing.” Biofortification is an approach to put more nutrients into crops themselves using various molecular techniques and breeding. Many people still suffer from malnutrition and lack of food. Research has been done to increase essential nutrients in crops, but there are not yet many examples where such an approach has been successfully used in the field.

8. What person, living or deceased, do you most admire?
I have many people I admire. I really admire the positive attitude of my parents and my parents-in-law, so they are great role models for me. I also admire Dr. Mary Lou Guerinot, my current adviser. I respect her scientific achievements and great multi-tasking skills. I also hold Dr. Youngsook Lee, my previous adviser at POSTECH in Korea, in high esteem, for her scientific enthusiasm and intelligence.

9. What are you reading these days?
I followed most of the tennis articles from the New York Times during the U.S. Open series because I wanted to read articles about my favorite player, Roger Federer. Whenever I watched him playing on TV, my attention was always drawn to the way his eyes blaze at the instant he hits the ball.

10. What are your hobbies?
I really love cooking. Interestingly, cooking is very similar to lab work, because the taste is determined by the concentration of ingredients and reaction time at specific temperatures. It is often necessary to try various recipes under multiple conditions to find the most delicious taste, just like lab experiments.

11. What is your most treasured possession?
Well, I am not sure what my most treasured possession is, but I value my wife, Jeeyon Jeong, the most in my life. She is also my colleague, a graduate student, and an ASPB member. I always appreciate her comments on my projects and look to her for guidance.

12. What do you still have left to learn?
As a scientist, I would like to learn more about bioethics. For leisure, mastering French or Italian cooking is my next challenge.