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

Name: Martín Calviño
Title: MSc
Place of Work or School: Waksman Institute, Rutgers University
Research Area: Plant Molecular Genetics
Member Since: 2007

1. Why has being a member of ASPB been important to you?
It gives me the opportunity to keep updated with different types of events going on within the plant science community. I also like the section in the ASPB News that briefly describes the grants obtained by ASPB members. As a student, I think it is interesting to know the current research topics that funding agencies are giving money to.

2. Was someone instrumental in getting you to join ASPB?
Yes, Wolfgang Goettel, a postdoc in the lab, is a member, and he encouraged me to join.

3. What would you tell nonmembers to encourage them to join?
If you want to have a career in plant sciences, sooner or later you should belong to a community of plant scientists. You cannot do research in isolation.

4. 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?
Yes, in the refreshing room [lounge] of the lab. By having a look at a print journal, you might have the opportunity to run across an interesting article not strictly related to your research.

5. 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?
Yes, as a student from Uruguay, I would be very interested in the involvement of ASPB in any activity that fosters collaboration between the United States and any South American country.

6. What do you see as the most important role for scientific societies such as ASPB?
I see the involvement of ASPB in the policy-making process of the country as an essential role.

7. What could ASPB do better?
Find a way to increase the salaries in science careers.

8. What advice would you give to a plant scientist just starting out?
Science is all about curiosity. If you are curious about a particular process in nature, a scientific career gives you the chance to transform yourself from someone who reads scientific articles into someone who is being read.

9. What do you think is the most important discovery in plant biology over the past year, and why?
I think the discovery reported in the August issue of Cell describing the roles that miR156 and miR172 have in the regulation of juvenile-to-adult phase transition and flowering time regulation in Arabidopsis is important, especially regarding flowering because the discovery highlights the existence of a pathway independent of the floral regulator FT. Although I am working with sorghum now, I was interested in the topic because I was trying to correlate FT expression with flowering time in a dozen different Arabidopsis ecotypes during my years as a master’s student.

10. What do you think is the next “big thing” in plant biology?
From a practical point of view, I think that higher yields in crop productivity and the generation of renewable energy, coupled with sustainable development to feed and provide energy to an increasing population, will be a challenge, especially in a future where the reduction in arable land and the environmental consequences of global warming will get worse. In terms of basic plant science, I think the field of “system biology” is the next “big thing.”

11. What are you reading these days?
I am reading several books regarding agricultural and rural development in developing countries. About two-thirds of the poor people in this world live in rural areas, so the field of plant biology could help society a lot.

12. What do you still have to learn?
I still need to learn how to balance a career in science with a personal life.