Conference: Frontiers of Sexual Plant Reproduction III to be held in Tucson, Arizona, October 17-19, 2008

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PI: Dr. Ravishankar PalaniveluProposal Number: IOS-0817697Title of the proposal: Conference: Frontiers of Sexual Plant Reproduction III to be held in Tucson, Arizona, October 17?19, 2008.Plant reproduction is important for human existence. Nearly 80% of staple food of humans comes from seeds of crop plants. Plant reproduction is also important to meet other basic human needs. Besides the proposed conference, very few affordable opportunities are available for plant reproductive biology scientists in the USA to review and discuss the state of the art in the plant sexual reproduction research. Funding is requested to cover partial costs of organizing a research conference in the field of plant reproductive biology, ?Frontiers in Sexual Plant Reproduction III? to be held in Tucson, Arizona, on October 17-19, 2008. Previous meetings in this series were highly successful, nucleated a vibrant community of researchers and highlighted a great need to continue organize this meeting regularly. Therefore, a third meeting in this series is being organized to sustain previously established interactions among plant reproductive development researchers and to stimulate new collaborations to propel progress in this important field. Portion of the funds requested in this proposal will provide travel and registration support to participants from underrepresented groups, women and younger scientists (such as graduate students and post doctoral fellows) so that they can advance their careers in plant biology. Another portion of the grant funds will be used to encourage and recognize scientific excellence among the student participants; a committee comprised of three faculties will identify top three undergraduate/graduate student posters for cash awards for salient findings that significantly advanced the field. By providing a forum to many of the renowned experts in the field, from the US, Europe, Australia and Asia, this research conference will have immediate impact on the nation and world's agriculture by providing knowledge in our pursuit to (i) improve seed yield, (ii) regulate inter species hybridizations, and (iii) generate novel plant hybrids.