Conference: The 18th Penn State Plant Biology Symposium: Plant Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics to be held May 19-21, 2011 in University Park, PA

智力价值：技术的快速进步正在从根本上改变生物科学。大型基因组的测序、组装和注释，如在植物中发现的基因组，曾经被归入极其昂贵和缓慢的“大科学”项目，现在正日益成为规模较小、成本较低的财团的领域。现在以非常低的成本就可以获得任何生物体的完整的表达基因清单。这场“基因组学革命”正在触及生物学的各个方面，尤其是植物生物学的研究。随着获得基因组数据越来越容易，现在的重点必须转向从数据中产生信息，并从历史上单独操作的子学科中综合方法。特别是，对基因组进化的详细了解，而不仅仅是对单个基因的了解，正在成为一个可以实现的目标。将这些分子数据与生理反应、生态系统相互作用和作物生产力联系起来是一个主要的科学目标。为此，第18届宾夕法尼亚州立大学植物生物学研讨会：植物进化遗传学和基因组学将于2011年5月18日至21日在宾夕法尼亚州立大学公园校区举行。本次会议将汇集顶尖科学家和早期职业研究人员，在这一快速发展的领域交流成果并开展合作。该研讨会是自1986年以来在宾夕法尼亚州立大学举办的一系列非常成功的植物生理学/植物生物学研讨会中的第18届。更广泛的影响：本次会议将通过以下方式为本科生，研究生，博士后研究人员和早期职业教师提供重要的教育机会：1)根据提交的海报摘要的质量，将邀请几位演讲者进行简短的演讲。这些决定将强调纳入早期职业教师和美国科学界代表性不足的群体的成员。2)将根据实际需要和其他因素，向选定的与会者发放旅费奖励，以抵消参加会议的费用，优先考虑小型、非研究密集型学院/大学的本科生。3)在研讨会日程安排中，将有充足的“非结构化”时间用于海报会议和茶点附近。这种安排使学生和作为全体会议发言人的杰出科学家骨干之间的互动最大化。此外，值得注意的是，我们研讨会的主题是当前科学的一个关键领域：增加对植物遗传学和基因组学的了解可能在美国和世界范围内可持续生物燃料工业的发展中发挥关键作用。

Intellectual Merit: Rapid advances in technology are fundamentally altering the biological sciences. Once relegated to extremely expensive and ponderously slow "Big Science" projects, the sequencing, assembly, and annotation of large genomes, such as those found in plants, is increasingly becoming the province of smaller, less expensive consortia. Full inventories of expressed genes can now be obtained for any organism at very modest cost. This "genomics revolution" is touching all aspects of biology, not the least, the study of plant biology. With the increasing ease of obtaining genomic data, the focus must now turn to producing information from the data and synthesizing approaches from sub-disciplines which have historically operated separately. In particular, a detailed understanding of genome evolution, not just individual genes, is becoming an attainable goal. Correlating these molecular data with physiological responses, ecosystem interactions, and crop productivity is a major scientific goal. Towards this end, the 18th Penn State Symposium in Plant Biology: Plant Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics will be held May 18-21, 2011 at Penn State's University Park campus. This meeting will bring together both leading scientists and early-career researchers to exchange results and develop collaborations in this rapidly evolving field. The symposium is the 18th in a very successful series of Plant Physiology / Plant Biology Symposia, which have been held at Penn State since 1986. Broader Impacts: This meeting will provide critical educational opportunities to undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and to early-career faculty members in the following ways: 1) Several speakers will be invited to deliver short talks based upon the quality of submitted poster abstracts. These decisions will emphasize inclusion of early-career faculty members and members of groups under-represented in American science. 2) Travel awards to offset costs of attendance to the meeting will be distributed to select attendees, based upon demonstrated need and upon other factors, with a preference towards undergraduates at small, non-research intensive colleges/universities. 3) Ample time in the symposium schedule will be "unstructured" time at poster sessions and in proximity to refreshments. This arrangement allows maximum interaction between students and the cadre of distinguished scientists serving as plenary speakers. In addition, it is important to note that the topic of our symposium is in a critical area of current science: Increased understanding of plant genetics and genomics may play a key role in the development of a sustainable biofuels industry in the United States and world-wide.