Meeting: C4 + CAM Plant Biology 2013, August 6-9, Champaign, IL

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This award supports the C4 and CAM (crassulacean acid metabolism) Plant Biology 2013 symposium, to be held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, August 6-9, 2013. The symposium aims to bring together a diverse group of scientists to discuss the evolution, ecology, functional biology, genomics, and biotechnological engineering of C4 and CAM plants. These two groups of plants possess evolutionary modifications to their photosynthetic machinery that improve their performance in hot and dry conditions. Maize and pineapple are classic examples of C4 and CAM plants, respectively. The symposium aims to facilitate discuss on how lessons learned from these groups of plants can be harnessed to improve crop production in an era of global climate change. The interdisciplinary nature of the symposium means that the expected attendeed typically do not collectively attend any one scientific society meeting. As a result, the symposium will be a unique opportunity for knowledge transfer, initiation of new collaborations, and recruitment and exposure of early career scientists. The symposium is expected to attract 125 participants from around the world, including from developing regions where C4 and CAM plants dominate agricultural and/or natural ecosystems. The resources derived from this award will be used to (1) record video and audio footage of conference presentations for dissemination via the symposium web page to a broader audience; and (2) to promote participation of under-represented groups including under-represented racial groups, under-represented geographic regions, early-career scientists, and female scientists. Overall, the symposium will provide a face-to-face and on-line gathering point for plant biologists who together can advance efforts to deal with major societal problems of food security, fuel supply and ecological sustainability.