Conference: FASEB Conference on Mechanisms in Plant Development

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Scientific meetings enable the exchange of new findings from international experts in specific areas of state-of-the-art research, while also providing a forum to enhance the training and networking of younger scientists who represent the future of research in the discipline. Plant developmental biology is the study of the processes whereby plants form all the specialized cells, tissues, and organs of the adult plant, beginning with the fertilization of the single-celled zygote and encompassing all the subsequent stages of development including embryo formation and germination, vegetative development of leaves, roots and stems, and culminating in the formation of spores, seeds and/or flowers and fruits. This NSF award will be used to organize an international meeting in the area of plant developmental biology, which will feature talks and poster presentations from experts in the field. In addition, the meeting will feature talks selected from young scientists at early-career stages, and from scientists from under-represented groups in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Furthermore, the meeting will also host interactive sessions where young plant developmental biologists will meet with established experts to discuss strategies toward establishing successful careers in science. This award will enable the organization of the 19th international FASEB Mechanisms in Plant Development, which brings together leading researchers in world of plant developmental biology to exchange unpublished ideas and advance concepts in the field. Likewise, the meeting will promote the participation and recognition of early-career scientists. Activities include invited speaker sessions, early-career speakers selected from abstracts, minority participation, poster sessions, and career development workshops. Plant developmental biology is a core discipline that studies self-organization of the multicellular plant. Discoveries in plant cell-to-cell signaling, transcriptional networks, and physiology are relevant to the wider field of developmental biology. Nonetheless, there are unique aspects of plant development that require a dedicated meeting where scientists can discuss and exchange technical/conceptual innovations and provide a point of inspiration for young plant developmental biologists. This year’s proposed topics span focus areas for NSF IOS and MCB programs. The meeting provides a critical forum for graduate students and postdocs. The small size of this meeting ( 150 participants) facilitates interaction among participants from all career stages at meals, poster sessions, and “meet the experts’ sessions addressing career concerns of young scientists. This year’s meeting will feature 14 short talks selected presented by earlier-stage researchers. Participation by minority and female scientists is strongly encouraged; more than half of the invited speakers at the conference are women. Furthermore, participation of other underrepresented groups will be an emphasis of short-talk selections. The outcomes of the conference will be disseminated through student-generated journal publication.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.