Travel Support for XVI International Botanical Congress, St. Louis, August 1-7, 1999

第十六届国际植物学大会（第16届IBC）由国际生物科学联合会主办，每5-6年举行一次，最近一次（1993年）在东京举行。第16届国际生物伦理委员会将于1999年8月在圣路易斯举行，预计将接待来自世界各地的5,000多名植物科学家。最近几届大会，发展中国家的学生和科学家等收入较低的人较难参加。美国国家科学基金会的赠款将用于资助大会与会者和来自两个目标群体的与会者，即美国青年科学家和发展中国家科学家的旅费。我们的目标是使第16届IBC成为一个跨学科的会议，为美国和外国科学家提供独特的机会，在广泛的现代植物科学领域开展合作和伙伴关系。一个综合性的专题讨论会和其他演讲计划已经制定，重点是六大主题：生物多样性（系统学和进化）;生态学，环境和保护;结构，发展和细胞生物学;遗传学和基因组学;生理学和生物化学;和植物生物技术。召集人和主旨发言人包括活跃在所有这些研究和教育领域的世界各地的顶尖科学家。已作出特别努力，让加拿大和墨西哥科学家参与大会的总体组织工作，外国科学家与美国同行一起参与组织几乎每一次主题研讨会。组织者建立了一个网站，以帮助传播关于大会的信息，并鼓励尽可能多的人参加（www.ibc99.org）。

The XVI International Botanical Congress (16th IBC) is held under the auspices of the International Union of Biological Sciences, and meets every 5-6 years, most recently (1993) in Tokyo. The 16th IBC, the last this century, will meet in St. Louis, in August 1999, and is expected to host 5,000 or more plant scientists from around the world. Recent past congresses have been relatively inaccessible to persons of more modest means such as students and scientists from developing countries. The NSF grant will support travel costs for Congress attendees and participants from the two targeted groups, young U.S. scientists and scientists from developing countries. The goal is to make the 16th IBC an interdisciplinary conference that will provide unique opportunities for U.S. and foreign scientists to meet and initiate collaborations and partnerships across a broad spectrum of modern plant sciences. A comprehensive program of symposia and other presentations has been developed, focusing on six broad themes: biological diversity (systematics and evolution); ecology, environment, and conservation; structure, development, and cellular biology; genetics and genomics; physiology and biochemistry; and plant biotechnology. Convenors and keynote speakers include leading scientists from around the world active in all of these areas of research and education. Special efforts have been made to involve Canadian and Mexican scientists in the overall organization of the congress, and foreign scientists participate with U.S. counterparts in the organization of nearly every keynote symposium. The organizers have established a website to help disseminate information about the Congress and to encourage as great participation as possible (www.ibc99.org).