PLANTS (Preparing Leaders and Nurturing Tomorrow's Scientists): Increasing the diversity of plant scientists

PLANTS（培养领导者和培养未来的科学家）项目将支持本科生参加美国植物学会（BSA）的年度会议。目标是增加来自代表性不足群体的本科生参加这些会议的人数，并提高他们的学术水平和追求植物科学高级学位的动力。它将建立在过去和现在的成功活动的基础上，以扩大和促进来自代表性不足群体的学生的参与。该活动将包括一个由研究生、博士后和教师组成的支持指导网络，他们将在会议之前、期间和之后为学生提供帮助。导师不仅要向学生解释科学讲座的内容，还要向学生指出该学科更广泛的相关性和应用，并向学生传递与会者真正的智力兴奋和参与。学生将参加为高级本科生设计的课程，讨论为高级工作做准备，如研究生院的准备以及影响研究生院和科学事业成功的因素。学生将有机会探索他们在植物科学方面的学术和研究兴趣，并拓宽他们的职业发展机会。BSA的参与和成员对这些活动的参与将解决持续多元化招聘的关键需求，以保持该学科的活力，并将强调全年个人参与的重要性。这些活动还将促进制定一套最佳做法，以支持植物科学研究活动中的外联和少数群体指导。

The PLANTS (Preparing Leaders and Nurturing Tomorrow's Scientists) program will support attendance of undergraduate students at the annual meeting of the Botanical Society of America (BSA). The goal is to increase the number of undergraduates from underrepresented groups who attend these meetings, and to increase their level of academic excellence and motivation to pursue advanced degrees in the plant sciences. It will build upon the success of past and current activities of the BSA in outreach and in promoting the involvement of students from underrepresented groups. The activity will include a supporting mentoring network of graduate students, post-docs, and faculty who will assist the students before, during and after the meetings. The mentors will work not only to interpret the content of scientific talks to the students, but also to point out the broader relevance and application of the discipline to the students, and pass on to the students the genuine intellectual excitement and involvement of the conference participants. Students will attend sessions designed for advanced undergraduates that discuss preparation for advanced work, such as preparation for graduate school and factors influencing success in graduate school and science careers. The students will have opportunities to explore their academic and research interests in the plant sciences and to broaden their career opportunities. Involvement of the BSA and engagement of members in these activities will address the critical need for continued diversity recruitment for the vitality of the discipline and will emphasize the importance of year-long individual involvement. These activities also will promote development of a set of best practices to support outreach and minority mentoring in research activities in the plant sciences.