Symposium: Increasing Awareness of Plant Science Opportunities among Students from Underrepresented Groups

不断变化的世界带来了挑战，植物科学家将专门解决这些挑战。为了满足气候变化、人口增长和不可再生资源减少带来的需求，美国将需要一支多元化的劳动力队伍，专注于通过植物科学和相关领域的基础和应用研究来增加我们的植物专用知识库及其应用。然而，在过去的二十年里，植物科学博士学位的授予数量一直停滞不前，该领域缺乏边缘群体成员的参与。有兴趣攻读更高学位的学生对植物科学的认识较低，这加剧了这个问题。作为应对这一挑战的第一步，将举办一系列以植物科学为重点的科学会议和职业发展讲习班，目标是参加奇卡诺/西班牙裔和美洲原住民科学促进会(SACNAS)年会的代表人数不足的群体的成员。这些活动将突出尖端植物科学，并为学生提供一系列职业机会，以告知和招募下一代植物科学家。植物科学代表着公共和私人研究组合中的一大部分，是一个预计将在未来几十年增长并提供重要职业机会的领域。该项目的目标是通过为具有不同背景的植物科学家创建一个新的社区空间，在那里支持和指导他们在职业生涯中取得成功，从而提高SACNAS的植物科学的知名度。SACNAS是一个专业协会，为STEM领域中代表性不足的群体提供服务。希望这些努力也将增加业界和植物科学相关专业学会的不同群体的参与，如美国植物生物学家协会(ASPB)和美国植物学会(BSA)。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A changing world presents challenges that will be addressed specifically by plant scientists. To meet demands presented by climate change, a growing human population and diminishing non-renewable resources, the U.S. will need a diverse work force focused on increasing our plant specific knowledge base and its applications through basic and applied research in plant sciences and related fields. However, the number of Ph.D. degrees awarded in the plant sciences have been stagnant for the last two decades and the field lacks participation from members of marginalized groups. This problem is compounded by low awareness of the plant sciences among students interested in pursuing advanced degrees. As a first step in tackling this challenge, a series of plant science-focused scientific sessions and career development workshops will be developed that target members of underrepresented groups attending the annual meeting for the Society for the Advancement of Chicano/Hispanic and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). These activities will highlight cutting edge plant science and present students with an array of career opportunities to inform and recruit the next generation of plant scientists. Plant Sciences represent a large sector of the public and private research portfolios and is an area that is expected to grow and provide important career opportunities in the next decades. The goal of this project is to increase the visibility of the plant sciences at SACNAS, a professional society that serves groups underrepresented in STEM fields, by creating a new community space for plant scientists of diverse backgrounds where they can be supported and mentored to achieve success in their careers. It is the hope that these efforts will also increase participation of industry and diverse groups from plant science related professional societies such as the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) and the Botanical Society of America (BSA).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.