American Society
of Plant Biologists
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Efforts to Support Postdoctoral and Early Career Researchers and Women
Career Workshops at Annual Meeting
The Women in Plant Biology Committee organizes career workshops at ASPB's annual meeting.
Although these workshops were originally focused around the challenges of dual-career couples, they
have more recently been more general career workshops that draw both women and men, mostly
those early in their careers including undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars.
Luncheon at Annual Meeting
In addition to the career workshops, the Women in Plant Biology Committee organizes a networking
luncheon with speaker presentation at the annual meeting. The speaker presentations have generally
have been more focused on gender issues than the workshops, and almost all of the speakers have
been women.
Child Care at Annual Meeting
For the first time, ASPB offered on-site child care at its 2010 annual meeting in Montreal. The
bonded, accredited child care service selected conducted activities for children from infants through 13
years of age. Children were also welcomed at several events including the evening poster sessions
and final party. Fees for the child care service were subsidized by the Women in Plant Biology
Committee with funds provided by the Estate of Eli Romanoff.
Laboratory Leadership Workshop
Modeled after the lab management workshops organized by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and
Burroughs Wellcome Fund, ASPB organized a comprehensive laboratory leadership workshop prior to
the start of the annual meeting in 2007 (a similar workshop is planned for 2011). With sessions on
topics such as teaching, publishing, mentoring, securing grants, and laboratory and budget
management, the workshop is targeted toward late-stage postdocs and junior faculty.
Early Career Awards
The Society offers several awards for early career researchers: (1) Charles Albert Shull Award for
scientists under 45 years of age or fewer than ten years from the granting of the doctoral degree; (2)
Early Career Award for contributions by a member not more than five years from the granting of the
doctoral degree; and (3) ASPB-Pioneer Hi-Bred Graduate Student Fellowship for PhD candidates with
an interest in plant biology.
Enhancing Diversity of Society Awards
The Society has worked to enhance the diversity of those receiving its awards. In particular, the
Society has made it easier to nominate individuals for the awards and increase the nominee pool. The
requirements now ask for a letter of nomination, OJ for the nominee, and the names of reference (as
opposed to letters of reference).
Presentation:
Adam P. Fagen, Public Affairs Director ([email protected])
Women in Plant Biology Committee:
Marta Laskowski, Committee Chair, Oberlin College ([email protected])
Crispin Taylor, ASPB Executive Director (ctaylor@aspb,org)
ASPB is a professional scientific society, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, devoted to the advancement of
the plant sciences worldwide. With a membership of nearly 5,000 plant scientists from throughout the United
States and more than 50 other nations, the Society publishes two of the most widely cited plant science
journals: The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology. For more information aboutASPB, please visit www.aspb.ora,