ASPB members share a common goal of promoting the growth, development, and outreach of plant biology as a pure and applied science. This column features some of the dedicated and innovative members of ASPB who believe that membership in our Society is crucial to the future of plant biology. If you are interested in contributing to this feature, please contact ASPB Membership at info@aspb.org.

Membership Corner

Name: Carl Bernacchi
Title: Postdoctoral Research Plant Physiologist
Place of work or school: USDA, Agricultural Research Service / University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign
Research area: Plant Physiology/Environmental Physiology
Member since: 2001

1. Has being a member of ASPB helped you in your career? If so how?
ASPB has helped my career, and I see it continuing to help for many years. The annual meetings have already provided research collaboration opportunities and a great venue to present my research. Additionally, I have found out about permanent positions from the ASPB News, from the web site, and from contacts I have met at the various meetings.

2. Why has being a member of ASPB been important?
Membership is important for the reasons stated above and because it has given me the opportunity to present my research in various formats. I also obtain a large amount of information from the ASPB web site.

3. Was someone instrumental in getting you to join ASPB?
My Ph.D. adviser, Stephen Long, continually stresses to his students the importance of membership in research societies. The emphasis he places on society membership is a testament of how effective he is as an adviser.

4. What would you tell nonmembers to encourage them to join?
Most people I know who aren’t members are students or postdocs. I encourage them to join because it is at this stage where the benefits of membership are probably the greatest.

5. Have you gotten a job using ASPB job postings or through networking at the annual meeting?
Not yet. I recently applied for two positions that I found out from reading the ASPB online “Job Bank” and from a contact I made at a recent meeting. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

6. Have you hired anyone as a result of a job posting at the meeting or on our online Job Bank?
Not a relevant question for me!

7. Do you still read print journals? Where do you usually read them: work, home, library, in the car, on the bus?
No. I mostly search the table of contents of the journal I am interested in and print out articles I would like to read. I tend to read these mostly at the office or while I travel.

8. What do you think is the next “big thing” in plant biology?
The next big thing in my eyes is to make sense of the huge developments in genome sequencing and functional genomics at an organ and a whole plant level. I see the role of the traditional plant physiologist growing stronger in the years to come. (I may be somewhat biased here.)

9. What person, living or dead, do you most admire?
I most admire my wife.

10. What are you reading these days?
Outside of research articles, most of what I read involves bright colors, Barney, or whatever else my infant daughter wants me to read to her.

11. What are your hobbies?
I really enjoy doing things around the house—repairing appliances, working on the plumbing, doing electrical work, building things, etc. I also am interested in computer programming. I am mostly self-taught, but this hobby tends to facilitate a lot of what I do for my current position.

12. What is your most treasured possession?
All the photos and video of my daughter. She is an infant, and it is amazing how much she changes from day to day. Any record of her at the various stages of development is priceless.

13. What do you still have left to learn?
Just about everything. I guess that is why they call it the “endless pursuit for knowledge.”