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Name: Elizabeth E. Hood
Title: Vice President, Industrial Proteins Business Unit
Place of work or school: ProdiGene, College Station, Texas
Research area: Plant biotechnology, foreign gene expression
Member since: 1977

1. Has being a member helped you in your career? If so, how?
   Yes. Being an ASPB member has kept me in touch with top-notch plant biologists as I developed my career
2. Why has membership in ASPB been so important?
   The Society gave me a format to present data and great journals in which to publish results.
3. Was anyone instrumental in getting you to join ASPB?
   My master's thesis adviser, James Ownby, was a member and introduced me to the Society.
4. What would you tell nonmembers to encourage them to join?
   ASPB has many benefits, including announcements, discounts on books and meetings, the ASPB News, and journal subscriptions to the two premier plant journals. The annual meetings, also discounted to members, are great formats to present data and network with other plant scientists.
5. Have you gotten a job using ASPB job postings or through networking at the annual meeting?
   I have applied for various job postings I have seen advertised in the ASPB News. However, I am not sure if any of those applications resulted specifically in my being hired. Most of those positions were also posted elsewhere, such as in Science.
6. Do you still read print journals? Where do you usually read them: work, home, library, in the car, on the bus?
   I subscribe to both Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell. I scan the tables of contents at work but mostly read articles at home early in the morning, or over coffee during office breaks. I very seldom have any quiet time at the office for reading.
7. What do you think is the next "big thing" in plant biology?
   The next big thing in plant biology has to be focused on defining the interactions of proteins and enzymes to create a "whole plant" and understand its metabolism. A big part of this will be functional genomics-and not single gene actions, but multiple genes and their interactions. A big push in this direction has been with Arabidopsis, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Defining the differences between Arabidopsis and plants in diverse families will address the real basis of how plants work. These questions will most likely drive research in the next 10 to 15 years. Knowledge for knowledge's sake is a wonderful thing. However, the application of this knowledge to solve food, agriculture, and medical problems and situations will be the real wave of the future.
8. What person, living or dead, do you most admire?
   This question does not have a single simple answer. I admire various people for their different expertise and their resulting influences on my life. I have had several friends and mentors who have helped me shape my career: Mary-Dell Chilton, Georgia Helmer, and Joe Varner, all of whom have great minds; my husband, Kendall Hood, has stood beside me and supported me throughout my life. I admire his stamina, knowledge, ability to relax, and his artistry. My current colleague and mentor, John Howard, has had the most profound influence on my career by showing me the path to my own excellence. He is the smartest person I know. However, I think the scientist I most admire is Barbara McClintock. She predicted phenomena that occur at the molecular level although she had no molecular tools at her disposal. She was right about almost all those predictions. I would love to have that power of deduction from observation.
9. What are you reading these days?
   For my work, I read papers in gene expression and biotechnology. Because I am developing a program in biomass conversion, I am reading papers, newsletters, and textbooks on ethanol technology, enzymes, cell wall structure, and economics. For pleasure, I mostly read books by female authors. I enjoy stories that describe life situations and their resolution. My favorite author is Barbara Kingsolver. Her words and stories have provided me with much philosophy for daily and long-term life.
10. Do you have any hobbies?
    Hobbies, hmmm. Tough question. I raised two fine sons. I read prolifically (see question 9 above). I sing in my local community choir. I have several things I'm looking forward to doing in the next several years, including playing the harp and flying a small plane.
11. What is your most treasured possession?
    My most treasured possession would be photos of my family, particularly of my boys as they grew up. These are my only irreplaceable things, and they are very dear.
12. What do you still have left to learn?
    Whatever I can. Everything that everyone else knows. That should keep me busy for many years!