Sally Assmann
ASPB Committee Chairs 2008–2009
Dan Bush Board of Trustees		Douglas Randall Constitution & Bylaws		Jane Ellis Education Committee
Leon Kochian International Committee		Mel Oliver Membership Committee		MariaElena Zavala Minority Affairs
Danny Schnell Program Committee		Gary Stacey Public Affairs Committee		Sally Mackenzie Publications Committee
Judy Brusslan Women in Plant Biology Committee		Jim Siedow Education Foundation
ASPB Presidents
Rob McClung Past President		Tuan-hua David Ho President		Nick Carpita President-elect
ASPB Managerial Staff
Suzanne Cholwek Subscriptions Manager		Donna Gordon Executive and Governance Affairs Manager		Kim Kimnach Assoc. Director of Finance and Administration
John Long Managing Editor		Jean Rosenberg Director of Meetings, Marketing, and Membership		Wendy Sahli Manager of Marketing and Web Services
Crispin Taylor Executive Director		Nancy Winchester Director of Publications

PRESIDENT'S LETTER

ASPB: An International Society

The first letter that I wrote as president of ASPB was about the hopes for science in the new administration of U.S. President Barack Obama. That letter was of particular relevance to U.S. members of ASPB. So it is perhaps fitting that in this, my last letter as ASPB president, I address some of the work that ASPB is doing to promote plant science internationally. That I do so is quite appropriate, given the fact that approximately 40% of our membership resides outside the United States. Indeed, the 2009 ASPB meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, had scientists from 46 nations in attendance, illustrating the fact that we are truly an international society. As such, ASPB has the opportunity and the responsibility to further plant biology worldwide. Over the past year, I and other ASPB leaders have undertaken several new initiatives that speak to this goal.

As many of you are no doubt aware, ASPB has its own International Committee (IC). A turnover in IC membership in 2008 offered the opportunity for a re-visioning of this committee’s focus. As you can imagine, there is a vast diversity of activities that such a committee could undertake in the quest to support plant biology in every corner of the globe. I discussed various options with the other ASPB presidents, and we settled on the idea that the committee would focus for the immediate future on outreach to other countries in the Americas and to Africa. The new committee chair, Leon Kochian, is leading this effort. In addition, the committee will continue to entertain proposals from other organizations seeking small amounts of funding to facilitate interactions between ASPB members and plant scientists in other nations.

Another new initiative developed in Honolulu this past summer. Before the start of Plant Biology 2009, ASPB sponsored a first-ever summit of leaders of plant science societies from around the world. The two-day summit met at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and was led by ASPB Membership Committee chair Mel Oliver. In attendance were 21 leaders of 13 different plant science societies representing all geographic regions. Discussions were held on the ways that plant scientists and plant science societies can contribute toward solving some of the major challenges facing humankind, including climate change, environmental degradation, and world hunger. The summit culminated in the formation of a Global Plant Council. This unifying body will facilitate the ability of plant scientists from around the world to address global issues that involve plant biology and to provide policy makers with the scientific information necessary to make informed decisions on these topics. The Global Plant Council is currently expanding its membership to include societies not present at the initial summit. The next meeting of the Global Plant Council will be sponsored by the Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists/Société Canadienne de Physiologie Végétale (CSPP/SCPV) and will be held in 2010 in Montreal, in conjunction with the joint ASPB/CSPP meeting.

I am also pleased to report another new venture that will occur at Plant Biology 2010. As plant biologists, we know that plants and human health are inextricably linked, most directly by plant-based foods and medicines. Still today, it is estimated that over 10% of the major clinical drugs are solely of plant origin (1). One of my personal goals for my presidential year was to work toward strengthening ties between plant biologists and the main U.S. agency that funds research on medicine and human health, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). To date I have met with NIH program officers in the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and the National Cancer Institute. One outcome of these meetings is that NIH program staff plan to join us at Plant Biology 2010 to provide information on NIH programs and to learn more about the relevance of plant biology research to the mission of NIH. It is particularly fitting that one of the major symposia topics at ASPB/CSPP2010 will be the impact of plant biology on human health. This symposium will be organized by the aforementioned Global Plant Council and thus represents another forum through which ASPB is expanding its international horizons.

Finally, in the 21st century, there is one aspect of any organization that is immediately international, and that is its web presence. Upon becoming president, one major goal that I had was a revamping and modernization of the ASPB website. This has been a step-by-step process to which many people have made significant contributions. The ASPB Executive Committee participated in an initial survey late in 2008 concerning web design, from which a number of recommendations arose. The survey was then sent out to a wider swath of ASPB membership early in 2009. More than 200 members responded to the specific survey questions, and over 70 additional suggestions were provided in the write-in boxes. An ad hoc committee on web revision was then formed, with representation from all membership categories, including undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, academic, government, and industry scientists. In recognition of the international nature of our Society, about 30% of the committee is from abroad. The web redesign committee has met virtually via (lengthy!) conference calls to make recommendations and push the website revision forward, and I would like to personally thank the committee members for their insights, hard work, and enthusiasm for this project. Currently, all of the ASPB leadership committees are working on revisions of their committee’s web content, and the new website is projected to debut this winter.

One person whom I’d especially like to thank regarding the website revision is our webmaster, Wendy Sahli, who is providing the technical expertise and knowledge of web design that will allow this project to come to fruition. Jean Rosenberg, ASPB director of meetings, marketing, and membership, has also provided guidance to this endeavor. ASPB members may know Wendy and Jean better as ASPB’s “meeting divas”—the ASPB professional staff who, along with the Program Committee, make our annual meeting such a success each year. As you might imagine, organizing such a large meeting, jam-packed with scientific and educational content, requires a sustained year-round effort. This year’s annual meeting was one of the largest ever, with over 1,700 scientists in attendance. More information about PB2009, along with photographs from the meeting, can be found on pages 10–25 of this newsletter issue and on the ASPB website.

As my presidential year draws to a close, it is time for other thank-yous as well. Over this past year, I could expect to see e-mails from one or more of the ASPB staff arriving in my inbox at any time between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. This was particularly true of our executive director, Crispin Taylor, who worked especially long hours this past year due to the departure of our Public Affairs director, Brian Hyps. We truly have a wise, dedicated, and highly professional staff at ASPB headquarters in Rockville, and I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank them for all they do so well. ASPB’s managers are (in alphabetical order) Suzanne Cholwek, subscriptions manager; Donna Gordon, executive and governance affairs manager; Kim Kimnach, associate director of finance and administration; John Long, managing editor; Jean Rosenberg, director of meetings, marketing, and membership; Wendy Sahli, manager of marketing and web services; Crispin Taylor, executive director; and Nancy Winchester, director of publications. Please take a look at their photographs at the end of this article, and, when you see any of these individuals or other ASPB staff at PB2010 in Montreal next year, take a minute to thank them for all that they do for you, for our superlative journals, Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell, and for the support and promotion of plant biology.

I would also like to take this occasion of my last President’s Letter to thank those ASPB members who serve on ASPB committees. These are all volunteer positions, yet committee members put a huge amount of time and effort into committee projects, just a small fraction of which I have highlighted in my letters this past year (more information can be found on our website and in past and present newsletter articles). Although there is not space here to name every committee member, the least I can do is include photographs of the chairs of our leadership committees. Thank you, chairs—it’s been great working with you!

The ASPB presidents serve as a triumvirate (president-elect, president, and immediate past president), and so at this point I would like to thank Past President Rob McClung, for his thoughtful, dedicated, and articulate leadership over the past three years. When Rob rotates off on October 1, 2009, I will become immediate past president, and from that vantage point I’ll look forward to the opportunity to continue work on the initiatives described above. On October 1 we will welcome Tuan-hua David Ho as our next president. From 2003 to 2008 Tuan-hua David was the director of the Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan; he has since resumed his full-time position at Washington University in St. Louis. I also welcome Nick Carpita as president-elect. Nick has previously served the Society as secretary, was a driving force behind the ASPB-sponsored Pan American Congress on Plants and BioEnergy held in Mérida, Mexico, in June 2008, and is one of the lead organizers for the second conference on this topic, which will be held in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2010. Tuan-hua David and Nick are thus perfectly positioned to further promote both the U.S. and the international missions of ASPB.

In closing, my final thank you goes out to you, the membership of ASPB. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity you have given me to serve your Society. Aloha to Honolulu and Bienvenue to Montreal!

Sally Assmann

Reference
Raskin, I. et al. (2002). Plants and human health in the twenty-first century. Trends in Biotechnology. 20: 522–531.