The 50th Annual Maize Genetics Conference will be held February 27-March 2, 2008 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC. At this conference, members of the maize community present and discuss their most recent research results covering a wide range of topics including classical genetics, molecular genetics, and genomics. In addition, the conference celebrates the history of and success of Maize Genetics with special sessions that include a historical perspective offered by veteran maize geneticists, a genomics session unveiling a draft sequence of the B73 genome, and a session highlighting the translation of basic maize research to crop improvement. The Maize Genetics Conference provides an outstanding opportunity for graduate students to meet and interact with scientists in the field, to discuss their research ideas as talks or posters, and to begin to establish the scientific networks that will prove invaluable throughout their careers. The funding provided by NSF helps defray the costs of participation of students from the U.S. scientific community.