Meeting: FASEB Conference on Mechanisms in Plant Development, August 11-16, 2013, Saxtons River, Vermont, USA.
This project will promote interactions between biologists who are using different scientific approaches to study plant developmental mechanisms. These interactions will take place at the 13th International meeting on Mechanisms in Plant Development, which will be held from August 11th-16th, 2013 in Saxtons River, Vermont, USA. This meeting is the only regular international conference devoted entirely to plant developmental biology, which is the study of how plants grow and how they are able to make different structures, such as leaves, fruits and grains, that are critical to our agricultural economy. Discoveries in developmental biology may help in the design of better crops for food and biofuel production, as well as reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment. This particular conference is special because the small size and secluded location of the meeting are higly conducive to informal discussion of new ideas and emerging concepts, and also because it will support the involvement of early career and minority scientists. The results of the conference will be widely disseminated through a written summary and slides to be used by meeting participants to spread the exciting new findings presented.
This project supported the 2013 meeting "Mechanisms in Plant Development" at the Vermont Academy, Saxtons River, Vermont from August 11-16, 2013. The conference was attended by ~ 160 scientists from around the world, and fostered discussion and formation of new collaborations. Internationally renowned scientists from North America and abroad chaired the sessions and spoke at the conference, that was attended by trainees as well as junior and senior scientists. In total, there were 33 invited speakers and over 160 attendees at this meeting. Eleven of the invited speakers were women, and two of the eight session chairs were women. 18 additional abstracts were selected for 15-minute presentations in the eight formal sessions. In this group, 8 speakers were women and 6 were grad students, 9 were post docs and 2 were young investigators (within the first 3-5 years of establishing their labs). Therefore the conference contributed to training and valuable experience for young scientists. The eight major sessions and keynote address covered the breadth of plant development and explored new approaches to current research areas of intense scientific development. Most of the sessions were held in the morning and evening with the afternoons free for informal discussions and viewing of posters. Two 2-hour poster sessions were also held, in which 123 posters were displayed and presented. The intimate and informal setting of the meeting allowed for high quality interactions as indicated by stimulating discussions during the question periods after talks, and continuing through the meals and free times. Many of the grad student and post-doc attendees commented on how important this conference was for allowing them to interact closely with established scientists in this area. Moreover, there was an impressive amount of unpublished data presented providing great opportunity for "cross-pollination" of ideas and fostering of collaborative relationships. Interactions were also stimulated by 2 additional activities. First, "meet the experts sessions" were held during 2 lunchtimes, in which faculty were forbidden from siting next to each other, ensuring that grad students or post docs would be able to interact with them. In the second new activity, 10 of the grad students volunteered to write a meeting review. 2 or 3 students covered each session, and met with the speakers and conversed by emails to improve their write ups. The project contributed to outreach and education, by involving a broad range of scientists at different career stages and giving training and experience in scientific presentations, including oral, poster and in writing. In summary, the co-organizers felt this meeting was a tremendous success (based on feedback from numerous attendees and from the FASEB questionnaire). David Jackson, Ph.D. Lead Organizer, 2013 Mechanisms in Plant Development
