Intellectual Merit: The American Society for Plant Biologists (ASPB) will host a Laboratory Leadership Workshop for new and prospective PIs to provide training in skills and approaches required for success in mentoring, networking, research ethics, grant-writing, publication, teaching, and reaching out to the public. The workshop will be held August 4-6, 2011 in Minneapolis, MN just prior to the annual meeting of ASPB. Approximately 20 early-career faculty and 50 postdoctoral scientists are expected to attend. The format of the meeting will be a combination of presentations by invited speakers and discussion among participants. Sessions are aimed at dual-track professional development for those interested in careers in research-intensive institutions and in predominantly undergraduate institutions. Highlights of the workshop will be published in an upcoming ASPB newsletter.
Broader Impacts: The workshop will bring together established investigators and early-career scientists with the aim of providing training in areas not usually encompassed by the traditional route of postdoctoral training. The emphasis on networking will have allow participants to build relationships that will last beyond the workshop itself. Careful attention has been paid to encouraging participation by women and minority scientists, through targeted advertising and availability of travel grants.
From August 4 through August 5, 2011, the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB; www.aspb.org) held its second Laboratory Leadership Workshop in Minneapolis, MN. Timed to immediately precede the society’s annual meeting, the workshop was modeled after the courses run by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and the first ASPB Lab Leadership Workshop, held in July 2007. Reflecting ASPB’s commitment to the professional development of early career plant scientists from across the discipline, the workshop organizers included three former members of the society’s chief governance committee, as well as its chief executive officer. The 2011 Workshop was a resounding success, as judged by evaluations done after each presentation or panel discussion. Thus, our goals and objectives were met. We were able to Provide in-depth training in skills and approaches required for success in grant writing, grants and budget management, personnel management, teaching, public outreach, and project management for new university faculty. Target the workshop to pre-tenure faculty and to postdocs entering the academic job market. Ensure that the workshop was useful to those postdocs planning to pursue faculty careers in primarily undergraduate institutions (and faculty already at such institutions) and to those aiming toward (or already at) PhD-granting, research-intensive universities, and all those institutions in-between. Explicitly provide networking contacts and information of pertinence to those seeking (or already in) academic appointments in a broad range of institution types and sizes.
