The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to be a founding member of the Plant Science Research Network (PSRN), which was launched earlier this week. This effort, supported by a Research Coordination Network award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), will seek to unite the plant science community and to harness its collective vision and broad expertise to support agricultural sustainability and the growth of the bioeconomy.
“We are glad that GSA is able to join with our fellow societies to launch the Plant Science Research Network,” said GSA President Jasper Rine, PhD. “We look forward to engaging many plant geneticists in the network and linking the plant science community more closely with colleagues among the GSA membership who span the breadth of genetics.”
James Birchler, PhD, a maize and fruit fly geneticist at the University of Missouri who represents GSA on the PSRN Steering Committee, added “As someone who works in both plant and non-plant systems, I see enormous potential not only to unite a diverse group of plant scientists, but to promote ways for the broader plant science community to benefit from closer interactions with colleagues working in other biological systems.”
The network will provide support for new collaborations, especially related to the development of community-wide standards for exchanging data and metadata, and foster the continued strength of the plant research community. Among planned PSRN activities are workshops to develop solutions to broaden participation in the plant sciences and better prepare graduate student and postdoctoral scholars for a wide range of careers.
The PSRN is supported by NSF Award #IOS-1514765 to David Stern at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research and Crispin Taylor at the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB). In addition to GSA, founding members include ASPB; the Alliance of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science Societies; the American Phytopathological Society; the American Society for Horticultural Science; the Botanical Society of America; and the Council on Undergraduate Research.