A Webinar by the ASPB Early Career Plant Scientists (ECPS) Section
September 13, 2024
12 PM Eastern time
The ASPB Early Career Plant Scientists (ECPS) Section proudly presents the first in our career development series: “Demystifying the NSF Fellowship Application Process.” Writing a fellowship can be hard. We’re here to help make it easier!
In this webinar, a panel of NSF Program Directors, previous fellowship winners, and honorable mentions will share their experiences and expertise on the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB) and the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) before having an open panel discussion, where students will have a chance to get their questions answered. Panelists will do an overview of the programs and what the application process is like and share any tips or tricks they’ve picked up over the years. The focus will be on the PFRB, but GRFP will also be discussed. This panel is targeted for anyone interested in writing an NSF fellowship. Come prepared with questions for our speakers!
Panelists
NSF Program Director
Shin-Han Shiu obtained his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in plant genetics and biochemistry, went on to conduct postdoctoral research in bioinformatics in the Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences, Germany, and received an NIH postdoctoral fellowship to study evolutionary genomics in University of Chicago. Since 2006, he has been a faculty in Michigan State University studying and modeling how plant genomes evolve and function using computational and experimental approaches. In 2024, he becomes an NSF Program Director in the Plant Genome Research Program.
Dr. Diane Jofuku Okamuro serves as a Program Director in the Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP) Cluster at the National Science Foundation, Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Integrative Organismal Systems. The PGRP supports basic discovery research on a genome-wide scale in and/or relevant to plants that are important to the U.S. economy as well as the development of tools, genetic resources and technology breakthroughs that further enable functional plant genomics. In addition, the Cluster manages the Plant Genome Postdoctoral Research Fellowships track of the Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB) program. Dr. Okamuro received her Ph.D. in Biology from UCLA and is a plant molecular geneticist by training. She has broad-based experience in cutting-edge genomics technologies and has held research and management positions in both academia and industry prior to joining NSF in 2005.
NSF Operations Center Outreach Manager
Dr. Anni Leming is the Operations Center Outreach Manager for the U.S. National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP). She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Linguistics. Her main role as the Outreach Manager for the NSF GRFP is to support outreach efforts that broaden participation of the full spectrum of diverse talent that society has to offer, which includes underrepresented and under-served communities.
PhD Candidate at University of Georgia (UGA)
Summer Blanco is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Georgia. They were awarded the NSF GRRF as a post-baccalaureate research assistant entering graduate school. Summer is currently pursuing a split Plant Biology/STEMEd dissertation, advised by Dr. Jim Leebens-Mack and Dr. Tati Russo-Tait. Ultimately, Summer hopes to find a career that merges their research training in plant genomics and STEM education with a passion for racial equity and social justice.
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Davis
Samantha Snodgrass is fascinated with plant domestication and studying agricultural systems through an evolutionary lens. As an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Davis, mentored by Dr. Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra (http://rilab.ucdavis.edu/) and Dr. Graham Coop (https://gcbias.org/), Samantha leverages the tight relationship of humans and maize to better understand how maize moved with and between communities and identify selection on traits thousands of years ago during domestication and later range expansions. This work is a continuation of her PhD work at Iowa State University in Dr. Matthew Hufford’s lab (https://www.zeagenomics.org/). As an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and NSF NRT Trainee, she investigated genomic consequences of hybridization at short- and long-term timescales in maize and its wild relatives using new pseudomolecule, reference level assemblies. These consequences include phenomena such as hybrid vigor in F1 offspring and fractionation across lineages sharing a single whole genome duplication event.
PhD Candidate at University of Georgia (UGA)
Taylor Scroggs is a third-year PhD candidate in the Nelms lab at the University of Georgia. Taylor’s work focuses on systematically exploring transcription factor function in Maize. She is a 2024 GRFP honorable mention.
Moderator
PhD Candidate at Ohio University
Emma Canaday is a PhD candidate at Ohio University. Their work focuses on plant responses to spaceflight, specifically looking at gravity, radiation and RNA regulation of plants grown in low earth orbit. They are the current treasurer of the early career section of ASPB and are passionate about connecting early career researchers with support for the research and development.
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