Mary Williams

I studied Biochemistry at Berkeley (BA), Plant Molecular Biology at Rockefeller (PhD), did a postdoc at Berkeley with Ian Sussex, and then spent 14 years as a Biology professor at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. In 2009 I started working at the American Society of Plant Biologists as Features Editor of the journal Plant Cell and the developer of Teaching Tools in Plant Biology. My passion lies in making it a little bit easier for students of all ages to understand plants and plant science research. I live in Glasgow, Scotland, with my family and our much adored dog.

Plant Physiology webinar: Focus on Ecophysiology

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Celebrating the 2026 Focus Collection on Plant Ecophysiology  Recorded Thursday February 26, 2026 at ABOUT THIS WEBINAR A recent issue of Plant Physiology, edited by Wagner L. Araújo, Florian Busch, Tracy Lawson, Christine Scoffoni, Xinguang Zhu, and Agustin Zsögön, has a focus on plant ecophysiology. Plant ecophysiology is an experimental science that deals with how … Read more

New Teaching Tool, “Genomic Analysis of Botanical Collections”

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We are pleased to announce the release of the latest unit in the Teaching Tools in Plant Biology series, “Genomic Analysis of Botanical Collections: Opportunities and Challenges,” by Martina Deglialberti, Chiara Paleni, Federico Fainelli, Carla Lambertini, and Silvia Manrique. This Teaching Tools provides an overview of how botanical collections of all sorts can be used … Read more

Introducing the 2026 Plant Physiology Assistant Features Editors

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Plant Physiology started the Assistant Features Editor (AFE) program 8 years ago to help disseminate discoveries published in the journal and to train the next generation of editors and reviewers. Our AFEs are promising early-career scientists. They bring their passion for science to our journal, communicating to our readers each month some of the most … Read more

July 17: Plant Physiology panel discussion on Numeracy, Realism, and Relevance in Plant Science

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Plant Physiology webinar Numeracy, Realism, and Relevance in Plant Science Recorded Thursday July 17, 2025 About this panel discussion There has been a recent uptick in frustration with overclaiming and overselling at the interface between molecular plant science and agriculture. Relatedly, there is a growing disconnect between metabolic engineers and synthetic biologists who think and … Read more