Mary Williams I recently visited the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology (MPI-MP) in Potsdam-Golm, outside of Berlin, Germany. I’d like to introduce you to this institution, a truly outstanding center for plant science research. The MPI-MP is one of more than 80 Max Planck Institutes in Germany. Five of the Institutes have a focus on … Read more
A Brief History The American Society of Plant Physiologists was founded in 1924 as an offshoot of the Botanical Society of America. The founders felt that their efforts to understand “vital (living) processes of plants” would be best served by forming their own, freestanding society. In 2001, members elected to change the name to the … Read more
Last month I spent a few days at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam, where I gave a talk about career building for early career researchers. I’ve shared the slides and here I summarize the take-home messages and links. Chance favors the prepared mind By now you’ve heard that there are … Read more
How do you describe the cycle that involves carboxylation and regeneration of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate that was elucidated by the work of Melvin Calvin, Andrew Benson and James Bassham? As a student, I learned that this is the Calvin Cycle, but a quick survey of the literature reveals that it is also described as the Calvin-Benson … Read more
Recently, I was asked it if is ethical to give a job to a woman rather than to a man of higher quality. I replied, “How do we measure “quality”? This is the longer answer that I didn’t have time to provide. The opinions expressed are my own. Achievement does not equal quality Imagining that … Read more