As a faculty member at a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI), do you find yourself challenged to develop and nurture a research program that is both robust and richly engaging for undergraduate scientists? As a grad student or a postdoc, are you committed to (or seriously considering) pursuing a faculty position at a PUI? If so, ASPB’s PUI Faculty Development Workshop is for you! Scheduled for the morning of June 24, 2017 – just before Plant Biology 2017 kicks off in Honolulu, HI, the timing is perfect for ongoing discussions and networking throughout the conference. And the content of the workshop is designed to both inform and engage, with discussion topics including best practices in experimental design, collaboration, grant writing, and time management. A keynote address and subsequent 
conversation will focus on raising the profile of research programs in PUIs and how best to advocate for additional institutional resources. And there will be a number of research presentations from PUI faculty, as well as a research poster session. Breakfast will be served, and coffee and snacks will be available during the workshop. Cost: $40 for faculty; $25 for students and postdocs. (You may sign up as you register to attend Plant Biology 2017.)
To promote PUI faculty participation in this workshop and their attendance at Plant Biology 2017, the workshop’s organizing committee anticipates that it will receive funding from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) for support of travel awards for PUI faculty. These awards would defray a portion of PUI faculty members’ costs for participating in both the workshop and Plant Biology 2017. Pending formal notification of NIFA funding, PUI faculty members are invited to apply for one of these awards before January 11, 2017. The organizing committee will inform presumptive awardees in time for them to submit research abstracts for consideration for concurrent session talks by the Plant Biology 2017 Program Committee, and it will formalize and disburse the travel awards upon notification that the proposal has been funded.
ASPB’s PUI community is active in Plantae: Join the conversation at https://community.plantae.org/groups/home/353