ASPB President’s Update: The Honor and Joy of Supporting ASPB Through Service

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Hong Ma, ASPB President

Greetings ASPB members; it is great to connect in this way!

We are now near the end of January 2025, and the nomination process for elected leaders of ASPB is well underway. So, this is a good time for me to share my perspective on service for ASPB. Like many, my early association with ASPB was as a reader of articles in Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell, then later as an author for manuscripts submitted to these journals. The high regard and widespread impact of these journals clearly meant that I was in very good company.

Thus, I was delighted and honored when I received invitations to review manuscripts submitted to these journals. The experiences I gained through these efforts also helped me to better understand journal publications and led to an appointment as an Associate Editor at Plant Physiology. This new role not only opened a new window into the process of manuscript review and eventual acceptance, but also provided great opportunities to interact with authors, ASPB staff, and other editors.

Subsequently, I had the honor and good fortune to be appointed to the ASPB Publications Committee, which is one of the committees that are a crucial part of the ASPB leadership structure and provides oversight of the journals. This role allowed me to gain new insights into the way ASPB operates to achieve its missions. One of the important roles of the Publications Committee is to identify the Editor-in-Chief of each journal from a large number of candidates. More recently, I was also involved in the Mid-Atlantic Section of ASPB, contributing to annual meetings, which provide a platform for interaction among graduate and undergraduate students, post-doctoral scientists, faculty members and other members of the plant biology community.

These activities have provided much greater exposure to a wide range of plant biology advances than my daily work as a faculty member, and they have facilitated connections to people who are knowledgeable beyond my own research and teaching interests. Each conversation and email communication has afforded opportunities for learning and further strengthening friendship. The service roles and interactions they allow are important threads in the fabric of ASPB as a large extended family of plant biologists, whether members of the Society or the broader plant biology community.

Of course, many years of service to ASPB have also helped me to prepare for my most recent roles – first as President-elect of ASPB, and currently the Society’s President. These positions in ASPB leadership are certainly very honorable for me and call for me to devote time and energy, as well as any relevant experience to contribute to ASPB – more so than ever before. At the same time, serving ASPB in this capacity has also afforded me with connections to many people, not only ASPB members and other plant biologists, but also farmers, parents and children at farmers’ markets, industry leaders, school teachers, donors and supporters, government officials, and other members of our broad society who share an interest in plants.

Among ASPB members with whom I regularly interact are those who are also part of the leadership, each of whom provides highly valuable insights and makes the work at ASPB such a delightful and enjoyable experience. Among these colleagues, I really appreciate the support and advice from past ASPB presidents. They have shown by example how much they care about ASPB and have made long-term contributions to ASPB. One bright case is Brian Larkins, who served as Editor-in-Chief of The Plant Cell and in the three-year Presidential cycle. It is with a heavy heart that I acknowledge that Brian has recently passed away. His devotion to ASPB continued all the way with his leadership in the ASPB Centennial Celebration, the ASPB Legacy Society, and as the originator of the ASPB Pioneer program. Brian and other past ASPB presidents provide great role models as long-term supporters of and contributors to ASPB, as the current leaders work with ASPB members to promote plant biology on multiple fronts.

We have about a month remaining in the 2025 nominations process, and we are asking you to help us identify candidates for two positions: the President-elect and the at large elected member of the Board of Directors (BoD), both of whom also serve on the ASPB Council. The President-elect will serve in this role for one year starting October 2025, as part of the ASPB leadership team that also include the immediate past president, the president, and the CEO. The newly elected president-elect will become the president in October of 2026, then the immediate past president in October of 2027. The elected BoD/Council member represents our members in discussions and decisions of ASPB, and thus performs an important function for the community. All ASPB members are called upon to nominate candidates for these positions, so please visit the nomination page to both learn about these positions and make your nomination of qualified candidates. It’s easy and quick to do.

Although here in Central Pennsylvania, we are in the midst of a cold winter, I hope you can find some way to enjoy plants, including visiting a florist or indoor gardens/greenhouses. I look forward to the coming of spring and summer when outdoor interactions with diverse plants can resume. I am sure I will see many of you at section and national ASPB meetings, and I hope to identify additional ways to work with you to strengthen ASPB and plant biology.

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