NAASC candidate statements for 2025: Faculty statements above, Early Career Scholar statements below

FACULTY NOMINEES: Order of Statements for 5-year terms (alphabetical by 1st name)

1.     Aaron Rashotte, Auburn University, USA

2. Anna Dobritsa, The Ohio State University, USA

3. Jake Brunkard, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

4. Jazz Dickinson, UC San Diego, USA

5. Jesse Woodson, University of Arizona, USA

6. Juan Dong, Texas A&M University, USA

7. Mohammed Salehin, NCA&T State University, USA

8. Stefan DeFolter, Cinvestav, Irapuato, Mexico

9. Tomokazu Kawashima, University of Kentucky, USA

10. Xue Pan, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada

11. Yangnan Gu, UC Berkeley, USA

(1) Aaron Rashotte, Auburn University, USA

Motivation to Serve & Priorities if Elected: I feel a deep bond to the Arabidopsis community having been part of it for many years and would love to help pay it back as a NAASC member by working to help make it a long lasting and thriving group with excited and active members who participate at all levels of science. My goal is to promote NAASC and make ICAR meetings the best that they can be for all, from first time to multi-year participants like me. I have attended 19 ICARs, and this was the first conference I ever attended. I like to think that I could help translate the best of what I saw and experienced from those many meetings into similar “best” experiences for others. While ICAR has established structures that serve as a solid base, we should never be afraid to try new ones to make ourselves and our communities better. To this end, I presented at the 2024 ICAR Art Show, which I greatly enjoyed as it gave me a different view of how our members think about science as art. Events should be embraced and promoted by NAASC.
Additional Expertise, Leadership, & Experience: My major leadership experiences include serving as the head of the graduate program in Biological Sciences at Auburn University with over 125 students for 4 years, which has involved a range of recruiting and promoting student engagement efforts. Last year I served as a member of the NAASC Awards Committee. Further, I also served as Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary of the Southern Section of the American Society of Plant Biologist (SS-ASPB) that involved planning, organizing, and running the annual meeting. One of the most enjoyable parts of serving with SS-ASPB has been fostering the experiences that a smaller meeting allows, which is the direct interaction between researchers of all levels. Where undergraduates & graduate students can not only present their science but engage in meaningful discussion of their work with full professors, such that they are encouraged to continue in science. I often have this “small” meeting feel at ICAR conferences and I would hope to encourage this attitude to a greater degree within our community if on NAASC.
Scientific Background: Over my career, I have and continue to study a wide range of topics, mutants, and genes in Arabidopsis. I love looking at plants and trying to understand what is happening as they develop or what is going wrong when there is a mutation. This began during my PhD at the University of Arizona in Ken Feldmann’s Lab with mapping and physiological characterization by SEM and GC of the CER epicuticular wax genes as well as some early Arabidopsis-insect interactions. Then as a postdoc at Wake Forest University with Gloria Muday I examined auxin transport in a range of Arabidopsis mutants with a focus on understanding how this hormone regulated root gravitropic responses. During a second postdoc in Joe Kieber’s Lab at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I began my study of cytokinin, with a transcriptome experiment that led to identification and the start of my characterization of the Cytokinin Response Factors or CRFs that has been an overall focus of my career. My own lab at Auburn University has a long-term focus on understanding how cytokinin functions as a hormone through examination of CRFs as cytokinin regulated transcription factors. This involved lots of physiological examinations of Arabidopsis mutants and CRF transgenic lines as well as transcriptomic and gene transcript examinations to their links with a wide range of abiotic stresses. The lab has branched into parallel examinations of cytokinin in tomato, which along with phylogenic examinations has been greatly informative towards our thinking about Arabidopsis and the evolutionary origins of gene functions.

(2) Anna Dobritsa, The Ohio State University, USA

Motivation to Serve & Priorities if Elected: As a NAASC member, I will be a strong advocate for the support of basic research & for maintaining Arabidopsis as a critical model system that continues to advance our understanding of plant biology and biology in general. In the classes I teach & during public outreach events my lab participates in every year, I always talk about how much we have already learned from this little weed and how much more it can contribute to both fundamental knowledge & practical applications. At a time when the government support for science in the US faces great threats, defending basic research is more important than ever. As a NAASC member, I will continue to do so. I am also excited to give back to the Arabidopsis community that has supported me for many years & look forward to helping organize ICAR meetings that are welcoming & inclusive, and that foster both scientific progress & professional growth for the next generation of plant biologists.
Importance of Arabidopsis: With its powerful genetics, wealth of tools, and welcoming community, Arabidopsis has been a wonderful model organism for my research. I have benefitted greatly from many of its community-developed resources: from pooled SALK T-DNA insertion lines for our initial forward genetic screen for exine mutants, to natural accessions and the 1,001 Genomes Project that helped us find a key gene involved in aperture formation, to transcriptomics tools and numerous mutant and reporter lines. Resources such as TAIR, SiGNAL, BAR, TRAVA, and ABRC have been critical for our research. Being at OSU and on the same floor as ABRC for many years, I have also seen first-hand how much work it takes to provide this tremendous resource to the community of researchers and educators.
Scientific Background: I am honored to be nominated to serve as a member of NAASC and will be happy to contribute to the Arabidopsis community in that capacity. While I have not always been an Arabidopsis researcher, I have worked with model organisms throughout my entire career and deeply appreciate their power to provide answers to exciting and challenging scientific questions. As an undergraduate student in Russia, I began working with Drosophila and continued doing so after moving to the US for graduate school. After earning my PhD from Yale, I switched to studying pollen development, working primarily with Arabidopsis. The molecular mechanisms of the process I began studying as a postdoctoral scholar – the development of the pollen wall exine and the formation of exine and aperture patterns on the pollen surface – were completely unknown at that time. As a postdoc at the University of Chicago, and later in my own lab at the Ohio State University, I uncovered several of these mechanisms and helped establish tools and techniques that are now used to study this process. Currently, in addition to continuing this research, I serve as a vice chair for undergraduate education at the Department of Molecular Genetics at OSU and as a handling editor at the Journal of Experimental Botany.

(3) Jake Brunkard, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

(1) Motivation to Serve & Priorities if Elected: I am honored to be nominated by my colleagues to serve on the NAASC. In a moment when research funding is shrinking, our community’s commitment to Arabidopsis as a model for fundamental biological discovery is more important than ever. The current agricultural system is unsustainable due to changing climates, growing populations, dwindling mineral fertilizer resources, and so on. Traditional crop breeding will not be sufficient to achieve sustainability; we need bold, innovative approaches, and we need them quickly. Arabidopsis continues to be the best model for making fast, breakthrough discoveries that we can transfer to agricultural crop engineering. Moreover, Arabidopsis remains an incredible teaching tool, and public education about plant biology is going to be equally crucial to ensure that our work as scientists is adopted by society. As a member of NAASC, I will advocate for the necessary and urgent role of fundamental biological research using the Arabidopsis model.
Broadening Participation. As a gay man from rural America with physical disabilities stemming from rheumatoid arthritis, I am especially proud of my accomplishments as a mentor supporting the next generation of STEM leaders and my record of broadening participation in plant biology through focused efforts with early career scientists from groups historically marginalized in biology, e.g., who identify as working class, BIPOC, women, LGBTQ+, and/or disabled. My long-term goal is to leverage our discoveries from new and classical models to engineer crops for a sustainable agricultural future, and to gain evolutionary insights about metabolic regulation from Arabidopsis that can inform biomedical research.
Scientific Background: I started my career in plant biology as a tree ecophysiology intern at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the jungles of Panamá; an encounter with an angry crocodile at my field site convinced me that I was better suited to research in a laboratory setting. After post-baccalaureate training with S.P. Dinesh Kumar at Yale University, I completed my Ph.D. studies with Pat Zambryski at UC Berkeley, where I fell in love with Arabidopsis as a fast and elegant system for molecular genetics and cell biology. Following a brief postdoc with Sarah Hake, I started my independent group with an NIH DP5 Early Independence Award and eventually landed in the Laboratory of Genetics at UW Madison. My lab centers on understanding how plants sense and respond to nutrients through the conserved eukaryotic TARGET OF RAPAMYCIN (TOR) kinase signaling hub, using Arabidopsis, maize, and Nicotiana benthamiana as models expanding into non-model systems that evolved in harsh, nutrient-poor soils. Research in my group is funded by NIH, NSF, USDA, and HHMI, and we collaborate closely with diverse plant scientists, with biomedical researchers studying human nutrition, and with artists, educators, and community leaders to make plant biology impactful.

(4) Jazz Dickinson, UC San Diego, USA

Motivation to Serve & Priorities if Elected: It is an honor to be nominated to serve the plant biology community as a member of NAASC. Our community is facing significant changes and challenges in the upcoming years, and my goal in applying for this position is to support and protect basic research in plant biology. Our research in Arabidopsis and other plant systems is critical for developing and testing new hypotheses related to plant growth, yield, environmental interactions, and the fundamental principles of life. As a community, we must be free to perform the research that we care about. Furthermore, we must continue to strive to bring science to people from all walks of life, building our community at the local and global level. This will require finding new ways to engage with the public, companies, students, and political organizations. I am committed to strengthening our community at this moment that is full of challenges, but also new possibilities. My scientific community service has been mainly focused on conference organization (including Gordon Research Conferences and the International Carotenoid Society meeting), mentorship programs, and community building efforts. I would be greatly honored to serve the Arabidopsis and plant biology research community as a member of NAASC. I’m excited about ICAR 2027 and committed to making it a successful and enjoyable experience for our scientific community.
Scientific Background: I earned my PhD in analytical chemistry (UNC-Chapel Hill), where I became fascinated by understanding how metabolites and small molecules program stem cell decisions. I worked with Philip Benfey and José Dinneny as a post-doc to study the chemistry of development and stress response in the Arabidopsis root. I came to deeply appreciate this model system, as well as the amazing field of research in plant biology. Now, my lab at UCSD investigates metabolite patterning in developing Arabidopsis and maize tissue.

(5) Jesse Woodson, University of Arizona, USA

Motivation & Priorities, if Elected: As a member of the NAASC, I would continue its legacy of supporting the basic plant science community. I have also come to appreciate that a well-connected scientific community is going to do the best science. For this reason, I have become more involved in scientific community building by organizing the 2024 (33rd) Western Photosynthesis Conference in Oracle, AZ and by contributing to career workshops at annual meetings (ASPB and NSF CROPPS). I am also a Co-PI and campus lead for an NSF Science and Technology Center (STC) where I lead Arabidopsis-related projects and advocate for the use of it to understand fundamental plant processes that can be applied to crops. I would very much like to extend my activities and help NAASC and ICAR continue to engage with and enrich cutting edge science.
Scientific Background & Importance of Arabidopsis: Since I started graduate school, I have been a strong believer in using model systems to answer fundamental questions in biology. My PhD training in microbial physiology using model eubacterial and archaeal systems allowed me to appreciate how coordinated scientific eForts and resource sharing can be used to advance fundamental basic science. As a postdoctoral researcher, I wanted to switch my focus to the physiology of a multicellular eukaryotic organism. I ultimately chose to work on Arabidopsis due to its establishment as a model system and it having an international community committed to resource sharing and knowledge transfer. As an independent researcher at the U. of Arizona, my lab now primarily uses Arabidopsis to understand fundamental processes involved in organelle biology, photo-protection mechanisms, and whole-plant responses to abiotic stresses. Of course, there is much to learn from other species of plants including crops, but the continued investment in a model system such as Arabidopsis is still needed for a complete and complex understanding of plant physiology and how plants interact with their environments.  
DEIB: I have promoted DEIB in my own laboratory by taking advantage of U. of Arizona educational activities that attract students from backgrounds underrepresented in the STEM fields as well as non-traditional students. U of Arizona is also a Hispanic Serving Institute (HSI), which has allowed me to recruit the best scientists from diverse backgrounds. I do this, in part, because I agree that having multiple perspectives in the workplace is going to allow that group to excel at problem solving and be more innovate in finding solutions to complex questions. I am excited about the ability to apply the same principles to ICAR and NAASC activities.

(6) Juan Dong, Texas A&M University, USA

Motivation to Serve and Priorities if Elected: I would be honored to serve the Arabidopsis community as a member of the North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee (NAASC). My motivation to serve stems from deep gratitude for the Arabidopsis community, which has shaped my scientific career & provided the foundation for discoveries in plant cell polarity, asymmetric cell division, & developmental patterning. I view NAASC as a vital platform for advancing fundamental plant biology, fostering the next generation of researchers & strengthening our community’s voice in broader scientific & societal contexts. My priorities, if elected, will center on 3 areas: (1) ICAR & Community-Building: I am committed to helping shape ICAR as an inclusive & inspiring venue that highlights cutting-edge science while amplifying diverse voices. My past service on the ASPB Program Committee & experience organizing workshops, symposia, & international meetings position me well to contribute to ICAR programming that balances fundamental discoveries with interdisciplinary & translational directions. (2) Fundamental Plant Biology: My research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of cell polarity & asymmetric cell division in Arabidopsis stomatal lineage cells. Using proteomics, live-cell imaging & genetic approaches, my group investigates how protein interaction networks & kinase signaling regulate cell polarity & developmental patterning. As a NAASC member, I will advocate strongly for continued investment in Arabidopsis as the premier system for mechanistic discoveries that are relevant to all eukaryotic organisms. (3) DEIB & Mentorship: I am deeply committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, & belonging. Having mentored students & postdocs from diverse backgrounds at both Rutgers University & Texas A&M University, I strive to create supportive, equitable research & learning environments. I will work with NAASC to expand outreach, mentoring networks, & professional development opportunities, particularly for early career researchers & underrepresented groups.
Additional Expertise, Leadership, & Experience: Beyond my research, I have contributed extensively to community service, including serving on the NIH, NSF, and USDA panels, the ASPB Program Committee, and the Plant Physiology editorial board. I believe Arabidopsis remains indispensable as a model because it enables rapid, rigorous, and cost-effective discovery that informs broader plant biology, agriculture, and biotechnology. Serving on NAASC would allow me to give back to this remarkable community by supporting its scientific mission, mentoring networks, and international leadership.
Scientific Background: I am a professor of plant molecular biology at Texas A&M University. My lab uses Arabidopsis stomatal lineage cells as a model to investigate how cell polarity governs asymmetric cell fate and tissue patterning. We employ molecular genetics, advanced confocal microscopy, and proteomic platforms to identify key polarity regulators and define how signaling molecules orchestrate cellular events in development and environmental responses. Over the past decade, my group has contributed new molecular players to polarity complexes and provided conceptual advances linking cell polarity to cell fate, developmental plasticity, and environmental responsiveness in plant growth.

(7) Mohammed Salehin, NCA&T State University, USA

Motivation to Serve & Priorities if Elected: As someone who began my career as a Veterinarian in South Asia, trained in North America, and now leads a research lab at the nation’s largest HBCU (NCA&T), I carry lived experience across multiple academic & cultural systems. I deeply understand the barriers that many of my talented colleagues face due to geographical constraints, limited funding, or reduced institutional visibility. I know how transformative a supportive community like North American Association of Arabidopsis Steering Committee (NAASC) can be by my past positive experiences. If elected, I will work to: (1) Expand NAASC’s global reach by encouraging more members from fast-growing Arabidopsis communities in India, Bangladesh, and Southeast Asia. There is strong momentum in these regions, and I can help NAASC build connections thanks to my network. (2) Support inclusive training by offering more workshops, virtual exchanges, and research opportunities that link underrepresented institutions, including HBCUs, with leading plant science centers. (3) Empower the next generation by providing not only resources, but also visibility, mentorship, and leadership opportunities. In summary, Arabidopsis is more than a plant model; it is an example of how science can be open, rigorous, welcoming, and connected worldwide. I am ready to help NAASC lead with vision, energy, and fairness for the next 5 years. It would be an honor to serve my colleagues, if elected by my colleagues.
Scientific Background: For more than 15 years, Arabidopsis has shaped my research and become the foundation of my scientific work. I began working with Arabidopsis in graduate school and still use it in our “plant abiotic stress lab” at North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&T). Whether I am exploring molecular genetics, using advanced imaging, or running CRISPR-based screens, Arabidopsis continues to drive discovery, mentorship, and innovation in our lab (https://sites.google.com/view/salehinlab-ncat-edu/home). Its wide range of tools & strong tradition of collaboration make it a key force in advancing plant science. I am dedicated to making sure every scientist who wants to use Arabidopsis can do so, especially as we face new challenges in science.

(8) Stefan de Folter, UGA-Langebio, Cinvestav, Irapuato, Mexico

Motivation to Serve and Priorities if Elected: Collaborating in science is important and bringing people together stimulates and facilitates this. This is what I learned during my formation & 10 years of work experience in Wageningen (The Netherlands). Now, after having started my lab 18 years ago at Cinvestav in Mexico, being a Full Professor, I still collaborate & try to show the importance of it to the students and postdocs. NAASC also joins people and brings people together during the ICAR meetings, with a focus on science, and importantly, being inclusive. This important mission should continue, and it would be a great to integrate Mexico more with NAASC activities. So far, no faculty members from Mexico participated in NAASC, so this year might be a nice opportunity to change this. I would especially try to connect Mexicans, as well as other Latin Americans with NAASC activities. I recently participated in the NAASC early-career scholar-led webinars: My Plant Biology Story featuring Faculty in Mexico. If elected, I would support NAASC's current activities & work to stimulate increased bonding & participation of Mexico (& Latin American countries) with the Arabidopsis community & at ICAR meetings.
DEI & Value of Arabidopsis: Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is an important topic. I think I can say that being Dutch makes me open-minded, tolerant, & inclusive. Now becoming more ´mexicanized', shows me new things, for instance that not everyone had or has the same opportunities. There are big differences in education & culture. So, educating and supporting people, without judging, is very important, which is a clear topic for NAASC, which I do support.  The Arabidopsis community is a fantastic and open community. Having this critical mass working on a model species has so many benefits. Starting with the ease of obtaining mutants, but the development of techniques, protocols, resources, etc. is so fast that the Arabidopsis field is really pushing discoveries in plant biology and biology in general. No doubt that this should continue.
Additional Expertise, Leadership, & Experience: So, to round it up, a few more insights about me. Besides being an Arabidopsis lover, I am the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Planta since 2023 and editor for various other journals. I am a member of various societies, e.g., of the ASPB (since 2008). I served on the ASPB council (2021-2024) and was the contact for the Mexican Section of the ASPB. Furthermore, I am a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. Finally, I performed various administrative roles at Cinvestav, e.g., I was responsible for our institutional outreach program for around six years, part of the evaluation and promotion committee, and I served as coordinator of our graduate program Plant Biotechnology.
Scientific Background: I have worked with Arabidopsis for more than 25 years and it is still my favorite model; my first contact with Arabidopsis was during my undergraduate studies in 1997, and my first ICAR meeting was in 2003. The work in my lab is in the field of plant molecular biology, developmental biology, and functional genomics. We combine these fields to follow an integrative approach in the study of gynoecium development, an essential aspect of plant reproduction. The focus is on elucidating the function of transcription factors and hormone signaling and integrating the knowledge into gene regulatory networks.

(9) Tomokazu Kawashima, University of Kentucky, USA

Motivation to Serve and Priorities if Elected: I am motivated to serve on NAASC because I believe Arabidopsis is essential for advancing our understanding of plant biology and for informing research across diverse species. My work relies heavily on Arabidopsis as a premier model plant, especially for real-time live-cell imaging to study fertilization & seed development. These experiences have deepened my appreciation for the resources, tools, and collaborative spirit of the Arabidopsis community. If elected, I would prioritize strengthening this community by i) Advocating for the continued relevance of Arabidopsis in tackling global challenges such as climate change & food security, ii) Promoting collaboration & exchange of resources that enhance research across species, and iii) Supporting inclusivity, mentorship, & training opportunities for the next generation.
Additional Expertise, Leadership, & Experience: I bring extensive leadership and service experience that complements my scientific background. Currently, I serve as Director of the Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology undergraduate program at the University of Kentucky, where I actively recruit and mentor students from underrepresented groups in STEM. At the international level, I serve on the editorial boards of The Plant Cell, Plant and Cell Physiology, PLOS Genetics, and Seed Biology, where I engage with cutting-edge science across disciplines. I also co-organized the 27th International Congress on Sexual Plant Reproduction, contributing to global community building. Collectively, these experiences reflect my dedication to advancing plant science while fostering diversity, equity, and collaboration within the research community.
Scientific Background: My scientific journey began with undergraduate research on Arabidopsis somatic embryogenesis & has evolved into a career-long focus on plant sexual reproduction. I earned a BS in Japan, followed by a PhD at UCLA with Bob Goldberg where I studied gene regulatory networks controlling embryo cell fate specification. My postdoc training with Fred Berger in Singapore & Austria focused on cellular dynamics during fertilization. As a faculty member at the University of Kentucky, my lab utilizes confocal microscopy & quantitative image data analyses to investigate cytoskeletal dynamics during fertilization & seed development using Arabidopsis as a model. This path, across multiple countries, institutions, and research themes, has provided me with a broad perspective on plant reproductive biology & underscored the importance of diverse approaches to fundamental biological questions.

(10) Xue Pan, University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada

Motivation to Serve & Priorities if Elected: My motivation to serve on NAASC stems from a deep appreciation for the Arabidopsis community. The resources, collaborative spirit, and openness of this community have profoundly shaped my scientific career. I am eager to give back to this community by running for a position on NAASC. As funding priorities increasingly emphasize research on economically important crops, one of my key goals as a NAASC member is to work with the NAASC leadership to advocate for continued support of Arabidopsis research. This includes promoting the use of Arabidopsis as a primary or complementary model for addressing fundamental biological questions related to climate change, food security, and sustainable agriculture through interdisciplinary approaches.
DEI: Equally important to me is advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) within the Arabidopsis community. As a first-generation college graduate and immigrant woman in STEM, I understand some of the barriers faced by women and other underrepresented groups in science, and I am committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable, and collaborative environment that empowers scientists from all backgrounds to succeed.
Additional Expertise, Leadership, & Experience: In terms of outreach, I currently serve as Program Supervisor for the Plant Biology Major at the University of Toronto Scarborough, where one of my main goals is to advocate for plant biology among new and prospective students. I actively participate in university-wide outreach events to introduce plant biology opportunities to a broad range of students. Through the NAASC platform, I hope to extend these efforts to highlight the fundamental contributions of Arabidopsis research to students, educators, funding agencies, and scientific societies.
Scientific Background: Plant lipid biology has been the central focus of my academic career, with Arabidopsis as an essential model system throughout my research. During my PhD, I used Arabidopsis to study lipid biosynthesis genes from flax. As a postdoctoral researcher, I investigated the involvement of membrane lipid nanodomains in auxin signaling in Arabidopsis. Currently, my lab focuses on understanding how lipid metabolism, lipid modifications, and membrane lipid nanodomains regulate plant cell signaling, particularly in relation to auxin and environmental stress responses. Arabidopsis continues to serve as our main research model.

(11) Yangnan Gu, UC Berkeley, USA

Motivation to Serve and Priorities if Elected: I am honored to be nominated for the NAASC. The Arabidopsis community has been foundational to my scientific journey, and I am eager for the opportunity to serve the community that has supported my research from the beginning. If elected, I would bring my passion and experience to three key areas. First, I will be a vocal champion for fundamental, curiosity-driven research, working to articulate its indispensable value to funding agencies and the broader scientific community. In a funding climate that is increasingly focused on translational outcomes, I believe it is essential to champion the value of the foundational knowledge that only model systems like Arabidopsis can provide. Second, I am committed to ensuring our flagship conference (ICAR) remains a vibrant and essential meeting place for our community. Finally, I will prioritize the next generation of plant scientists by working to expand mentorship networks and create accessible opportunities, ensuring our community is a diverse and equitable home for all.
DEI, Additional Experience, Leadership & Expertise: My commitment to our community is demonstrated through my service as a Reviewing Editor for The Plant Cell, a member of the ASPB Program Committee, and session organizers for conferences including ICAR, ASPB, and IS-MPMI. These roles have given me a broad perspective on the cutting-edge science, emerging needs, and diverse voices that make up our community. I would be privileged to bring this experience to the NAASC and work collaboratively to ensure the North American Arabidopsis community continues to thrive.
Scientific Background: Using Arabidopsis thaliana as our primary model system, my lab focuses on elucidating the protein landscape of the plant nuclear envelope and investigating the functional importance of novel nuclear membrane proteins and the nuclear pore complex in organizing nuclear structures, coordinating intracellular communication, controlling cell division, and managing cellular responses to stresses. We also explore the specialization and collaboration of different nuclear transport receptors in mediating selective nuclear transport and regulating biomolecular condensation of signaling cargos under various environmental cues and their significance in the determination of responsive patterns of a plant cell. This work reinforces my conviction that Arabidopsis research is the engine of discovery in plant biology, providing the fundamental knowledge required to address global challenges in agriculture and climate change.