How to become an elected member of NAASC:

Take part in the annual election each fall- example timeline

(1) Call for nominations: ~Aug 25-Sept 25 (self-nominations accepted)

(2) ~ 10 October: provide a Candidate Statement (see example statements in the information section for Faculty & Early Career Scholars; we’ll contact nominees by email for their statement)

(3) ~10-30 October: Online ballot for the North American Arabidopsis Community election (candidate statements on the ballot)

(4) ~31 October: the top vote-getters (2 for faculty, 3 for early career) will be offered a NAASC term

YOU MUST BE IN NORTH AMERICA (USA, CANADA, MEXICO) TO NOMINATE, BE NOMINATED, OR VOTE

What NAASC Members Do

  • Our mission is to promote Arabidopsis research and researchers to perform cutting edge biology, and provide opportunities to engage and diversify the next generation of scientists. 

  • Our three foci (in no specific order) are:

    • Advocate/Support Fundamental Plant Biology using Arabidopsis: See NAASC publications & events for this theme here.

    • Support Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging in the Arabidopsis Community: See NAASC publications & events for this theme here.

    • Organize North American instances of the International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR), currently in a 3 year rotation with Europe & Asia. NAASC efforts for ICAR here, draft website for ICAR 2024-San Diego (we are organizing) here.

    • To increase input from early career scientists, we have added a new type of NAASC membership, with one year terms.

      Members:

    • Interact with 9 other elected faculty leaders in Arabidopsis biology, 3 elected early career scholars (ECS) & the NAASC Executive Director to execute NAASC’s mission. 

    • Serve on 1+ NAASC subcommittees or working groups (Footnote 1) of their choice to collaboratively develop activities, advise the Executive Director, and participate in implementation

    • Interact with community members on working groups and subcommittees.

    • Interact with key groups such as MASC, ABRC, TAIR, etc. to coordinate improvements for Arabidopsis researchers, educators, and for collaboration, coordination, and communication 

Examples of activities that current NAASC Faculty members engage in: 

    • Review & select ICAR 2024 mini-symposia from community submissions

    • Solicit nominees for NAASC awards, Review and select awardees (Footnote 2)

    • Participate in discussions & decision-making about location & format of ICARs

    • Implement community webinars e.g., career development, DEIB, fundamental biology

    • Participate in developing funding proposals to support NAASC activities

    • Engage in grant-funded activities, e.g., workshops, training, outreach

    • Advertise/disseminate information about NAASC activities to their networks

    • Represent NAASC to the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee & other groups

    • Participate in community initiatives, e.g., as 1 of 7 societies in the Root & Shoot NSF RCN award

Examples of activities that current NAASC Early Career Scholar members are engaging in: 

    • Work collaboratively to plan and implement online professional development seminars and workshops for broad accessibility by the community

    • Participate in NAASC working groups and subcommittees

    • Advise NAASC members on initiatives & activities

    • Network with NAASC Faculty members & the Executive Director

    • Participate in NAASC activities that promote early career scholar professional development (e.g., Assistant Features Editor information sessions with The Plant Cell & Plant Physiology)

    • Write a blog on the topic of their choice that is of interest to the Arabidopsis community Example: see Margot Smit’s blog here.

    • Connect with peer Early Career Scholar members on NAASC

The 2023 election cycle has concluded

You must be in North America (USA, Canada, Mexico) to nominate, be nominated, or vote.

*see Candidate Statement examples, below

Electing 2 Faculty NAASC Nominees for 5 year terms

Key Information for Faculty Nominees

You must be in North America (USA, Canada, Mexico) to nominate, be nominated, or vote.

Please review “What NAASC Members Do” and “Example Faculty activities” shown above.

Eligible: Faculty (any rank or type) at North American research & academic institutions that conduct research and training using Arabidopsis (at least in part)

Term: Nov 1 , 2023-Oct 31, 2028

Estimated Time Commitment*: ~3-5 hours/Per month, average*: Meetings (~1-2h) Email discussion (~0.5h) Activity implementation (~1-2h) *expected to be more when we organize ICAR 2024 & 2027.

Compensation for Faculty Members: NAASC funding for ICAR travel support depends on our fundraising success; we seek to provide $1,000 USD/year per NAASC member to participate in non-domestic ICARs and seek to provide more funding for NAASC-organized ICARs (free registration & contribution to travel expenses). NAASC-organized ICAR years: 1 & 4; Years 2, 3, & 5 are not organized by NAASC.

NAASC is a non-profit without specific dedicated funding streams. We are in the process of establishing a paid membership to help sustainability. Otherwise our potential for revenue comes from (1) submitting grant proposals to fund specific activities and (2) if we have fundraising success that exceeds costs for ICARs that we organize (every 3 years)

Benefits of being a NAASC faculty member

While NAASC members primarily serve as volunteers to support the Arabidopsis community, there are numerous personal & professional benefits, e.g.,

  • we fundraise to enable NAASC members to attend ICARs via travel support (described above)

  • we regularly publish papers based on our activities

  • members build professional & personal networks

  • members help shape ICAR program and location

  • members decide which community-supportive activities to engage in

  • opportunities to network with early career scholars and members of under-represented groups in STEM via the NAASC Early Career Scholars (ECS) program and Inclusivity Scholars (ISP) program and ISP cohort.

NAASC members are expected to fulfill their duties (regular engagement in email, meetings & activities) to receive travel funds and to remain in good-standing on NAASC.

Elected Faculty members will:

  1. Join 1+ subcommittee/working group of their choice (meets 1 hour/month) (Footnote 1)

  2. Join quarterly all NAASC zoom meetings (meets 1 hour, quarterly)

  3. Regularly participate in email discussion of NAASC issues (~0.5h/month)

  4. Participate in NAASC activities (~1-2h/month)

  5. Be willing to take on a NAASC Board of Director role, as shown (Footnote 3)

Description of service by term

  1. Year 1: Nov '23-Oct '24: ICAR 2024-San Diego; NAASC is organizing, therefore this year has additional duties. If our NSF funding proposal* is awarded there should be minimal grant activities this year. If the proposal is unfunded, we likely will revise & resubmit, or seek other funding opportunities

  2. Year 2: Nov '24-Oct '25: If our NSF funding proposal* is awarded, there will be a workshop activity to be developed, possibly held. Expectation that 2 of 10 NAASC serve as workshop co-chairs; others may participate.

  3. Year 3: Nov '25-Oct '26: If our NSF funding proposal* is awarded, there will be a workshop activity developed/held. There likely will be additional preparation discussions for ICAR 2027- North America.

  4. Year 4: Nov '26-Oct '27: If our NSF funding proposal* is awarded, there will be several activities adjacent to or during ICAR 2027- expected to be NAASC organized in North America.

  5. Year 5: Nov '27-Oct '28: If our NSF funding proposal* is awarded, there will be a wrap-up/evaluation workshop activity developed/held.

    *to be submitted, expected fall 2023; if not funded, we may seek other funding opportunities.

Faculty Nomination & Application Steps

  1. You are nominated or self-nominate. The nomination form will list the current NAASC subcommittees and working groups (Footnote 1). Nominators are asked to (optionally) indicate which of these the nominee may be especially a good fit for, or have skills or knowledge that would benefit the committee.

  2. NAASC will contact you for a Candidate Statement to go on the ballot (see example Faculty Candidate Statements). Statement prompts ( ~200-600 words): Motivation/interest to serve on NAASC; Brief description of your work using Arabidopsis; Your priority area(s) if elected to NAASC; How you promote Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) in plant biology, or science, generally.

  3. You will provide this statement by the deadline (tbc) to arabidopsisconference@gmail.com

  4. NAASC will place Candidate Statements on the ballot. Voting will occur for 2 weeks

    You must be in North America (USA, Canada, Mexico) to nominate, be nominated, or vote.

Electing 3 Early Career Scholar Nominees for 1 year terms

Key Information for Early Career Scholar Nominees

You must be in North America (USA, Canada, Mexico) to nominate, be nominated, or vote.

Please review “What NAASC Members Do” and “Example activities of Early Career Scholars” above.

Eligible: Graduate students & postdoctoral scholars (in a postdoc title) at North American research & academic institutions that study and/or conduct research using Arabidopsis (at least in part)

Term: Nov 1 , 2023-Oct 31, 2024

Estimated Time Commitment: ~2-3 hours/Per month on average: Meetings (~1.7h) Email discussion (0.3h) Organizing event (~0.25h) Writing blogs (~0.5h). Much of the work of working groups and subcommittees this year will focus on activities at ICAR 2024.

Compensation for Early Career Scholar Members: Free registration to ICAR 2024-San Diego. We are fundraising to provide travel awards which you would be eligible for to help defray travel costs.

Benefits of being a NAASC Early Career Scholar member

  • Funding to attend and help organize ICAR 2024- San Diego

  • Gain new leadership and communication skills

  • Include this position on your CV

  • Career development opportunities

  • Expand and strengthen your professional network

Description of NAASC service for Early Career Scholars

Elected ECS members will:

  1. Join the Early Career Scholars Subcommittee (ECSS) which meets ~ quarterly to plan activities such as seminars & workshops aimed at early career scholar interests (~2-3 workshops/activities/1 year term).

  2. Join 1 NAASC working group or subcommittee of your choice from:
    (a) Inclusivity Scholars Subcommittee (to develop the Inclusivity Scholars Program at ICAR 2024)
    (b) the ICAR 2024 working group
    (c) the Awards Subcommittee: help review & select awardees this fall/winter for new Community Awards (see Footnote 2 below for details on the awards)
    (d) the Allies, Advocates and Accomplices working group

  3. Join NAASC quarterly Board Member zoom calls: these are quarterly meetings for 1 hour aimed at discussing important topics to NAASC, making decisions, and brief discussions with working groups and subcommittees (if discussion is needed; otherwise updates are written). These quarterly calls are also a chance to get to know the 10 faculty members on NAASC.

  4. Write 1 blog post on a topic of interest to you and relevance to the Arabidopsis Community for a NAASC blog on our website. SEE AN EXAMPLE HERE BY MARGOT SMIT.

  5. Do 1 interview of a past NAASC member and write a short (1 page) summary for a NAASC blog for our website.

  6. Help organize at least 1 workshop, panel or seminar (by Zoom or @ ICAR 2024)- in collaboration with NAASC members on the working group or subcommittee(s) you are on. Examples of previous events here.

Early Career Scholar Nomination & Application Steps

  1. You are nominated or self-nominate.

  2. NAASC will contact you for 1 candidate statement & 1 informational paragraph
    (1) Candidate Statement (150-400 words) about your interest to serve, your background, your priorities, and a short response on DEIB (see example ECS Candidate Statements). This will go on the ballot. Template to fill & email here.
    (2) Informational paragraph: The name of the NAASC subcommittee(s) or working group(s) you are interested in and a brief outline of one activity idea for a NAASC working group or subcommittee. This information is for NAASC internal use. Our objective is to be open to experienced and inexperienced scholars who wish to be engaged and the “idea” statement can stand in for previous experience. Both experience & ideas are valued by NAASC. Working groups for ECS members are choice of: ICAR 2024 committee; Inclusivity Scholars committee; Awards Committee; and/or Allies, Advocates & Accomplices committee. ECS will also be on ECSS. Template to fill & email here.

  3. Provide information in template (candidate statement & name(s) of committee/group and idea) by the deadline (tbc) to NAASC: arabidopsisconference@gmail.com

  4. NAASC will review submissions & select some or all Candidate Statements for the ballot. Voting will occur over ~2 weeks in October

    You must be in North America (USA, Canada, Mexico) to nominate, be nominated, or vote.

“The ECSS member selection was the most democratic process. As I started working with the ECSS, it has not only enhanced the networking opportunity, but also provides a good idea how an organization work. I will highly recommend ECSs consider this opportunity.”
— Arif Ashraf, current ECS member
“The NAASC is the most community-driven and community-oriented organization out there. Joanna is the highlight here, extremely supportive and truly committed with DEIB.”
— Luis deLuna, current ECS member

Footnotes

(1) Current Working Groups & Subcommittees

  1. WG1: Financial Sustainability & Membership- develop the membership model started in 2023 for NAASC financial sustainability & community engagement;  other sustainability considerations.

  2. WG2: ICAR 2024- planning, implementation of ICAR 2024: July 15-19, 2024

  3. WG4: ISS/DEIB workshops- Inclusivity Scholars Subcommittee (co-chaired currently by Cris Argueso and Ment Ayalew)- supports initiatives for members of under-represented groups in US STEM, primarily via the Inclusivity Scholars Cohort Program for ICAR; also develops Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging workshops for ICAR.

  4. WG5: Allies/Advocates/Accomplices- to support ISP and development of ally behavior in the plant biology community (this working group is in its early stages)

  5. WG6: Fundamental Biology- develop activities to ensure that funding agencies and others understand the value and impact of fundamental plant biology

  6. WG7: ECSS- Early Career Scholars Subcommittee (co-chaired currently by Dior Kelley and Glen Uhrig)- provides representation ECS to NAASC, provide a forum to address issues specific to ECS

  7. WG8: Future of Arabidopsis - participate in multinational discussions on Arabidopsis planning/research

  8. WG9: NAASC Awards- described in Footnote (2)- annually: help solicit nominations, refine rubrics, select awardees. 2023 is the first award cycle; awardees will be selected ~early November. Members elected this term can help with the award selection process. Awardees will be invited to speak at ICAR 2024.

(2) Planned NAASC Awards- to be awarded first at ICAR 2024

  1. NAASC Arabidopsis Community Lifetime Achievement Award (two awards)

  2. NAASC Excellence in Supporting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging in the Arabidopsis Community Award (2 awards: later & early career)

  3. NAASC Dissemination of Arabidopsis Knowledge Award (2 awards: later & early career)

(3) Board of Director Roles- by year on NAASC*

Year 1: no specific role; new members are '“Directors” for the NAASC Executive Board of Directors

Year 2: one Director becomes Assistant Secretary to provide back-up for the Y3 Secretary and will become Secretary in Year 3; The second Director typically becomes Vice President in Y4 and President in Y5. (sometimes we need a new Treasurer; however we won’t need a new assistant Treasurer until next term: 2024-2025)

Year 3: Y2 Assistant Secretary becomes the Secretary.

Year 4: One of the 2 members becomes the Vice-President

Year 5: Vice President from Y4 becomes President

*these roles are open to flexibility as needed, e.g., if a member needs to switch from one to another for any particular reason. The roles are structural guidelines to help manage NAASC and share the effort on the Board.