Conference: Annual Maize Genetics Meeting

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

Corn, also called maize, is the world’s most important grain, and the United States is the largest producer of corn worldwide. The Annual Maize Genetics Meeting provides an important opportunity for scientific exchange of knowledge relevant to this important crop that is needed for sustained human nutrition and health, food security, and more. The meeting also provides trainees with opportunities to engage and network with outstanding scientists within and outside of the maize community and develop their scientific communication and interpersonal skills. The 66th-68th Annual Maize Genetics Meetings will be held in March of 2024-2026 in Raleigh, NC (2024), St. Louis, MO (2025), and Cologne, Germany (2026). This conference grant will support broadening the participation of historically marginalized groups with an interest in exploring research possibilities in maize genetics by providing funding to attend the meeting. These participants will also receive extensive mentoring before, during, and after the meeting, professional development training, and opportunities to engage directly with leaders in the field through organized meals with invited speakers. These experiences are vital catalysts for the careers of aspiring student and postdoc trainees. The Maize Genetics Meeting brings together academic and industry maize geneticist and researchers in related fields and species for an important annual exchange of knowledge. The conference format contains a combination of 1) four featured plenary speakers, 2) the Fostering Diversity in the Maize Research Community speaker, 3) a presentation by the McClintock Prize for Plant Genetics and Genome Studies awardee, 4) approximately 30 short talks selected from submitted abstracts, 5) approximately 25 lightning talks selected from submitted abstracts, 6) award presentations, 7) daily poster and networking sessions, 8) a community session, and 9) formal and informal networking opportunities. There are no overlapping or concurrent sessions at the Maize Genetics Meeting resulting in high attendance in all sessions with interdisciplinary exchange of ideas as well as high attendance and participation of trainees and group leaders in the poster and networking session. Funding from NSF will be used to broaden participation of training at the meeting through the Maize Genetics Network Enhancement through Travel (MaGNET) Award, the Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) Award, the Disciplinary Breadth (DB) Awards, as well as through support for first time meeting attendees. Awardees are paired with a team of mentors that included an early career scientist, an academic PI, and an industry or government scientist that engage with the awardees formally and informally before, during, and after the meeting. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.