Conference: A trainee-centered meeting to support RNA science in the upper Midwest

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

For over 25 years, NSF has supported an annual regional conference that brings together scientists from the industrial Midwest and surrounding regions to present and discuss new developments in RNA-related research. The current proposal requests support for the 2025 meeting. A unique feature of this regional meeting is its emphasis on fostering the professional development of young scientists through both formal and informal mechanisms. The meeting provides ample opportunities for multiple platform and poster sessions as well as social interactions, yet is short enough (roughly 1:00 p.m. Friday to 2:00 p.m. Saturday) to be convenient for students and others with restricted schedules. Students and postdoctoral scholars typically comprise over 70% of attendees and deliver over 90% of the talks as well as the majority of the posters. The conference serves to expose students (often for the first time) to an exciting meeting where the breadth and quality of the research presented rivals that at national meetings, yet the atmosphere is welcoming and supportive. NSF funding will exclusively be used for participant support, which is limited to trainees and allows their accommodations to be provided free of charge. The 2025 conference will be held in Sandusky, Ohio, on October 24-25. The meeting is thus returning to the Cleveland area for the first time since 2022 following subsequent meetings in East Lansing, Michigan and Columbus, Ohio, and will be followed by a 2026 meeting in Pittsburgh. The 2025 meeting will assemble researchers with interests in a wide variety of RNA science and facilitate new learning experiences in emerging technology and career planning via optional workshops. The 2025 program will include approximately 150 poster and 21 oral presentations by student and post-doctoral trainees, providing a high-caliber interdisciplinary experience for participants. The 2025 meeting will also feature a keynote lecture by Dr. Karla Neugebauer (Yale), a highly accomplished leader in the field of RNA splicing and biogenesis. NSF funding makes the conference accessible to students from a broad variety of types of institutions and research groups of all funding levels, thus playing a key role in its impact on the development of emerging scientific talent. 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.