Andrew Hanson and I are co-organizing an NSF-sponsored workshop at the University of Florida main campus in Gainesville from Friday, February 28 to Sunday, March 2, 2025.
This 2½-day workshop is specifically for US-based early-career researchers (ECRs). Its theme is ‘How SynBio can *realistically* impact crop improvement and agriculture’. ECRs who are considering a career in SynBio of plants or plant-associated microbes will have the opportunity to interact with industry professionals, plant breeders, SynBio faculty and NSF program managers. The aims are to help orient ECRs to the realities of agriculture so that they can make their research count in the real world and to expand their professional contacts beyond basic researchers in their own fields. More information about the workshop program and key contributors is at: https://hos.ifas.ufl.edu/advertisement/synbio2024/
This website has a link to the ECR Application Form, which should be submitted by January 15. All workshop participants’ expenses (travel, lodging, food, childcare) will be covered.
Funding is available for 30 ECRs. The application form has a box for a ~200-word ‘Agriculture-related Plant SynBio Project Concept’. The originality and quality of this concept summary (which could be based on an ECR’s current project or an idea for the future) will be used to select participants, eight of whom will be chosen to pitch their concept and get live feedback on the workshop’s last day.