ASPT members should have recently received a letter via email from ASPT President Chelsea Specht (it came through Mail Chimp) requesting your feedback on a survey about an initiative called the "The National Plant Systems Initiative (NPSI) ". The letter from Chelsea is included below, as well as a link to a short document explaining this important initiative. If you haven't already done so, please read the letter and respond to the survey link to provide your feedback in support of the development of this important initiative. The survey is due by December 8.
Letter from ASPT President Chelsea Specht:
10/19/2017
Dear ASPT members;
For the past couple of years, ASPT has been a member of the NSF-funded Plant Science Research Network (PSRN). Through member participation, we've engaged in several workshops and meetings to discuss current issues in plant biology research and training, and develop concepts and frameworks for developing global initiatives in research and training associated broadly with plant sciences.
I am writing today to ask for your help providing input on the document that was recently generated which provides a framework for community-wide priorities in plant science research. It is called The National Plant Systems Initiative (NPSI) and the document is attached.
The NPSI was conceived and written by the PSRN over the last two years, with direct input from steering committee representatives from PSRN member organizations, including ASPT. The original draft of the NPSI was greatly improved following an initial round of input from the PSRN member organizations. To help ensure that ASPT can stand behind the final recommendations that emerge from the PSRN, I am asking you for your collective feedback on the revised NPSI. My hope is that ASPT will add our expertise to help shape the research agenda for the broader plant science community: you'll see that plant biodiversity and collections-based research is interwoven throughout, but you might find specific places where you think our voice could be more present and more directly engaged.
I am asking all interested members to read the attached document and and provide your response via this survey by Friday, December 8, 2017. The survey is quick and intuitive, and the more input they receive from ASPT the more loudly our concerns can be met. If you'd rather, you can also just provide any feedback to me (cdspecht@cornell.edu) and I will compile it for PSRN.
If you are interested in where this is going, I'm including the following paragraph from Natalie Henkhaus, coordinator of the PSRN:
Looking forward, our work together over the next couple of months will form the foundation for a third Plant Science Summit that will be organized by the PSRN in late 2018 or early 2019. During this summit, participants reflecting the breadth of the plant science community represented among PSRN member organizations will use the NPSI as a basis from which to develop the successor document to the 2013 report: Unleashing a Decade of Innovation in Plant Science – A Vision for 2015-2025. The Decadal Vision described at a high level the urgent scientific priorities of the plant science research community, and it highlighted strategic areas that require increased public investment if we are to address global challenges such as climate change, agricultural sustainability and food security. With the input and support of your organization, the successor document will significantly broaden and deepen the reach of the original Decadal Vision by detailing the steps we’ll need to take to achieve the plant science community’s vision for research priorities areas; identifying the ways in which we will need to reimagine and revamp postgraduate training to accomplish those goals; and describing the cyberinfrastructure that will be needed to underpin these efforts.
Many thanks for your input, and allowing our collective voice to be heard.
best,
Chelsea
Chelsea D. Specht
ASPT President