Plant biology research was well represented in this year’s selections to the National Academy of Sciences. Four American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) members were elected as new members and two as foreign associates. Each year the Academy elects a maximum of 84 members and 21 foreign associates based on their exemplary achievements in original research. Congratulations to the following plant biologists and ASPB members selected for this highest honor:

New members

• Xinnian Dong – Professor of Biology, Duke University; and Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Investigator. Xinnian currently serves as a coeditor for The Plant Cell and has previously served as a monitoring editor for Plant Physiology.

• Harry Klee – Professor of Horticultural Sciences; University of Florida, Gainesville.

• Sabeeha Merchant – Professor of Biochemistry; University of California, Los Angeles. Sabeeha has received several ASPB awards, including the Charles Albert Shull Award in 1999, Charles F. Kettering Award 2010, and was named and ASPB Fellow in 2008.

• Natasha Raikhel – Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology; University of California, Riverside. Natasha served as Editor in Chief of Plant Physiology from 2000-2005, received the ASPB Stephen Hales Prize in 2004, and was named an ASPB Fellow in 2007.

Foreign Associates

• George Coupland – Director, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research.

• Ottoline Leyser – Associate Director; The Sainsbury Laboratory University of Cambridge. Ottoline formerly served on the editorial board of The Arabidopsis Book (TAB).

One additional plant biologist, unaffiliated with the society, was also selected as a new member:

• Pedro Sanchez – Director, Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment; The Earth Institute, Columbia University.