Conference: 2024 Salt and Water Stress in Plants GRC and GRS: Abiotic Stress Research for Impact

One of the central challenges to human society is the development of a more sustainable society. Agriculture is the largest consumer of land and water and a major cause of environmental degradation, above and beyond urban or industrial use. A fundamental goal of plant science is to support fundamental research to understand, predict, and manipulate plants for beneficial purposes. A crucial component of this mission is understanding plant growth and performance under stressful abiotic environments, a key limiter of plant productivity worldwide. Achieving the goal of more sustainable agriculture will require interdisciplinary teams including molecular biologists, physiologists, agronomists, and plant breeders working in collaboration. The goal of the Gordon Research Conference on Salt and Water Stress in Plants is to foster sharing of the latest research in these areas to drive progress in our basic understanding of plants, and improve sustainable agriculture by engaging both academic and industry scientists. The 2024 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Salt and Water Stress in Plants will bring together researchers studying the mechanistic basis of stress tolerance in plants at different scales of organization and acknowledges the integrative nature of plant-environmental interactions that span molecular, cellular, developmental, ecological and global scales. The meeting will focus on cutting edge science centered on five major themes including 1) genomics and stress signaling, 2) whole organism physiological responses to stress, 3), interactions of salt/water stress with climate change, 4) the adaptive evolution of stress tolerance, and 5) strategies to leverage fundamental research for applied crop improvement. Presentations will highlight the power of model systems, tackle evolutionary questions spanning species boundaries, and examine the nexus between basic and applied research using globally relevant crops. The bulk of the GRC will comprise 20-minute presentations of unpublished research and 10-minute discussion periods. Although the core of the program is established, nearly half of the talks will be selected from submitted abstracts and provide opportunities for younger trainees. The program includes poster sessions and free time to enhance idea exchange and networking. The GRS pre-meeting is organized by trainees and focused on multi-disciplinary research topics that explore plant diversity, genomics, integrative physiology and field-relevant research. The conference will support broader participation through targeted travel awards to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows interested in pursuing plant research. This award is co-funded by the Plant Genome Research Program and the Physiological Mechanisms and Biomechanics Program in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems. 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.