ASPB’s honorary awards program recognizes the noteworthy contributions of individuals at all stages of their careers, whether to education, outreach, research, and/or leadership. Two award recipients will give talks at Plant Biology 2026. Please visit this link for more information about ASPB’s awards program.
Mary Clutter Leadership in Science Public Service Award
Renamed in 2019 by ASPB’s Board of Directors to honor the contributions of its 2006 recipient, the ASPB Science Policy Committee awards the Mary Clutter Leadership in Science Public Service Award annually to recognize individuals who have advanced the mission of ASPB and its members through significant contributions to plant science and public policy leadership. Awardees generally have made contributions to the broader society that are relevant to the work of plant biologists; recipients need not be plant scientists themselves. The Mary Clutter Leadership in Science Public Service Award recipient is invited to address the Society during the annual meeting held in the year of their award.
Charles Albert Shull Award
This award was initiated in 1971 by the Society to honor Dr. Charles A. Shull, whose personal interest and support were largely responsible for the founding and early growth of the Society. It is a monetary award made annually for outstanding investigations in the field of plant biology by a member who is generally under forty-five years of age on January 1st of the year of presentation or is fewer than ten years from the granting of the doctoral degree. Breaks in careers will be considered when addressing the age limit of this award. The recipient is invited to address the Society at the annual meeting the following year.
CSPB Awards
Mary E Spencer Award
The Mary E. Spencer Award was established to recognize outstanding research in the field of plant biology and active public service engagement in the plant biology community by a mid-career researcher. This award honours two facets of the exceptional career of Professor Mary Spencer (Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta).
The C.D. Nelson Award in Plant Biology
The Award shall be given for outstanding research contributions to plant biology. Special consideration will be given to originality and independence of thought. Nominees shall have been in an independent, full-time research position for no more than 10 years.
Charles Albert Shull Award
About this award
This award was initiated in 1971 by the Society to honor Dr. Charles A. Shull, whose personal interest and support were largely responsible for the founding and early growth of the Society. It is a monetary award made annually for outstanding investigations in the field of plant biology by a member who is generally under forty-five years of age on January 1st of the year of presentation or is fewer than ten years from the granting of the doctoral degree. Breaks in careers will be considered when addressing the age limit of this award. The recipient is invited to address the Society at the annual meeting the following year.
Leveraging Plant Epigenomics to Decode the Complexity of Non-Coding Regulation
Saturday, July 26, 2025, 5:00 – 5:30 PM
Talk Description
Plant epigenomics and single-cell genomics are transformative tools for studying cis-regulatory variation in plant genomes. We are using these technologies to identify cis-regulatory elements, characterize their cell-type-specific activity, and uncover how genetic variants influence their activity. In this presentation, I will show how plant epigenomics and genome editing have been instrumental in deciphering how cis-regulatory variation has shaped key traits during the domestication of maize, revealing the role of cis-regulatory variation in driving phenotypic changes. These approaches provide a window into the dynamic regulation of plant genomes, offering new opportunities to identify causal genetic variants underlying phenotypic variation.
