Plantae Presents: The Benefit of Scientific Societies for Undergraduates to PIs
Plantae Presents: The Benefit of Scientific Societies for Undergraduates to PIs
Featuring Catrina Adams, Jennifer Hartley, Dior Kelley, Amy Newell, and Kaitlin Saward
When: Wednesday, June 24, 2026, at
8:00 AM PDT | 11:00 AM EDT | 4:00 PM BST | 11:00 PM Beijing
About this Webinar
Many plant scientists are members of scientific societies. But beyond discounted conference rates, what can these organizations offer? Join us to explore the benefits of engaging with scientific societies and how they can support your studies, career development, funding opportunities, and more. You’ll hear from a range of speakers discussing their experiences with publishing, science communication, industry engagement, and industry-focused activities – all made possible through participation in scientific societies. Take a deeper dive into the wide range of benefits that scientific societies have to offer!
Hosted by the 2026 Plantae Fellows.
SPEAKERS
Catrina Adams
Catrina Adams, Ph.D., is Education Director for the Botanical Society of America (BSA). Her science background is in paleoethnobotany (how people used plants in the past.) Her current research interests include inquiry learning, science mentoring, career pathways in biology, and teaching technologies. A large part of her current role is leading NSF-funded research on the PlantingScience program, an online science mentoring community that matches teams of middle and high school students with plant science mentors as they work on designing and carrying out their own investigations. She represents BSA on the steering committee of the research coordination network of plant biology scientific societies ROOT&SHOOT, where she is currently helping to finalize a community-developed SI-MI Mentoring (Social Identity Matters in Mentoring) course. She is committed to helping scientific societies contribute to a more inclusive culture in plant biology, to helping all students to experience authentic scientific research, and to increasing plant awareness and appreciation.
Dior Kelley
Dr. Dior Kelley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology (GDCB) at Iowa State University, where she also serves as Director of Graduate Education for the MCDB Graduate Program. Her research uses maize and Arabidopsis to uncover how the plant hormone auxin drives root and shoot development, with broad implications for crop resilience and agricultural breeding. She has served on the North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee (NAASC) and as an Associate Editor at New Phytologist since 2023. This year, she was honored with the ASPB Excellence in Education Award, recognizing her outstanding contributions to plant science education and mentoring the next generation of scientists. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dior-kelley-04bb838.
Jennifer Hartley
Jennifer Hartley is the Education Program Supervisor for the Botanical Society of America, where she oversees educational outreach initiatives, including PlantingScience, a national mentoring program connecting scientists with secondary and undergraduate life science classrooms. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Education and Biology from Missouri State University and a Master of Arts in Biology through Miami University’s Project Dragonfly Advanced Inquiry Program in partnership with the Missouri Botanical Garden. Before joining the BSA staff in 2021, she taught middle and high school science and served as Manager of School Programs for the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Education Division.
Amy Newell
Amy Newell is a postdoc in the Borrill Group at the John Innes Centre. Outside of her postdoc Amy has been a member of a number of learned societies since her masters. She currently chairs the Agri-Food Early Career Committee at the SCI, a network connecting academia and industry. In this role she has collaborated with academic and industry professionals on a number of policy- related projects and organised multiple events and activities for both academia and industry. LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/amy-newell-1474751a1.
Kaitlin Saward
Kaitlin Saward is a second-year PhD student at the University of Southampton studying the influence of genetics on hybridisation outcomes in British wildflowers – specifically Epilobium and Linaria. Her work combines fieldwork, genetics and plant breeding, and involves collaboration with members of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI). She enjoys talking about plants and genetics and sharing her research and other areas of plant biology through outreach programmes and events. Outside of the lab, she enjoys reading, baking and walks with her puppy. LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlinsaward.
MODERATORS
Anastasia Kolesnikova
Anastasia is a final-year PhD student at the University of Southampton. Her work combines plants, genetics, and evolutionary principles to find out why we domesticated certain plant species, but not others. She hopes to contribute to improving food security in the long run. She enjoys talking to other people about science and sharing her enthusiasm for plants with the general public. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/n-ksci/.
Cael Dant
Cael is finishing up an MS in plant biology and conservation at Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden. They love anything and everything to do with carnivorous plants, and their research focuses on the ecology and physiology of the North American pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea. Before graduate school, Cael spent five years working in government and international relations in Japan and still works as a Japanese-English translator while remaining involved in public policy from the science side. In their spare time they enjoy hiking, drawing, making pottery, crocheting, and growing plants.
Sonal Sachdev
Sonal is a postdoc at the Department of Biology at New York University and a 2026 ASPB Plantae Fellow. She earned her PhD in Life Sciences from the Bose Institute, India. Currently, exploring the fascinating world of DNA-Protein interactions governing the developmental and stress response pathways in Arabidopsis. She is actively involved in Plant Science Advocacy and serves as an ASPB Ambassador and PlantPostdocs Leadership team member. Outside the lab, she is an avid reader of mystery thrillers and is resuming her hobby of watercolor painting after a decade. X: https://x.com/sci3ntyst LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scientyst Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sci3ntyst.bsky.social.
