Source: MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
16TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON NITROGEN FIXATION IN BIG SKY, MONTANA, JUNE 14-19, 2009
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0219008
Grant No.
2009-65115-05675
Project No.
MONR-2009-03090
Proposal No.
2009-03090
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
91413
Project Start Date
Aug 15, 2009
Project End Date
Aug 14, 2010
Grant Year
2009
Project Director
Peters, J. W.
Recipient Organization
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
BOZEMAN,MT 59717
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This proposal requests funds for the 16th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation to be held in Big Sky, Montana from June 14-19, 2009. The International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation (ICNF) was initiated in 1974 and has been convened about every other year. Over this thirty-five year period, the Congress has become truly international and has been held in every continent with the exception of Antarctica. The meeting is a forum for scientists, from all over the world, to present results relating to nitrogen fixation. Subject matter at the conference ranges from the most basic to very applied, with cutting edge molecular biology in one session, cutting edge ecology in another and the latest in applied production methods in a third. The size of the conference means that participants across these "boundaries" actually interact with meeting attendance generally in the range of 200-500 scientists. The meeting has a history of encouraging younger scientists, and indeed its impact is apparent to many of the senior scientists in the field who were first introduced to the community at one of the congress meetings. This application requests travel support to assist graduate students, post-docs, and junior faculty to attend and participate in the 16th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation in Big Sky, Montana.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
20624991000100%
Knowledge Area
206 - Basic Plant Biology;

Subject Of Investigation
2499 - Plant research, general;

Field Of Science
1000 - Biochemistry and biophysics;
Goals / Objectives
This proposal requests funds for the 16th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation to be held in Big Sky, Montana from June 14-19, 2009. The International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation (ICNF) was initiated in 1974 and has been convened about every other year. Over this thirty-five year period, the Congress has become truly international and has been held in every continent with the exception of Antarctica. The meeting is a forum for scientists, from all over the world, to present results relating to nitrogen fixation. This application requests travel support to assist graduate students, post-docs, and junior faculty to attend and participate in the 16th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation in Big Sky, Montana. Awardees will be chosen based on the quality and excitement of their research as evidenced by information contained in their abstract or by their recent research recorded in the literature. Award selections will be made by the organizing committee, and eligibility will be limited to US scientists. Nitrogen fixation is one of the most important subject areas relating to the support of life on Earth. The goal of the congress is to bring together all active members of the community of scientists and technologists that study the chemistry, biochemistry, genetics, regulation, physiology, ecology, and evolution of the nitrogen-fixation process itself; the agriculturally and environmentally vital interactions between microbes and plants and animals; natural resource conservation; forestry; sustainable agriculture and food production. By providing the most comprehensive multi-disciplinary forum for the presentation of the most recent advances in all aspects of the field, the congress stimulates discussion, which transcend the normal barriers of expertise and interest, and result in a wider exchange of ideas and new insights. To encourage the desired exchange of ideas across disciplinary lines, the program is composed of overview review lectures, which are supplemented and supported by more detailed short communications in a series of more specialized parallel session.
Project Methods
The scientific program will consist of 17 plenary sessions. Past experience has shown that for a meeting this size, that division allows for the intermingling of scientific expertise, but also the depth in particular areas that would be of interest to subsets of attendees. Sessions will contain presentations from invited and selected speakers. The informal atmosphere of the meeting is conducive to small group discussion. The size of and format for the meeting are graduate student and postdoctoral associate friendly, providing an ideal forum for research reports as oral presentations and/or posters. Junior investigators are encouraged to present their work through talks and posters. We anticipate this schedule to encompass the same breadth and diversity of presenters and topics. Proceedings from the meeting will be available in electronic and hard copy form.

Progress 08/15/09 to 08/14/10

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The objective of the 16th International Congresses on Nitrogen Fixation was to bring together all active members of the community of scientists and technologists that study the chemistry, biochemistry, genetics, regulation, physiology, ecology, and evolution of the nitrogen-fixation process itself; the agriculturally and environmentally vital interactions between microbes and plants and animals; natural resource conservation; forestry; sustainable agriculture and food production. One-hundred, eighty-five active members of the nitrogen fixation research community gathered to learn, share, network and discuss the future of this vital topic in Big Sky, Montana, June 14-19, 2009. Along with successful interaction among leaders in the field, another goal attained by the 16th ICNF was to facilitate education and mentoring opportunities available to students and young researchers. Conference participants were able to take the new information, perspectives and professional associations back to their labs and further disseminate new findings in the field. The most significant outputs of this conference were the exchange of ideas, strengthening an excitement for this research, and opportunities to mentor and collaborate across disciplines and scientific expertise. PARTICIPANTS: USDA funds supported the following 16th ICNF participants: 1.Jeanne Harris, University of Vermont 2.Lance Seefeldt, Utah State University 3.Douglas Rees, CalTech 4.Gary Stacy, University of Missouri 5.Markus Ribbe, University of California, Irvine 6.Steven Cramer, University of California, Davis 7.John Leigh, University of Washington 8.Marc O'Brian, State University of NY at Buffalo 9.Ranjana Sarma, Montana State University 10.Jeremy Murray, Noble Foundation, USA INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Jacques Batut (France) Ton Bisseling (The Netherlands) Robert Boddey (Brazil) William Broughton (Switzerland) Jesus Cabellero-Mellado (Mexico) Julie Cullimore (France) Dennis Dean (USA) Ray Dixon (UK) J. Frugoli (USA) Enrique Flores (Spain) Peter Gresshoff (Australia) Jeannie Harris (USA) Hans-Martin Fischer (Switzerland) Gina Hernandez (Mexico) Eva Kondorosi (France) Helge Kuster (Germany) Viviana Lepek (Argentina) E. Martinez-Romero (Mexico) Ulrike Mathesius (Australia) Kiwamu Minamisawa (Japan) Stefan Nordlund (Sweden) Graham W. O'Hara (Australia) Giles Oldroyd (UK) Fabio Pedrosa (Brazil) Phillip Poole (UK) Clive Ronson (New Zealand) Luis Rubio (Spain) Janet Sprent (UK) Jens Stougaard (Denmark) Krzysztof Szczyglowski (Canada) S. Tabata (Japan) Eric Triplett (USA) Carroll Vance (USA) Graham Walker (USA) Yiping Wang (China) Peter Young (UK) SPONSORS: Montana NSF EPSCoR United State Department of Agriculture USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council Novozymes Montana State University Office of the Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs Alberta Pulse Growers Northern Pulse Growers Association Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Fralin Life Scienes Institute, Virginia Tech Montana State Universtiy Vice President for Research REGIONAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: John Peters, Chair,MSU Ann M. Hirsch,UCLA Clain Jones, MSU Michael Kahn, WSU Sharon Long, Stanford Newton Lupwayi, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Tim McDermott, MSU Perry Miller, MSU Lance Seefeldt, MSU Gary Stacey, UM Michael Udvardi, Noble Foundation, Oklahoma Kathryn Vanden Bosch, UM Kevin Vessey, St Mary's University, Canada Fran Walley, University of Saskatchewan The opportunities for training, development and mentoring at the 16th ICNF were vast. Participants had opportunities to meet leaders in the field of nitrogen fixation, share and develop ideas within the community, and form professional associations. Students, graduate students, post doctoral researchers, and other younger members of the congress were energized and inspired by leaders in their fields, the scientific findings, as well as opportunities to be mentored and form collaborations. The ICNF serves as a perfect venue for boosting young researchers in the field as well as serving as a venue for more senior researchers to share insights across fields. The format of the ICNF provides for many small group sessions which by, nature encourage, depth of topic discussion and opportunities to interact with attendees in the group. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience of the 16th ICNF was the body of researchers and students involved in nitrogen fixation, with the purpose of disseminating recent advances in the interdisciplinary field of nitrogen fixation through a combination of plenary, parallel and poster sessions as well as informal group activities. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
The 16th ICNF was successful in attaining the goal of providing a multi-disciplinary forum to explore emerging areas in the field and provided a wealth of opportunities for the exchange of ideas and building of collaborations. Many researchers and students were able to form new partnerships and collaborations after the congress. Participants were challenged, stimulated and excited by the interest and findings featured. By providing the most comprehensive multi-disciplinary symposium for the presentation of the most recent advances in all aspects of the field, the congresses stimulated discussions, which transcended the normal barriers of expertise and interest, and resulted in a wider exchange of ideas and new insights. To encourage the desired exchange of ideas across disciplinary lines, the program was composed of overview review lectures, which were supplemented and supported by more detailed short communications in a series of more specialized parallel sessions. In these groups, students, graduate students and post docs, along with all other participants had many opportunities to engage and network within a smaller, more relaxed environment.

Publications

  • 16th ICNF Program and Book of Abstracts, 2009