Voting open for new NAASC members

Voting for up to two candidates for the NAASC Steering Committee is now open
at [Only registered users see links. ]

Voting deadline: May 9, 2008

*Only North American users registered at TAIR may participate in voting*



You will need to enter your TAIR user id and password before voting and you
may only vote once, so mark both candidates of your choice before
submitting. You will be asked to confirm your selection before your votes
are counted.

Thanks to everyone who submitted names for nomination to the North American
Arabidopsis Steering Committee (NAASC). This year the 2 new NAASC members
will replace Xing Wang Deng and Judith Bender who are finishing 4 year terms
of service. The continuing NAASCers are: Xuemei Chen and Joe Kieber
(2005-2009), Julian Schroeder and Caren Chang (2006-2010), and George Haughn
and Scott Poethig (2007-2011).



This year, 23 of 30 people nominated have agreed to participate in the
election.

Votes will be accepted through the online TAIR website until May 9, 2008.
Shortly after, the top vote-getters will be contacted to confirm their
willingness to serve, and newly elected NAASCers will be announced via the
Arab-gen listserve and the North American TAIR email list.



- The NAASC is made up of 8 volunteer scientists that are elected by the
North American Arabidopsis research community. Each member serves 4 years
with 2 new members elected each year and 2 members simultaneously rotate
off.

- Originally established in 1992 in response to the need for elected North
American representatives to the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering
Committee, NAASC has evolved into the main organizing and fundraising body
for the International Conference on Arabidopsis Research when it is held in
North America.

- The NAASC also helps ensure solicitation and choice of the conference
site for meetings held outside of North America. The NAASC solicits funds to
help North American junior scientists travel to these international
meetings. Additionally, the NAASC serves as a liaison between members of the
community and government and not-for-profit granting agencies and provides
representation of the community to service facilities such as ABRC and TAIR.

- For more information on the NAASC, including the names of all 34
committee members that have generously donated their time to represent the
North American community:
[Only registered users see links. ]

- Contact information: Joanna Friesner ([Only registered users see links. ])