SIPS celebrates 10 years

Alan Collmer, Chris Smart, CALS Dean Ben Houlton, and SIPS Director Joss Rose

-Magdalen Lindeberg

The School of Integrative Plant Science celebrated 10 years as a School on October 8th with an afternoon of history, science, conversation, and celebration. The festivities started with an address by CALS Dean Ben Houlton followed by reflections from previous SIPS Directors Alan Collmer, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology and Chris Smart, Professor of Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology and Goichman Family Director of Cornell AgriTech. Current SIPS Director and Professor of Plant Biology, Joss Rose, concluded by highlighting new faculty hires in the School, our engagement with the CALS Moonshot Initiative, and a review of initiatives and activities that are advancing our strategic goals. For many in the packed audience in G10 Biotech, the descriptions of the School’s founding and subsequent developments underscored how far the School has evolved since its founding in 2014.

Following a break for botanically themed cake, fourteen SIPS faculty and senior academics delivered short “lightning” overviews of their research followed by nine pitch talks aimed at seeking partners for new initiatives. The concluding reception featured convivial conversation and connection around the many posters assembled in the atrium. Attendees expressed great enthusiasm for the event, with the lightning talks being especially valuable for newer faculty and staff who are still learning the breadth of activities in SIPS.

Thank you to the many people who organized and contributed to this event including Rebecca Nelson, Dan Buckley, Danialle Hill, Catalina Enright, Tara Reed, Josh Balles, and Craig Cramer. Additional thanks to all who submitted images for the two video loops. While not every image was used, they are a valuable resource for future media. The video created by Craig for the main screen can be viewed here.