Donald R. Kaplan Memorial Lecture in Comparative Development

2013 Nominations

Previous Lectures:

2012 - Dr. Larry Peterson, University of Guelph "Mycorrhizas - Co-ordinated development between plants and fungi."
2011 - Dr. Ralph Quatrano, Washington University, St. Louis "Mechanisms of cellular polarity:a comparative approach from mosses to seed plant."
2010 - Dr. Nancy G. Dengler, University of Toronto "Inside Leaf Development."

Background

Donald R. Kaplan was one of the preeminent comparative developmental biologists of his generation. Exemplary in his analytical approach, Don sought fundamental structural and developmental commonalities that in his words transcended taxonomic boundaries. Don was a lifelong member of the Botanical Society of America. His research and teaching accomplishments spanned the algae, bryophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms and were recognized by his peers across the world and within BSA. Don earned every major award given by the BSA: the Charles Edwin Bessey Award for botanical teaching (2005), the Jeanette Siron Pelton Award (1989), the Centennial Award (2006) and the Merit Award (1984). Don had many Ph.D. students over the years that have gone on to productive careers as researchers and educators and trained their own students.

At the Annual meetings of 2008 the Botanical Society of America, the Donald R. Kaplan Memorial Lecture in Comparative Development was established to commemorate Don's contributions to botanical knowledge and promote his research interests within the Botanical Society of America. Interest and principle of the fund to support this lecture will be used to invite a leading scholar to present a talk at the annual meetings of the Society.

To accomplish the goals of this Lecture and to start the fundraising effort, the Kaplan Lecture Fund Committee was appointed by the BSA. The original Committee consisted of volunteers from the Developmental and Structural Sections membership who responded to a section-wide e-mail request for volunteers sent by Cindi Jones, then Chair of the Developmental and Structural Section. The committee currently consists of: Todd Cooke, Cindi Jones, Chelsea Specht, and Darleen DeMason (chair).

Henceforth in this document, we refer to this Lecture and Committee as the Kaplan Lecture and the Kaplan Lecture Committee, respectively

The Kaplan Lecture Committee has existed for three years and (1) started the process of fundraising and (2) contributed to the scheduling of first Lecture in the series given by Nancy Dengler in 2010, in Providence, RI, and (3) has provided this document for discussion. At this point in time, it is important to formalize all aspects of the Kaplan Lecture and the future membership and responsibilities of the Kaplan Lecture Committee. To this end, the current Kaplan Lecture Committee offers the following proposal for consideration by the Officers of the Botanical Society of America.

Name of the Lecture - Donald R. Kaplan Memorial Lecture in Comparative Development

Kaplan Lecture Committee Composition

The Kaplan Lecture Committee will consist of three members from the Society at large, one of whom will be the Chair of the Committee. The members will have three year terms with the opportunity to stand for reappointment to subsequent terms. Nominations for replacement members will come from the Committee on Committees. The three members will have staggered three year terms, such that one member is appointed each year.

JUSTIFICATION: The work of the Kaplan Lecture Committee will be to accumulate enough principle (or corpus) to eventually allow interest to sustain the cost of inviting outstanding speakers. For the first two years the two sources of fundraising have been (1) donations from the Society membership, and (2) proceeds from fundraising events at the annual meeting. We think that a three member committee is the optimum size for the workload and to provide the necessary continuity. Additional individuals may be called upon to supplement and support the work of the primary members.

Kaplan Lecture Committee Responsibilities

The Kaplan Lecture Committee will have the following responsibilities:

1. Fund-raising for the Kaplan Lecture,
2. Working with the BSA to manage the budget,
3. Selecting the speaker for the annual Kaplan Lecture,
4. Working with the BSA to schedule the lecture and make appropriate arrangements for the speaker,
5. Introducing the speaker, and
6. Reporting on its activities at the annual meeting of the BSA.

Definition of Comparative Development - Broadly speaking, comparative development involves the study of developmental phenomena in all photosynthetic organisms, including cyanobacteria, algae, and plants that relate to the generation of form. Research in comparative development may involve a wide range of approaches, including morphology, anatomy, paleobotany, genomics, phylogenetics, evolutionary biology, physiology, biophysics, or biochemistry. A central theme is the application of a comparative approach to studying a range of organisms in order to address questions of homology (i.e., similar developmental phenomena related via the descent from a common ancestor) vs. analogy {i.e., similar developmental phenomena or molecular pathways occurring due to similar selection pressures, functions, or constraints).

Concept of the Ideal Speaker and Criteria for Selection

The ideal Kaplan Lecture speaker should be able to give a synthetic talk that reviews a topic as well as providing new, unpublished data that move the field forward. The talk should be of interest to a general botanical audience. The following criteria should be used to rank and select such a speaker annually:

1. The speaker should be able to discuss a topic in the general area of comparative development.
2. The speaker should be able to frame the topic in way that it is of interest to a general botanical audience.
3. The speaker should be able to incorporate cutting-edge interpretations of the literature in the field, and
4. The speaker should have a significant body of research to draw upon from his/her own career so that the talk can be research-based and forwardlooking.

Mechanism for selecting the Speaker

1. Nominations for the speaker may come from the Society at large, the officers of the D&S Section or the members of the Kaplan Lecture Committee. The nominator will provide the committee with
   • (i) a short description of the research of the speaker,-
   • (ii) a list of recent publications; and
   • (iii) a brief statement of evidence supporting the selection criteria in the nomination.
2. Each nomination will be discussed by the Committee and each member will independently rank potential speakers according to the criteria as described above.
3. A rank order list based on this input will be compiled by the Chair of the Committee and the three highest ranked names will be presented to the committee. The Committee will discuss the pros and cons of each potential speaker and vote for their top choice from this list. The nominee who has the highest number of votes will be invited by the Chair of the Kaplan Committee to be the speaker for that year.

4. In the event that the first speaker is unable to accept the invitation, the next nominee on the list will be chosen.
5. If a member of the Kaplan Lecture Committee is being considered as a potential speaker, another individual will substitute and participate in the discussion and final decision.

How the speakers will be supported prior to the fund reaching the targeted amount

Prior to the funding reaching a level at which it generates sufficient interest income to support an honorarium and full travel and registration expenses, speakers will be offered an honorarium only. The level of this honorarium will be set by the Kaplan Lecture Committee. Use of the Kaplan Lecture Funds Principle and interest of this fund will be used exclusively to support speakers for this lecture series. Checks written from the fund will be authorized by the Chair of the Kaplan Committee.

Responsibilities of the Society

The major duties of the BSA are:

1. Maintaining the Fund and providing yearly reports to the Kaplan Lecture Committee.
2. Scheduling and advertising the Kaplan Lecture at the annual meetings.
3. Coordinating with the Kaplan Committee on its fundraising efforts.

Implementation

Kaplan Lecture Committee composition: For the first year during which these guidelines are adopted, two of the current Kaplan Lecture Committee members will remain on the committee and one new "at large" member will be appointed or reappointed.