Dear Colleagues and Friends,
 
We are excited to announce the 27^th Western Photosynthesis Conference (WPC2018), to be held at Biosphere 2 outside of Oracle, Arizona from January 4^th to 7^th, 2018. The conference will start at 7 p.m. on January 4^th (dinner will be served at 5 p.m.) and adjourn at noon on January 7^th. 

The Western Photosynthesis Conference (WPC) is an important and engaging meeting that covers the most exciting research advances from laboratories located primarily in the Western United States, with some additional attendees coming from outside of this region. Importantly, the WPC is a mixture of more established principal investigators and young scientists, with strong participation from early-career scientists.

To help us make WPC2018 successful and rewarding for all, we kindly ask that you spread meeting information to your colleagues. The cost of this conference is all-inclusive (3 nights lodging and breakfast/lunch/dinner) with a sliding fee structure for students, post-docs, and faculty. The following deadlines have been established:
 
Early-Bird Discount closes                                                                            November 15^th
Abstract Submission for Travel Awards                                                       November 15^th
Abstract Submission for Oral Talks                                                              December 1^st
Abstract Submission for Poster Presentations                                           December 15^th
Online Registration closes                                                                             December 15^th
 
To highlight and encourage research presentations from young investigators, a number of speakers will be selected from the abstracts submitted.

We are excited about the new venue at Biosphere 2, which will provide a relaxing and interactive atmosphere for high-level scientific discussions. During our free time, many recreational opportunities are available in the area including a new zip line facility, cave exploration, hiking, a Biosphere 2 tour and golfing among other opportunities. Of course, we will continue our long-standing tradition of the evening social mixer to foster new acquaintances and to allow catching up with old friends.
Early-Bird registration enables a $50 savings from listed registration fees and will be active until November 15^th, 2017. Travel awards for undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral scientists are anticipated.

The meeting venue is ~2 hours from Phoenix and ~45 minutes from Tucson. To facilitate ride sharing from Phoenix, a Google Doc (link) has been established for those looking for transportation to and from the conference. We’ll try to find you a ride with a local or someone who is renting a car at the airport.
 
We are also excited to announce that the following speakers have agreed to give talks at WPC2018:

Robert Blankenship, Washington University in St. Louis
Donald Ort, University of Illinois
Graham Peers, Colorado State University
Junko Yano, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Sarah Smith, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Petra Fromme, Arizona State University
Krishna Niyogi, University of California at Berkeley (tentative)
Beverley Green, University of British Columbia
Erika Serrano-Romero, Washington State University
Shaun Bailey, Synthetic Genomics
Rebekka Wachter, Arizona State University
Amanda Barry, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Gary Moore, Arizona State University
Joseph Weissman, Exxonmobil
Hans-Henning Kunz, Washington State University
Himadri Pakrasi, Washington University in St. Louis
Barry Bruce, University of Tennessee
Wim Vermaas, Arizona State University
Ben Engel, Max Planck Institute
Robert Jinkerson, University of California, Riverside
Thomas Sharkey, Michigan State University
 
We hope to see you at this year’s Western Photosynthesis Conference!

Kind regards from the organizing committee,
Matthew Posewitz, Chair
Barry Bruce, Co-Chair
Asaph Cousins, Co-Chair
Hans-Henning Kunz, Co-Chair

 

Cadmium Online Registration