Plant biologists honors Josephs with Early Career Award

The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is honoring EEB core faculty member Emily Josephs, an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Biology with its Early Career Award, instituted in 2005 to recognize outstanding research by scientists at the beginnings of their careers.

Josephs, who has affiliations in the Genetics and Genome Sciences Program and MSU AgBioResearch, received the award which was instituted in 2005 to recognize outstanding research by scientists at the beginnings of their careers. This award is made annually for exceptionally creative, independent contributions by an individual who is generally not more than seven years post-Ph.D. on Jan. 1 of the year of the presentation.

Josephs research focuses on the evolutionary genetics of wild and domesticated plants, which is critical to understanding the response of plants to climate change.

"It means a lot to me to win this award because I am in the company of some really great scientists, including my MSU colleague Dan Chitwood, who won it in 2015," Josephs said. "As an evolutionary plant biologist, I am excited that this broad society of plant biologists is recognizing evolutionary biology, an understanding of which is key to understanding the biology how plants work in the present as well as predicting how they might adapt to changing climates or changing breeding needs in the future."

See the full ASPB awards story in The College of Natural Science.