This past June, the Castilla Lab attended Botany 2024 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Organized by the Botanical Society of America, this annual conference brought together plant scientists from around the world to share research, exchange ideas, and make connections. It was our first time joining the BSA community, which made it an exciting milestone for the lab. For my students Lana and Gemini, it was their first scientific meeting, adding a personal and meaningful dimension to the experience.

One of the best aspects of the conference I found was the welcoming and inclusive atmosphere. From the moment we arrived, we felt like we belonged the community. I truly think this is very important especially for students attending a scientific meeting for the first time. The environment encouraged open conversations and collaboration, with senior researchers, early-career scientists, and students working together as equals. This supportive atmosphere made it easy to connect with colleagues, share ideas, and receive helpful feedback.

I also found the meeting especially valuable for plant scientists using genetics in their research. The sessions on genomics, conservation genetics, and phylogenetics were particularly insightful, offering new ideas and practical information to advance our work. I really enjoyed the presentations of my colleagues and had the opportunity to have exciting conversations that hopefully will be translated into future collaborations. 

Our lab also had the opportunity to present our research at the conference. We shared our eDNA metabarcoding work examining how landscape features influence estimates of plant diversity. Additionally, Lana and Gemini presented a poster about their landscape genomic analysis of gray oak. We gained valuable feedback from attendees, which will help us refine our studies.

I want to echo the enthusiasm of my undergraduate students, Lana and Gemini, and encourage other undergraduates to consider attending Botany. It’s a great opportunity to engage with the BSA community and share a passion for plant science!

Lana Daniels
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Attending the Botany 2024 conference was a wonderful opportunity to build connections within the plant biology community and bond with my team. It was exciting to hear about what is on the cutting edge of botanical research and proved to be inspirational to my aspirations as a researcher. It was nice to see people of all stages in their academic careers presenting their work. It helped me tune my own strategy for Gemini and I’s poster presentation. I am thankful for the chance to attend Botany and highly recommend it as a to anyone interested in plant science.


Gemini Hoffman

As someone who was very new to presenting at a conference, even after being present at OSU’s undergraduate symposium, Botany 2024 was an enriching experience. When I first thought of the conference, I felt excited but a bit overwhelmed. I’m very glad that I was able to go alongside Antonio and Lana, as it provided a unique opportunity to present research with my coauthor Lana.

The organizers of the event made it easy to navigate DeVos Center. They created an app that allowed everyone to look at the different programs, their times, and locations and I was better able to tailor my own schedule as well as a map, and a How To section for presenting.

Presenting our research through the poster session reminded me a bit of the undergraduate symposium but I would say it was way better. The feedback was encouraging as well as constructive which is something similar to the undergrad symposium, but we also got to spend time before our presentation time mingling around other presenters’ posters which was a lot of fun. There also wasn’t anyone coming around writing reviews, so it also helped me to reframe the idea I had of what a science conference is.

The conference wasn’t just about presenting though, there were lots of social activities that provided a more relaxed environment that allowed me to feel like I could settle in and talk with other attendees. I think my favorite part of the conference was the Belonging in Botany panel discussion. I really appreciated being able to hear the PLANTS alumni talk about their own journeys through science because each panelist had their own unique experience and some of them didn’t stay in academia. It’s not something that you always get to see, and it was very motivational. It was also just really nice to hang out with Lana and Dr. Castilla in a more relaxed environment and get to know them better.

I am really grateful to have attended because although it is a conference, it’s also a celebration of plant science with a vibrant community of people who just want to connect and share their knowledge with others while also having fun.