Membership: What’s your story?

This column invites ASA, CSSA, and SSSA members to talk about their personal experiences with the Societies. Every member has a story. What’s yours? We’d love to hear from you. Email Send Message.

Osler Ortez

I became familiar with ASA, CSSA, and SSSA in 2014 while I was pursuing my first academic experience abroad, a short-term internship during my undergraduate. Since then, I have been an active member.

My participation has expanded across different areas, including attending the Annual Meeting, publishing peer-reviewed papers, writing articles for CSA News magazine, serving as a volunteer judge in various student competitions as well as a member of committees, and presenting my research outcomes.

Within the Societies, my contributions have received multiple recognitions, including the Exceptional Education Contribution in 2017, the Yield-Limiting Factors Graduate Student Award in 2018, and the Crop Science Graduate Student Scholarship in 2020. Teamwork and hard work have been essential themes to achieving these results.

A high point to share is my participation at the ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Leadership Conference in 2019. This was an excellent opportunity to connect with colleagues from a wide range of disciplines from many places in the U.S. Today, I continue to explore ways to engage with the Societies and will continue to do so in the future.

I am very grateful for the extensive list of tools and resources that the Societies make available to the community, regardless of career stage.

Rajan Ghimire

I have been a member since 2010 and have found that engagement in Society activities has benefited me as I have learned so much for my research and career. I also enjoy giving back to the Society community.

I attended annual Society meetings to network and learn from top scientists. As an international student, I had to learn not only the science but also the different geography, landscape, and culture of agriculture in North America to establish myself in this field. After listening to talks from top scholars at the Annual Meeting, I emailed them to share my work and ask for more resources. I found that people notice when you engage in their work and interact with them about what you are passionate about.

Through engagement in different committees and groups over the years, I learned that many students don’t know much about graduate school opportunities and how engagement in Society activities could help their careers. Therefore, when I joined New Mexico State University, I started organizing a graduate student recruitment booth for the its Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences during the Annual Meeting. It helped our department bring in the best students while also helping many students learn what graduate schools look like, how to approach prospective advisers, and who to approach for the opportunity that best matches their interests.

I also volunteered on the Soil and Water Conservation Scholarship Committee, which allowed me to hear from many graduate students and encourage and support their careers.