Chase Mason
@plantevoecophys.bsky.social
Plant evolutionary ecophysiologist. Assistant Professor, UBC Okanagan. Tweets my own. #Helianthus #PlantDefense #LeafEconomics #CropBiodiversity #iamabotanist 🌱🌻🏳️🌈 plantevoecophys.wordpress.com
Oh this is going right in my first-day-of-class slides dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...
The Generative AI Learning Penalty: Evidence from Chinese Secondary Education
Using 30 months of panel data on 26,811 Chinese students in grades 7-12, we study how generative AI a¤ects homework productivity and learning. The data combine
dx.doi.org
Henry Mance@henrymance.ft.com · 2w agoWoah.
Another PhD opportunity in my lab! Interdisciplinary NSF-funded project developing a new framework and tools for understanding and valuing ecosystem services, with a focus on crop #pollination. Details: cos.unt.edu/biology/lich... 🌐🌎👩🏿🔬
Opportunities
Interested in joining the Lichtenberg Lab? See below. The Lichtenberg lab is committed to providing an inclusive and supportive environment to trainees from diverse backgrounds.
cos.unt.edu
Hey team - it’s looking very likely that I’ll be hiring not one but two four year postdocs! We’re a fun lab with tons of theoretical and applied pop gen projects - broadly in polyploid, conservation, and human evo. Competitive salary, sunny San Diego! Do share with your about to defend grads!
AOP @ijpsjournal.bsky.social Comparative Evolution of Photosynthetic Light Response Curves: Approaches and Pitfalls in Phylogenetic Modeling of a Function-Valued Trait Rebekah Evelyn Davis, @plantevoecophys.bsky.social, Eric Goolsby www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... #PlantScience
journals.uchicago.edu
Excited to share our new paper on leaf scorching. 🔥Early leaf browning during heat and drought is often interpreted as premature leaf senescence - but it may reflect rapid heat damage. Separating these processes is essential. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @wslresearch.bsky.social
Slowly updating my website to a lab site and having way too much fun. GEEP lab launching in Spring 2027!
I don't think people fully appreciate how apocalyptic things are for US science. I haven't had any new funding since 2024, but I'm still ok since typical grants are for three years. This means next year I will be completely out of funding and will have to fire everyone in the lab. It's not great.
Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 6mo agoNSF Update through March 13, 2026 1/2
Putting solar panels on farms sounds like a possible win-win, but the mixed use of space can create competition for access to sun. A modeling study identifies semiarid places in the Midwest where the panels would help by mitigating heat and water stress. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/HJmF50YrTTu
“The University of Illinois Just Released a Popcorn So Good It Doesn’t Need Butter A crop scientist and two brewers spent nearly a decade breeding a better popcorn — and you can taste the difference.” Excerpt From: apple.news/A-iMFrAidRDS...
The University of Illinois Just Released a Popcorn So Good It Doesn’t Need Butter — FOOD & WINE
A crop scientist and two brewers spent nearly a decade breeding a better popcorn — and you can taste the difference.
apple.news
Canada’s new government is investing big to attract world-class talent in science and technology — and become an innovation powerhouse.
Are you a researcher seeking to relocate to Canada? UBC is currently recruiting through the new Canada Impact + Research Chairs Program. UBC Okanagan is seeking researchers in sustainable agriculture, especially tree fruits and viticulture! Shoot me an email! research.ubc.ca/federal-rese...
Canada Impact + Research Chairs Program
The Government of Canada announced the launch of the
research.ubc.ca
A new interpretable #MachineLearning approach to identify plant traits associated with #PlantAdaptation to divergent ecoregions New in #AppsPlantSci by Sambadi Majumder & Chase Mason (@plantevoecophys.bsky.social) bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #ecophysiology #Helianthus #botany
In the July/August 2025 @ijpsjournal.bsky.social From the Archives: The Stress-Tolerant Tortoise and the Competitive Hare: ‘Fast-Slow’ Plant Ecological Strategies and The Legacy of Reich et al. (2003) @plantevoecophys.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10.... #PlantScience #Botany
University of Chicago Press Journals: Cookie absent
journals.uchicago.edu
UBC Okanagan is seeking a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) Assistant Professor in Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcfacultyjo...
Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, Assistant Professor (tenure-track)
Academic Job Category Faculty Bargaining Job Title Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, Assistant Professor (tenure-track) Department UBCO | Faculty | Department ...
ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com
Another scoop from Jeff Mervis (@policyhound.bsky.social): NSF's ~1400 grant terminations have disproportionately affected PIs from groups underrepresented in science: women, racial & ethnic minorities, & those with disabilities. 1/3 www.science.org/content/arti...
Trump officials take steps toward a radically different NSF
Efforts to shrink staff, budget, and focus have alarmed members of Congress
science.org
🧪 Tip: You have the right to contest a grant termination, even though NSF says you don't. 🧵 On Friday, NSF terminated 402 grants (per Musk's DOGE). The notification letters had one of the most egregious violations of fed regulations I've seen so far in these cases: "not subject to appeal"
Megan Zahneis@mzahneis.bsky.social · last yr.Here's a copy of an NSF grant termination notice that went out today. "NSF is issuing this termination to protect the interests of the government pursuant...on the basis that they no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities." Not subject to appeal. #HigherEd #AcademicSky
![Text of email: Dear [redacted],
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has undertaken a review of its award portfolio. Each award was carefully and individually reviewed, and the agency has determined that termination of certain awards is necessary because they are not in alignment with current NSF priorities. Effective immediately, the following are terminated: [redacted]
NSF is issuing this termination to protect the interests of the government pursuant to NSF Grant General Conditions (GC-1) term and condition entitled Termination and Enforcement; on the basis that they no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities. This is the final agency decision and not subject to appeal. Costs incurred as a result of this termination may be reimbursed, provided such costs would otherwise be allowable under the terms of the award and the governing cost principles. In accordance with your award terms and conditions, you have 30 days from the termination date to furnish a summary of progress under the award and an itemized accounting of allowable costs incurred prior to the termination date.
Sincerely, [redacted] Division Director
Office of Budget Finance and Award Management (BFA)
Division of Grants and Agreements (DGA)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:l3jbgdl7a5rtsfyrgjw7spkz/bafkreif3rmsl6htpibxg3loqsuazljaekd636abaavvfm4nkjplr5e6itu)
Breaking: a judge in GA ordered that the fed'l gov't CANNOT pull the visas of foreign students. The order applies ONLY to students who are part of the lawsuit. If you want to join the lawsuit, reach out to: ckuck@immigration.net and dclaffey@immigration.net youtu.be/FS6B8CM8uf4
UBC Okanagan is seeking a Canada Research Chair (Assistant Professor) in Human-Centered Explainable Artificial Intelligence, broadly defined. The position is restricted to members of underrepresented groups (HPSM). Deadline has been extended to Feb 23rd - please share widely! tinyurl.com/8w8d7hvj
Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Human-Centered Explainable Artificial Intelligence, Assistant Professor (tenure-track)
Academic Job Category Faculty Bargaining Job Title Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Human-Centered Explainable Artificial Intelligence, Assistant Professor (tenure-track) Department UBCO | Faculty |...
tinyurl.com
UBC Okanagan is currently seeking a Canada Research Chair (Assistant Professor) in Climate Resilience + Water Resources, broadly defined. The position is restricted to members of underrepresented groups (HPSM). Deadline has been extended to Feb 23rd - please share widely! tinyurl.com/ycftnwvb
Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Climate Resilience and Water Resources, Assistant Professor (tenure-track)
Academic Job Category Faculty Bargaining Job Title Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Climate Resilience and Water Resources, Assistant Professor (tenure-track) Department UBCO | Faculty | Department ...
tinyurl.com
JA and OA @ijpsjournal.bsky.social From the Archives: The Stress-Tolerant Tortoise and the Competitive Hare: ‘Fast-Slow’ Plant Ecological Strategies and The Legacy of Reich et al. (2003) @plantevoecophys.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10.... #PlantScience
Finally, some media coverage in Australia on the mass mortality of corals on the Great Barrier Reef in 2024. The government’s cover-up is crumbling. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Catastrophic’: Great Barrier Reef hit by its most widespread coral bleaching, study finds
More than 40% of individual corals monitored around One Tree Island reef bleached by heat stress and damaged by flesh-eating disease
theguardian.com
Terry Hughes@profterryhughes.bsky.social · 2y agoDue to the impeccable timing of a delayed official press release, you probably haven’t heard that 40% of corals on the southern Great Barrier Reef died in 2024 due to record-breaking heat exposure. www.voanews.com/a/surveys-sh...
Every synthetic biologist, every biochemist, when they dream, will sometimes hear a voice calling A whisper on the wind, as impossible as infinity, as sweet as the ambrosia of the very Gods "...engineer RuBisCo..." And this paper takes us one step closer www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A map of the rubisco biochemical landscape - Nature
A massively parallel assay developed to map the essential photosynthetic enzyme rubisco showed that non-trivial biochemical changes and improvements in CO2 affinity are possible, signposting further e...
nature.com
If you love the Forest Ecology Starter Pack, you might also love the Plant Ecophys Starter Pack! #plantecophys #botany go.bsky.app/Pbq39H7
Martin Dovciak🌳🌱🌻@dovciak-lab.bsky.social · 2y agoHappy New Year! For new Forest Ecologists here: A while ago I put together a Forest Ecology Starter Pack👇 to help build a network of forest 🌲🌳🌴 ecology researchers. The list is now full but you can use it to “seed” your own network: follow folks, get followed, re-post, enjoy! 🌎🧪🌐 go.bsky.app/8ZNK9jy
Do you know these three Russian agronomists? If you're interested, you're in for a real #ScienceDrama in four acts! 🧪🎭 Their story is the central piece of my Short History of Vernalization, but let me tell you about them here: 👇🧵🧵🧵🧵 #PlantScience #ScienceHistory
