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Benefits of ASM Membership

By Jessica Snider

2007 Article Links

Benefits of ASM Membership
Challenges of Writing
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Hep C Meds
Horror of AIDS
Hantavirus in New Mexico
Juan Reyna
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Nosocomial Infections are a Red Flag
Open Eyes to Science
Pandemic Flu Plans
Polio
Project ECHO
Typhoid Mary
West Nile Prevention
Zoo Diseases

As a struggling graduate student, I often wonder if membership to professional organizations is worth the cost. While it can become expensive to belong to every society that relates to your field, membership in larger groups such as ASM is very beneficial, especially if you participate in the local and national meetings.

ASM is one of the largest and oldest biology related professional scientific societies. Membership for students is fairly inexpensive at only $17 for national membership and $5 for local membership. The Rio Grande branch covers New Mexico, West Texas and northern Mexico.

Membership and participation have numerous benefits.

• The meetings are a great place to practice and refine scientific presentation skills. Local branch organizer Rosa Maldonado commented that local meetings “are a great place to present their research for the first time.”
• ASM provides numerous grant and educational opportunities at the national level. Dr. Maldonado suggests students should “start early and take advantage of what the society gives.” There are undergraduate and graduate research fellowships and grants for minority students. Rio Grande branch student
  Enrique Ramos won the ASM Undergraduate Fellowship last year, which funded part of his research. As part of the fellowship he will present at the local and national levels. Enrique commented that applying for the grant was quite simple. Enrique’s advice for other students is to apply for any grant.
  

• ASM meetings are a great way to keep up with cutting edge research. During the local and national meetings, participants hear about the latest research in fields ranging from environmental microbes to education. In addition, ASM membership provides access to on-line journals and Microbe, ASM’s monthly news magazine
• In a local meeting, any student presenting research receives a $20 fellowship to help cover the cost of travel to the meeting.
• ASM also offers numerous workshops and educational opportunities for every level in microbiology.
• Finally, any meeting offers the opportunity to network. While presenting a poster, you get to meet other researchers in your field, attend talks by some of the top scientists in microbiology and even meet possible employers.

Being a member of ASM is well worth the mere $17 fee. Attending a meeting is incredibly important for career and educational advancement. The national meeting is huge, with over 20,000 microbiologists attending. If that sounds a bit overwhelming, attend the local meeting, which is much smaller and more relaxed.

Jessica Snider is a PhD student with the Biology Department of the University of New Mexico. She is studying the ecological role of roots growing into caves.