Sarah M. (Sally) Assmann is the Waller Professor of Plant Biology at the Pennsylvania State University. She has a long-standing interest in how guard cells perceive and respond to environmental signals, at scales ranging from molecular mechanisms to field trials. Her group also has a major interest in how abiotic stressors alter mRNA structure, with functional consequences. Her research is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA), and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Assmann previously served as President of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB). She is a Fellow of ASPB and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).