Among the Academies: Plant Biology’s Global Impact (opens in new tab)

It’s fitting that Pamela Ronald, who would go on to be named one of the world’s 100 most influential people in biotechnology by Scientific American, discovered her passion for plant biology while on a backpack trip near Lake Tahoe. “I was 14 and met botanists when I was out hiking,” Ronald recalled. “I said, ‘What are you doing?’ They said: ‘Oh, this is our job. We identify plants and we hike in the mountains.’”