The annual meeting of the Northeast Section of the American Society of Plant Physiologists was held at the Amherst campus on May 1, 1998 and followed on May 2 by a National Academy of Sciences sponsored symposium "Frontiers in Plant Biology: Plant Diseases, Pests and Defense Mechanisms". This special symposium was directed at undergraduates, and area teachers and high school students. It provided an extraordinary opportunity for students to hear, in a forum designed specifically for them, a group of internationally known scientists talk on a variety of topics.  The Symposium included presentations by Dr. Frederich Ausabel, Department of Molecular Biology, Harvard Medical School (Common Themes in Plant and Animal Pathogenesis), Dr. Ilya Raskin, Agricultural Biotechnology Center, Rutgers University (Salicylic Acid and Plant Disease Resistance), Dr. Anne Simon, Department of Biochemistry, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Kill or Cure: the Enigma of Small Virus Associated RNA's) and Dr. Gregg Howe, MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University (Plant Defense Strategies Against Insects).