Photosynthesis by plants, algae, and cyanobacteria is at the basis of energy utilization in the biosphere and its chemistry presents a template for many applied and engineering directions in energy research. Cyanobacteria are oxygenic photosynthetic prokaryotes representing an enormous diversity of ecological specializations, metabolic potentials, and morphological characteristics. From a global perspective, cyanobacteria are major contributors to the global oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen cycles. From a basic science perspective, cyanobacteria remain powerful model systems to investigate photosynthesis. For example, the determination of high-resolution molecular structures and the knowledge of photosynthetic reaction mechanisms have depended heavily on the use of cyanobacterial models. Moreover, frontier areas such as the application of metabolic flux tools have been effectively applied because cyanobacterial models lend themselves to isotopic labeling techniques and because relatively robust metabolic models can be developed from the genomic information. Thus, cyanobacteria are widely used as photosynthetic models in research areas ranging from light-harvesting and electron transfer to their use as test beds for metabolic engineering.

The Cyanobacterial Workshop presents a unique opportunity to facilitate intense and productive communication between researchers from multiple disciplines, all sharing a common interest in cyanobacteria either as the direct subject of their research or as experimental models to investigate fundamental scientific questions. The overarching objective of the Workshop is to provide a relatively inexpensive venue for graduate students and postdoctoral scientists to present the results of their research efforts, and formally and informally discuss their conclusions with members of the community. An innovative mechanism was developed for the 12th meeting of the Cyanobacterial Workshop that provided valuable experience to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. A committee of 5 graduate students was recruited to join two faculty organizers to participate in the decisions awarding travel and registration support for junior participants and to help define the final program. The 12th Cyanobacterial Workshop will meet in Tempe AZ from May 18-21^st, 2016. (https://cyanobacteria.asu.edu/?home)