In summary, Dr. Melcher is an internationally recognized pioneer and contributor in investigations of the diversity and molecular evolution of plant viruses. He also is recognized worldwide as an authority on the molecular interactions of viruses and bacteria with plant hosts and insect vectors. His research program has provided a framework for the outstanding mentoring of young scientists at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels, and he is well known as an excellent collaborator in both research and teaching.

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Ravi P. Singh was born on June 24, 1957, in Varanasi, India. He graduated from Banaras Hindu University in 1977 with distinction and then in 1979 completed his M.S. degree. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Sydney in 1984. His professional carrier initiated in 1983 as a post-doctoral fellow at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico where he became Distinguished Scientist in 2005. Currently, he is head of bread wheat improvement for intensive agro-ecosystems. He is fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (India) and recipient of the prestigious Outstanding CGIAR Scientist Award.

Ravi Singh is known worldwide for his contributions in controlling wheat rust diseases through the use of durable genetic resistance. His research has highlighted that globally effective, durable resistance to leaf (brown) and yellow (stripe) rusts in wheat involves interactions of slow rusting genes that have small to intermediate but additive effects and the accumulation of four or five such genes results in a level of resistance comparable to immunity. His group has identified 10 diverse slow rusting genes through traditional genetics and molecular mapping and discovered that some slow rusting genes confer partial resistance to multiple diseases such as genes Lr34-Yr18 and Lr46-Yr29 for leaf rust and yellow rust, respectively. He also reported linkage/pleiotropism of Lr34-Yr18 with the Barley yellow dwarf virus tolerance gene Bdv1 and leaf tip necrosis (a morphological marker). Recent work with coworkers has further indicated that gene Lr34 also confers partial resistance to spot blotch and powdery mildew diseases. Together with co-workers, their research has led to the identification and designation of 12 genes in wheat: Sr8b for stem rust resistance; Lr31 and Lr46 for leaf rust resistance; Yr18, Yr27, Yr28, Yr29, Yr30, and Yr31 for yellow rust resistance; Bdv1 for Barley yellow dwarf virus tolerance; SuLr23 for suppression of leaf rust resistance; and Ltn for leaf tip necrosis. More recently, they have identified five currently effective genes in durum wheat that confer resistance to leaf rust and durum germ plasm with slow rusting resistance.

Ravi Singh not only elucidated the genetic basis of durable rust resistance but also simultaneously developed some of the highest yielding CIMMYT spring wheat germ plasm that contains high levels of durable, adult plant resistance to both leaf and yellow rusts. Such germ plasm has clearly shown that slow rusting genes and high yield potential can be selected simultaneously; and hence, presence of such genes does not have significant cost to plant. These lines with near-immune levels of resistance to both leaf and stripe rusts are at different stages of testing for candidates for release in various developing countries of Asia, Africa, and America and are also being used by several breeding programs including those in the United States and Australia. Previously, he contributed to the development of wheat cultivars that had two to three slow rusting minor genes for leaf rust resistance. Economic impact analysis has shown that such cultivars currently occupy more than 26 million hectare in various developing countries and have contributed over 5 billion US$ through yield savings in epidemic years.

Ravi Singh also has contributed significantly in enhancing the knowledge of diversity in wheat rusts and evolution/selection of new races significant to wheat production in developing countries. He established and coordinated Global Rust Monitoring Network that involved various developing countries’ programs, Cereal Rust (now Disease) Laboratory in the United States and IPO in the Netherlands. Rust samples, collected in various developing countries between 1886 to 1995, were characterized in either the United States (leaf and stem rust) or IPO (stripe rust) and then stored for future use. This network added very significant information on the understanding of the population diversity in different developing country regions and also demonstrated the migration path of Puccinia striiformis from Eastern African highlands to South Asia. To understand the variability in the yellow rust pathogen, P. striiformis, and to promote the use of a uniform set of differential lines worldwide, through a collaborative project with Sydney University, they developed and distributed near-isogenic lines in Avocet background for 19 yellow rust resistance genes and continue to do so for most of the remaining known resistance genes. Dr. Singh continues to coordinate the global rust-monitoring network, though in a different form, where empowered and well-trained national program scientists coordinate it regionally.

Ravi Singh currently leads an ambitious wheat-improvement project at CIMMYT that aims at replacing by 2010 over 60% of the rust-prone developing countries spring wheat area with high-yielding, durable rust-resistant cultivars, which currently occupy about 25% of the area. He has been actively engaged for the last 22 years in educating and training over 400 young scientists from several developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America who obtained their diploma in wheat improvement at CIMMYT. He taught courses over a wide array of disciplines, such as host–pathogen interaction, resistance genetics, breeding for disease resistance, and management of rust diseases of wheat. These courses, which combine theoretical and practical aspects, have led to the better use of disease management strategies by a number of scientists in their respective countries. He also directed the training of 15 senior scientists from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Iran, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Argentina, Mexico, Ethiopia, and Uganda who are currently leading researchers. He has directed graduate research programs for four M.S. and six Ph.D. students and currently serves on the advisory committees of four Ph.D. students in the United States, Sweden, and China. He served as an associate editor of Phytopathology from 1992 to 1994 and as a member of the Host Resistance Committee from 1996 to 1999.

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James L. Starr was born in Dayton, Ohio. He received a B.S. degree in plant pathology from Ohio State University in 1971 and completed an M.S. degree the following year. His research studies in plant nematology began at Cornell University with William F. Mai. After receiving a Ph.D. in 1976, Dr. Starr joined the International Meloidogyne Project at North Carolina State University as a post-doctoral associate with Joseph N. Sasser. This included an 8-month appointment as a visiting nematologist at ICRISAT in India where he developed an international perspective on plant disease management. He later worked at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture Nematode Advisory Laboratory. In 1981, Dr. Starr was appointed associate professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at Texas A&M University where he now holds the rank of professor.

Dr. Starr is internationally recognized for his leadership in plant nematology. Studies of the ecology and epidemiology of economically important nematodes have transformed management strategies for peanut and cotton crops in Texas, and promise to transform the worldwide peanut and cotton industries. Specifically, he documented the frequency distributions of Meloidogyne species and developed models of winter survival by comparing the relative role of eggs and second-stage juveniles. By investigating the relationship between nematode number and yield loss, he determined damage functions for M. incognita and M. arenaria on cotton and peanut, respectively. He also determined the complex effects of interactions among nematode infection, fungal disease complexes, and host–plant resistance on these damage functions. Recently, Dr. Starr and a long-time collaborator and peanut geneticist, Charles Simpson, introgressed resistance to M. arenaria and M. javanica from wild Arachis species into cultivated peanut. Their release of Coan represents the first nematode-resistant peanut cultivar. Dr. Starr was the first to use a marker-assisted selection system for peanuts, and is using this technology to incorporate nematode resistance into lines with Tomato spotted wilt virus and Sclerotinia blight resistance. He also developed the first genetic map of peanut in collaboration with scientists at Texas A&M and the University of Georgia. The genetic map, breeding strategies, and resistance markers are also being used by Dr. Starr to produce disease resistance peanuts with a high ratio of oleic to linoleic acid, which is nutritionally beneficial to human health and increases the shelf-life of peanuts.

Dr. Starr also has extensive collaborations to develop germ plasm lines with resistance to cotton root-knot nematode, and is currently working to introgress resistance to the reniform nematode from Gossypium barbadense into cultivated cotton that has extant resistant to M. incognita.

His research focus is on the biology, epidemiology, and management of root-knot nematodes, especially on cotton and peanut, with a goal of furthering our understanding of the cell biology of the root-knot/host interactions. Dr. Starr has characterized a complex of proteins in esophageal gland secretions (nematode spit) of Meloidogyne species and quantified the multinucleate nature of nematode-induced giant cells in host plants. These polyploid nurse cells increase in gene copy number several hundred-fold. Dr. Starr showed that a reduction of nuclei of greater than 70% in giant cells affected a reduction in development of the nematode parasite, suggesting the potential for genetic engineering as an additional form of an IPM-based control strategy. To characterize the relationship between gene copy number in giant cells and nematode development, Dr. Starr pioneered the use of laser-capture microdissection coupled with real-time PCR to study gene expression in the giant cells. Dr. Starr discovered that tissue sample volume is a more appropriate reference for gene expression than comparison to house-keeping genes, whose expression is likely to be greatly altered in giant cells.

Dr. Starr’s basic research has drawn the attention of plant pathologists, nematologists, and plant breeders, revealing his unique strength in bringing modern laboratory practices to practical applications for crop improvement. Another measure of his success is funding by USDA-NRI, USDA-IPM, and US-AID as well as industry and commodity grants. Dr. Starr has authored more than 100 publications, including 70 peer-reviewed journal articles. He recently co-edited two books entitled, “Plant Resistance to Parasitic Nematodes” and “A Colour Handbook of Nematode Diseases” for the nematology community.

Dr. Starr has a prolific record of training and mentoring more than 20 graduate students who have developed successful careers in industry, universities, and government agencies. Dr. Starr is committed to graduate student success and scholarship, including written articles and seminars on ethics and professionalism in science. At Texas A&M, he has played a defining role in teaching several key graduate courses on the application of the science of plant pathology in addressing plant disease management. Currently, he teaches or co-teaches Advanced Plant Pathology, Diseases of Field Crops, Host-Plant Resistance, and a new online course entitled Plant Disease Management. Dr. Starr is an effective and popular instructor who emphasizes principles important to plant pathology and has the unusual ability to teach and support a research program encompassing his interests from molecular plant–microbe interactions to applied plant pathology.

As expected of a scientist with an outstanding record of contributions to plant pathology, Dr. Starr has had extensive involvement in The American Phytopathological Society (APS) and the Society of Nematologists (SON). He served as president of SON from 1996 to 1997. He has worked to advance the science of nematology by serving on several editorial boards, including senior editor for APS PRESS, a founding senior editor of the APS online journal Plant Health Progress, and the current editor-in-chief of the Journal of Nematology. As vice-chair of the Nathan A. Cobb Foundation, Dr. Starr was instrumental in completing a fundraising goal of $100,000 for the SON student travel awards. He has served on numerous grant panels as an authority on plant nematology and integrated pest management.

Dr. Starr is a respected and distinguished plant nematologist and, accordingly, he was elected as fellow of the Society of Nematologists in 2003. He also was honored for his contributions to the peanut industry where he received the American Peanut Research and Education Society “Bailey Award” on two occasions for outstanding research, and was a recipient of the American Peanut Council’s Research and Education Award in 2001.

Dr. Starr is recognized for his scientific contributions and leadership as a plant pathologist. He has a distinguished record of professional service, which speaks to his leadership role in promoting the science of plant nematology. His studies of the nature and genetics of crop resistance to nematode diseases are recognized as an important model for other plant pathologists studying soilborne pathogens of field crops.

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AWARD OF DISTINCTION:

This award, the highest honor the Society can bestow, is presented on rare occasions to persons who have made truly exceptionally contributions to plant pathology.

Milton Zaitlin was born in Mt. Vernon, New York, on April 2, 1927. In 1949, he obtained his B.S. degree in plant pathology from UC Berkeley. After conducting research on the use of plants as a bioassay for smog formation in 1949 to 1950 at the Caltech, he began graduate study at UCLA under Samuel G. Wildman in botanical sciences. There he developed a serological virus detection system that was used commercially in Hawaii for several years. He was awarded his Ph.D. degree in 1954.

From 1954 through 1958, Dr. Zaitlin was a research officer at the Microbiology Section, Division of Plant Industry, CSIRO, Canberra. At this time, plant virology was concerned mostly with the identification of new viruses and the characterization of the virus particles. However, Dr. Zaitlin directed his attention to virus replication and the investigation of virus mutants. His moved as a post-doctoral researcher to the Department of Horticulture, University of Missouri, Columbia, in 1958. In 1960, he accepted a position in the Department of Agricultural Biochemistry at the University of Arizona, Tucson, where he rose to the rank of full professor. He moved to Cornell University, Ithaca, Department of Plant Pathology, in 1973 and became professor emeritus in 1997.

Professor Zaitlin was both a Fulbright Scholar and a Guggenheim Fellow during his sabbatical leave in 1966 to 1967 with Paul Whitfeld at the Division of Plant Industry, CSIRO, Canberra. He was visiting scientist at the John Innes Institute, Norwich, in 1986 and visiting research scientist, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, UC Davis, in 1979 to 1980. Professor Zaitlin was elected a fellow of AAAS in 1969 and a fellow of APS in 1978. His refereed research publications cover over a 50-year span, from 1951 to 2000.

Although Professor Zaitlin emphasized virus replication, he nonetheless made important contributions to the detection, purification, and analysis of virions and viroids and to understanding virion function. He often employed simple and direct approaches to test hypotheses. He demonstrated that TMV uncoating and gene expression occurred in animal cells, thereby providing a strong argument against hypotheses for uncoating that would require the plant cell wall. Similarly, he isolated and incubated protoplasts from inoculated leaves to show that certain “subliminal” infections are in fact infections entirely restricted to the few cells infected at the time of inoculation, a conclusion that could not be drawn from direct examination of the leaves. He was among the first to realize the importance of cell-to-cell movement as a point of vulnerability exploited by natural resistance and made significant contributions to our understanding of long-distance movement.

Professor Zaitlin is well known for his studies on virus strains and mutants, mixtures thereof, defective viruses and their phenotypes. His work revealed that functional coat protein was not essential for infection or induction of symptoms.

He devoted considerable effort to devising plant single-cell systems as virus hosts. After developing tools for evaluating the accumulation of specific virus proteins and RNA in virus-infected cells, Professor Zaitlin published an extensive series of papers on virus RNA replication and others on TMV genome organization and gene expression. Before Professor Zaitlin’s 1972 paper, no TMV protein other than coat protein had been demonstrated. Later, careful peptide mapping revealed that a high molecular weight protein observed by him was indeed, as he had postulated, a TMV-specified replicase protein. Using a variety of clever hybridization and other techniques, Professor Zaitlin was able to elucidate the genetic map of TMV 6 years before the nucleotide sequence of the TMV genome was available.

Professor Zaitlin has a long-standing interest in plant resistance to viruses. When plant transformation technology became available, he and his colleagues transformed tobacco with various wild type and mutant versions of virus replicase genes, creating strong resistance that in at least some instances affected both replication and virus movement and likely did not rely on gene silencing.

Other interests include the relationship between virus infection of chloroplasts and chloroplast function. Professor Zaitlin also contributed substantially to our understanding of the nature of viroids and of the induction of symptoms by satellite RNAs. A barely noticed minor band on a gel stimulated Professor Zaitlin to discover the phenomenon of ubiquination of virus coat proteins.

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Professor Zaitlin is the author of more than 30 review articles, many of which influenced directly or indirectly the development of plant virology. Professor David Baulcombe of the Sainsbury Laboratory stated, “his Annual Review with Roger Hull was a key text for me when I was entering the virology field.”

Professor Zaitlin was committed to good teaching based on careful preparation and organization. His classroom and other lectures were characterized by clarity and precise expression in a pleasant and friendly atmosphere that never neglected critical thinking. He was an outstanding mentor to the many graduate students and post-doctoral associates. Roger Beachy, president of the Danforth Plant Science Center, states the following. “Milt was perhaps the most influential mentor in my career in science in general, and in plant virology in particular. His willingness to encourage, critique, and advise was part of a collegial relationship that fostered confidence and innovation while demanding critical thinking…”

Professor Zaitlin advanced his profession by serving two terms as associate editor of Virology (1966–1971; 1982–1984) and as editor of Virology for all plant virus submissions (1972–1981). He was senior editor for Virology of Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions from 1987 to 1990. He was a member of the group that formed the American Society for Virology in 1982. Professor Zaitlin was the associate director of the Cornell Biotechnology Program (New York State Center for Advanced Technology) from 1983–1990 and was director from 1990 to 1991. He is widely recognized for his success in obtaining support for biotechnology research, facilitating communication among biotechnology researchers, and informing the public on biotechnology issues.

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Professor Emeritus Milton Zaitlin is recognized as a very influential pioneer of plant virology who is also a valued mentor and a master of university instruction in the plant sciences.

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EXCELLENCE IN EXTENSION AWARD:

This award recognizes an APS member for excellence in extension plant pathology.

Marcia P. McMullen was born in Omaha, Nebraska. She received her B.S. degree in botany, M.S. degree in plant pathology from Iowa State University, and Ph.D. degree in plant pathology from North Dakota State University. In 1984, she joined the faculty in the Department of Plant Pathology at North Dakota State University as an assistant professor with responsibility for cereal disease extension. She was promoted to associate professor in 1990 and professor in 1996. In addition to responsibilities for cereal disease extension, she also is coordinator for IPM education. Her current appointment is 95% extension and 5% teaching.

Dr. McMullen has developed a highly respected outreach program on the management of small grain diseases. Her outreach emphasizes use of IPM practices for disease control. She also coordinates disease surveys and evaluates efficacy of fungicides and biological agents for small grain disease management. She has provided disease management outreach on many diseases, including wheat streak mosaic, root rots, common leaf diseases, and Fusarium head blight (FHB or scab).

Dr. McMullen focused on FHB research and outreach beginning in 1993, when a devastating epidemic caused estimated losses of $1 billion in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Manitoba. She became known as a “go-to” person with expertise in FHB management. Dr. McMullen worked with elevators, commodity organizations, grain buyers, and representatives of the FDA to address concerns about wheat quality, efforts that helped calm a nervous grain industry. She worked with animal scientists and veterinarians to provide information on vomitoxin risks, including co-authoring a publication titled Dealing with Scabby Grain and Vomitoxin. She was co-organizer of Regional FHB Forums in 1993 and 1994 and an active participant in subsequent regional and national FHB forums, which included initiating new FDA guidelines for vomitoxin. Her collaboration with research pathologists and agronomists helped identify wheat varieties less susceptible to FHB, information that was used in her outreach programs. She established fungicide trials to identify the most effective products to reduce FHB and vomitoxin (deoxynivalenol or DON). She found some products managed FHB, but not vomitoxin, while other products managed both the disease and the toxin. She coordinated regional and national uniform FHB fungicide/biocontrol trials through 2000, and subsequently has continued participating in this effort of the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative. She wrote eight special exemption documents submitted to EPA for fungicides for FHB management. She collaborated with agricultural engineers on improving fungicide application technology.

Dr. McMullen’s research and outreach provided notable economic benefits in North Dakota, the Nation’s largest producer of spring wheat, durum wheat, and barley with 6 to 8, 2 to 3, and 1.5 to 3 million acres per year, respectively. Following intensive outreach about FHB-tolerant cultivars that had better yields and test weights and lower vomitoxin, growers responded by increasing their acreage of the most tolerant cultivars. Over the 6-year period from 1994 to 1999, planting of more FHB-tolerant cultivars resulted in an estimated increased income of $11.2 million per year for North Dakota producers. When NDSU released an FHB-resistant spring wheat cultivar in 2000, extension information encouraged use, and by 2003 it was grown on 37% of 6 million acres. In addition, improved availability of efficacious fungicides plus adoption of better application methods resulted in 20% yield increases for growers using and needing fungicides, or a total of about $20 million net return per year in North Dakota. The combination of tolerant cultivars and appropriate use of efficacious fungicides resulted in improved income to North Dakota growers of over $30 million per year since 1994.

Dr. McMullen’s testimony before the North Dakota legislature and before Congressional representatives and senators helped gain support for extension and research funding and receipt of disaster payments for North Dakota producers. She also provided information on FHB losses and management to the National Association of Wheat Growers, the U.S. Durum Growers, and to several APS and CPS regional and national symposia.

Dr. McMullen developed a website with “real-time” pest survey data and management information for five major North Dakota crops. She developed a Crop Scout School in 1984 which continues today, with annual attendance of 125 to 150, or approximately 2,500 to 3,000 total attendees. She was co-coordinator of the Advanced Crop Advisors Workshop from 1985 to 1992 and continues as a member of the coordinating committee.

Dr. McMullen has received many awards and honors for her outreach and service, including the Distinguished Service Award from the North Central Division of APS in 2005. She received the Agriculture Woman of the Year Award from the Sigma Alpha Agricultural Sorority and the State Meritorious Service Award from the North Dakota Epsilon Sigma Phi Extension Fraternity in 2004. She was part of a team that received an excellence award for educational materials from the American Society of Agronomy in 2003. In 2002, she received the Non-Farmer Award from the Manitoba - North Dakota Zero Till Farmers Association. In 2000, the North Dakota Grain Growers Association honored her for outstanding service to the wheat and barley industries of North Dakota, and she received the Communicator of the Year Award from the NDSU Agricultural Communication Department. She was honored in 1994 by the National Association of Wheat Growers with their Excellence in Extension Award, and in 1993, she received the People Who Make a Difference Award from the Grand Forks (North Dakota) Herald newspaper.

Dr. McMullen currently is feature editor for Plant Disease and on the Executive Committee of the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative. She also has served APS as secretary-treasurer of the North Central Division from 1997 to 1999, chaired the IPM committee, and has been a member of the Extension Committee. She currently serves on the North Dakota State University College of Agriculture’s Promotion, Tenure and Evaluation Committee.

North Dakota’s recently retired extension director, Dr. Sharon Anderson, strongly supported Dr. McMullen’s nomination. “Her work is well known across the region and the nation. She is truly engaged in her work and finds all the ways possible to make a difference, especially for the people of North Dakota.”

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EXCELLENCE IN INDUSTRY AWARD:

This award recognizes outstanding contributions to plant pathology by APS members whose primary employment involves work outside the university and federal realms either for profit or nonprofit.

Dr. Gregory Lamka has been quality supply technology manager in the Supply Management Department of Pioneer Hi-Bred Int., Inc., since 1993. He holds a B.S. degree in agronomy (1973) and M.S. (1986) and Ph.D. (1990) degrees in plant pathology, all from Iowa State University. Dr. Lamka has made outstanding contributions to the science and practice of plant pathology through his graduate research, his professional activities throughout his career with several seed companies, and his contributions to professional and trade societies, including APS.

Greg’s impact in the areas of seed quality and phytosanitation began as a graduate student at Iowa State University, where he developed an ELISA test for seedborne Erwinia stewartii. The test was licensed to Agdia by ISU and is used as the standard method around the world for phytosanitary testing. In his current role as quality supply manager at Pioneer Hi-Bred Int., Greg is responsible for quality assurance programs including ISO registrations related to phytosanitary compliance for movement of Pioneer seed. In addition, he develops and implements strategies for international phytosanitary reform. Through these efforts, Pioneer has upheld the highest quality standards and gained a solid reputation for ethics and responsibility in international seed movement, while maintaining an efficient process that brings the latest crop genetics to growers. He plays a key role in evaluating new seed treatment products offered by crop protection chemical manufacturers, and developing new seed treatment product implementation strategies and budgets, which includes maintaining seed treatment vendor relationships, confidentiality agreements, and research agreements. In this regard, Greg has been a major player in the widespread implementation of insecticidal seed treatments for corn. These products have been revolutionary; industry-wide, over the past 5 years, the use of insecticidal seed treatments in corn has increased from virtually nonexistent to approximately 70% (nearly 60 million acres) of corn planted in 2005. This represents added revenues of over $425 million for the industry. As crop protection chemical providers have developed very safe, cost-effective products, Pioneer, as the world’s top seed corn provider, has been well positioned to bring the products into the market place so that a maximum segment of corn growers can take advantage of the economic and safety benefits of controlling insects through seed-applied insecticides. Within Pioneer, these products have been implemented rapidly through a process led by Greg Lamka.

Greg’s responsibilities at Pioneer also include external interactions with regulatory agencies on a global basis, and through these duties he has assumed a leadership position in the seed industry on phytosanitary-related issues. The most notable accomplishment in this area was the formation of the National Seed Health System (NSHS). Greg chaired the joint working group between the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) and USDA-APHIS for 7 years that formulated and implemented NSHS. This initiative allows private and governmental entities to become accredited to conduct phytosanitary inspections, seed health tests, draw official samples, and conduct visual inspections of international seed shipments. The initiative also has a process for standardization of seed health tests and other protocols needed for phytosanitary purposes. The USDA-APHIS requires that seed exported from the United States be tested using NSHS standardized methods; in fact, virtually all the corn and soybean seed and the majority of vegetable seed exported from the United States is now certified through NSHS-accredited organizations. For these activities, he received the ASTA President’s Distinguished Service Award in 2004. Greg’s other regulatory-related activities have benefited the entire seed industry. He has chaired the Field Crops Technical Subcommittee of ASTA which deals with international phytosanitary regulatory issues. He is a member of ASTA and the International Seed Federation (ISF) phytosanitary committees, which deal with phytosanitary testing and the free movement of seed in international markets. On behalf of these groups, he has traveled to many countries, meeting with their phytosanitary regulatory representatives to insure all regulations are based on sound scientific principles. He currently chairs the ISF International Seed Health Initiative for Field Crops, which is looking at standardization of seed health tests for field crops worldwide. As a member of the ISF-Seed Treatment and Environment Committee, he recently presented papers at seed treatment symposia in Chile and India, providing information on reduced pesticide use through seed treatments compared with banding or broadcast applications.

In addition to his role in the conception and implementation of NSHS, Greg has accepted a leadership role as president-elect of the board of directors for the Iowa Seed Association, and he also serves on the Iowa State University Dean of Agriculture’s External Advisory Panel. Greg is a long-term APS member and currently is a member of the APS Seed Pathology Committee.
 

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EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AWARD:

This award recognizes an APS member for excellence in teaching plant pathology.

Cleo D’Arcy was educated as a plant virologist, and for the first 15 years of her professorial career, her primary teaching assignment was a graduate level lecture/laboratory plant virology course. She enjoyed this teaching assignment and, 27 years later, continues to teach plant virology (PLPA 404). However, Dr. D’Arcy began to think that her interest and talent in teaching could be used to educate broader audiences about topics in which she passionately believed—agricultural literacy, professional ethics, and college teacher preparation. Toward that end, she developed several unique courses and instructional materials that have been used as models at other institutions.

Dr. D’Arcy has designed or co-designed three highly successful courses at the University of Illinois. Plants, Pathogens, and People (PLPA 200) was developed in 1993 in order to teach a broad range of undergraduate students about important agricultural issues that impact their daily lives. The course fulfills general education requirements in advanced composition and natural sciences and has been filled (75 students) during preregistration each of the past 12 years. Students learn facts and concepts about plant diseases and related issues in class, and they enhance and apply their learning by reading and writing about issues such as genetic engineering, pesticide use, and biodiversity. Over the years, Dr. D’Arcy has developed multiple instructional formats and media for use in PLPA 200. One current focus of her research is evaluation of the effectiveness of these approaches for students with different learning styles.

To supplement this course and to provide an agricultural literacy tool to others, Dr. D’Arcy and her colleagues (primarily Darin Eastburn) have developed an extensive public website. The Plant, Pathogens, and People (PPP) website (http://www.ppp.uiuc.edu) is designed to allow college and advanced high school students to independently learn about agriculture and related complex issues through plant pathology examples. Currently, modules on four important diseases are available: crown gall, Dutch elm disease, late blight, and soybean cyst. The National Science Foundation funded an expansion of the PPP site, which was selected “Site of the Month” in the Plant Pathology Internet Guidebook. Students in courses at several universities in the United States and other countries have used the resource materials and virtual activities available on the PPP site.

Dr. D’Arcy has always had a strong interest in professionalism and professional ethics. She began teaching graduate students about these topics in a series of informal evening classes in 1982 with Wayne Pedersen. This evolved into the course Professionalism and Ethics in the Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CPSC 590), which currently enrolls 15 to 20 students from across the College of ACES each year. Dr. D’Arcy continues to lead this course, working with several other faculty members and numerous guest speakers from campus, businesses, and other organizations. Students learn about and discuss topics such as mentoring, scientific writing and editorial processes, oral and poster presentations, money and people management, getting and keeping a job, and conflict resolution. Each student prepares and leads a discussion related to a class topic. This class has served as the model for professionalism courses at other U.S. institutions, including the University of Arkansas, the University of Georgia, North Carolina State University, and Oklahoma State University.

In 1997, Dr. D’Arcy led a team of four faculty members in her college to design and implement Teaching College. Over 160 new faculty, post-docs, and graduate students have learned about learning theory and teaching methods through this innovative 10-week course. Dr. D’Arcy has led sections on a variety of topics, including learning styles, discussion leadership, teaching portfolios, and instructional technology. Peer observation and mentoring are important aspects of the class, and she has been instrumental in these activities across her college. The success of this course is evidenced by the development of a community of teachers who regularly share their experiences and knowledge. In 2000, Dr. D’Arcy and the co-instructors of Teaching College were honored as recipients of the first annual Team Award from their college.

Since Dr. D’Arcy became the Department of Crop Sciences teaching and advising coordinator in 1995, she has been one of two co-instructors in the Undergraduate Crop Sciences Seminar (CPSC 498), the department’s capstone writing and speaking experience for undergraduate majors. Dr. D’Arcy presents information on and models effective communication skills, and the students “learn by doing.” Each student’s presentation is evaluated by his or her peers and the instructors, and writes a paper on a topic related to crop sciences. The department submits the best papers to the American Society for Agronomy manuscript competition, and Dr. D’Arcy is extremely proud that one or more of her students have been national winners every year that she has co-taught the course.

Dr. D’Arcy has written three and edited many of the APS online Lessons in Plant Pathology http://www.apsnet.org/education/LessonsPlantPath/Top.html for students in introductory plant pathology courses. In addition, she is the co-creator (with Dr. Eastburn) of two videotapes on plant diseases which are distributed by APS PRESS for use in plant pathology courses around the world. Recently, Dr. D’Arcy has published several articles on her teaching scholarship in order to share what she has learned with her peers, and she has co-authored (with Gail Schumann) an introductory plant pathology textbook published by APS PRESS in 2006.

Over the years, Dr. D’Arcy has gradually evolved from being a plant virology researcher with an interest in teaching, to a teacher who keeps her hand in research. This is how she wants it, because for her it is true that—as one University of Illinois bumper sticker says—“I’d rather be teaching.”

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INTERNATIONAL SERVICE AWARD:

This award recognizes outstanding contributions to plant pathology by APS members for countries other than their own.

Dr. David Thurston has been selected for the APS International Service Award. It is hard to imagine a more deserving candidate for this honor. Thurston has dedicated his long and distinguished career to service in international agriculture with a central focus on plant pathology. His many contributions include service as a plant pathologist in Colombia, research and publications on tropical crops and their diseases from a position as faculty member at Cornell University, and the training of graduate and undergraduate students from the United States and many developing countries. He has been an inspired champion of sustainable agriculture and a tireless advocate for the world’s poor.

Dr. Thurston’s website entitled, “Smokin’ Doc Thurston’s Greatest Hits,” reflects both the substance and the spirit of his career. The site’s title captures Thurston’s sense of humor and irreverence; the contents reflect his dedicated service, generosity, and vast knowledge and experience gained from decades of engagement with practical plant pathology in the international context. The site features over 2,500 photos, which Thurston collected during a half-century of travels to many parts of the world. Thurston has used these photos in courses on general and tropical plant pathology, international agriculture and sustainable development, and traditional farming practices. The photo collection is provided to the public, free of charge, with a searchable database, in the hopes of encouraging others to use the material (http://www.tropagfieldtrip.cornell.edu/docthurston/smokinhome.html).

Thurston is a pioneer in the area of sustainable crop management. Well ahead of most of the rest of us, Thurston recognized the relationship between traditional and indigenous cropping practices and the conceptual basis for the design of more sustainable cropping practices for contemporary times. He has documented the principles and practices employed in indigenous cropping systems in his 1992 book entitled, Sustainable Practices for Plant Disease Management in Traditional Farming Systems. While his interest has been the agricultural practices of resource-poor farmers in developing countries, his book and the 3,200-entry literature database he compiled have clear and critical implications for the design of sustainable modern agriculture in the United States and elsewhere. Thurston has written several other books (two with Spanish translations) on tropical plant diseases, slash/mulch agricultural systems, and other topics related to sustainable agriculture and contributed chapters to many more.

Dr. Thurston spent 11 years with the Rockefeller Foundation as a plant pathologist with the Colombian potato program in the 1950s and 1960s. He began as an assistant plant pathologist, and after a brief return to the United States, was reappointed as director of the Colombian Plant Pathology Program, and then as director of the Potato Program. He also served as the director of the Department of Plant Science of the Colombian Agricultural Institute. He has continued to support the Latin American Phytopathological Society and to engage actively with issues of relevance to the region. In Colombia and subsequently at Cornell University, Dr. Thurston’s research contributions have focused mainly on disease resistance in root and tuber crops (potatoes and cassava), and on the sustainable practices for managing plant diseases in traditional farm systems. Thurston guided 22 students through their advanced degrees in plant pathology and served on the committees of dozens more. A substantial proportion of his students have been international students who have gone on to influential positions. Others were young Americans who went on to develop illustrious careers of their own in international agriculture. His former student Bob Zeigler, for instance, is now the director general of the International Rice Research Institute.

One of Thurston’s research interests has been in mulch-based agriculture. This is a topic that is central to the larger issue of sustainable agriculture. Thurston’s vision added to interest in the topic has had wide-ranging impact. He and his colleagues organized an interdisciplinary working group on mulch-based agriculture and organized a meeting (in Spanish) on slash/mulch agriculture with over 90 participants in 1992. This activity continues at Cornell through the MULCH-L listserv, which brings together and serves a dynamic community endeavoring to improve the use of cover crops and green manures to enhance soil health and agricultural productivity of those who have little access to other sources of fertilizer. One active and effective proponent of green manures is Steve Sherwood, one of Thurston’s many former students.

In addition to guiding many international scientists through their advanced degrees, Dr. Thurston has, via eight different courses, provided enormous numbers of U.S. undergraduates with a glimpse into tropical agriculture and an understanding of the key issues. For example, for over 30 years, Thurston supported a course involving a 2-week trip to a developing country, in which over a thousand Cornell students have participated. Even now, at 79 years of age, Dr. Thurston is packing the house: as an emeritus professor, he fills a 40-person classroom to its capacity in a course he originated on Traditional Agriculture.

Thurston has served on a great number of international committees, panels, consortia, and the like. For example, he served as a member of the National Academy of Science’s 1976 World Food and Nutrition Study, and served for a decade as a member of the FAO Panel of Experts on Integrated Pest Control. He spent many years as a member of the Tropical Plant Pathology Committee and the International Cooperation Committee of APS. He was chair of the Board of Directors of the Consortium for International Crop Protection (CICP) from 1985 to 1990.

In summary, Dr. David Thurston has been a dedicated contributor to and supporter of international plant pathology for decades. He has influenced generations of U.S. students to pursue careers in international agriculture, and has prepared generations of international students for leadership positions in their respective national programs. He has raised awareness of policy makers and the public with regard to issues of world hunger and sustainable agriculture, and his legacy of books and photos will serve as key resources for future generations of U.S. and international plant pathologists.

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LEE M. HUTCHINS AWARD:

This is an award to the author or authors of published research on basic or applied aspects of diseases of perennial fruit plants (tree fruits, tree nuts, small fruits, and grapes, including tropical fruits, but excluding vegetables).

Dr. Chang-Lin Xiao was born on August 27, 1964, in Wuhan, China. He completed his B.S. degree in plant protection at Huazhong Agricultural University, China, in 1985, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in plant pathology at China Agricultural University (formerly Beijing Agricultural University), China, in 1988 and 1991, respectively. He then worked as assistant professor at Beijing Agricultural University from 1991 to 1994; visiting post-doctoral scholar with the University of California, Davis, at the USDA Research Station in Salinas, CA, from 1994 to 1996; visiting post-doctoral scholar at UC-Davis in Davis, CA, from 1996 to 1998; and as biologist and post-doctoral researcher with the University of Florida at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Dover, FL, from 1998 to 2000. Dr. Xiao joined the faculty of the Department of Plant Pathology at Washington State University in 2000, where he is currently associate plant pathologist and extension plant pathologist, located at the WSU Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee, WA, with primary responsibility for postharvest pathology. Dr. Xiao has an impressive record of accomplishments given the short time since receiving his Ph.D. degree. Dr. Xiao was associate editor for Phytopathology from 2002 to 2004 and served on the APS Plant Disease Losses Committee from 1998 to 2000. He is currently a member of the Postharvest Pathology and Pathogen Resistance Committees of APS.

Dr. Chang-Lin Xiao is recognized for his contributions to our understanding of postharvest diseases of apples and pears and in particular the identification of three newly discovered postharvest pathogens of pome fruits.

Postharvest fruit rot diseases are an important economic constraint in the production and distribution of apples and pears in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The reduction in quality and volume during storage, as a result of decay, and the associated repackaging of fruit, costs the tree fruit industry millions of dollars annually. These losses have characteristically been attributed to fungal pathogens inciting the storage rots gray mold and blue mold. However, during the past 5 years at WSU, Dr. Xiao has discovered three new postharvest diseases in pome fruits in the United States: Phacidiopycnis rot caused by Potebniamyces pyri (anamorph Phacidiopycnis piri), Sphaeropsis rot caused by Sphaeropsis pyriputrescens Xiao & J.D. Rogers, and a fruit rot disease caused by Phacidiopycnis washingtonensis Xiao & J.D. Rogers. The latter two diseases were the first reports in the world and the causal agents have been described as new fungal species. In Washington State, P. piri and S. pyriputrescens were found to be responsible for one-fifth to one-third of the losses resulting from postharvest decay of d’Anjou pears and Red Delicious apples, respectively. These findings represent significant contributions to the knowledge base of postharvest diseases of pome fruits.

Phacidiopycnis rot and Sphaeropsis rot are economically important to the fruit industry in the Pacific Northwest and Dr. Xiao has since been conducting research to address the biology, epidemiology, and control of these diseases. One common characteristic of these three pathogens is their association with cankers and twig dieback of trees in the orchard and their ability to cause latent infection of fruit in the orchard leading to fruit rot during storage. Dr. Xiao has thus sought to elucidate the relationships between the tree phase of these canker-causing fungi in the orchard and the fruit-rot phase in storage, and to use this knowledge as the basis for developing and implementing pre- and postharvest integrated strategies for disease control. As a result of this work, growers now possess information on appropriate chemistries for suppression of these decay pathogens when employed as a preharvest treatment in the orchard environment. This approach is unusual in the sense that the orchard phase of postharvest diseases has been frequently overlooked and undervalued in potential approaches to disease control. Dr. Xiao’s accomplishments represent significant contributions to the science of plant pathology and will have a major impact on the tree fruit industry in the U.S. Pacific Northwest in terms of reducing economic losses resulting from postharvest diseases.

Dr. Xiao has reported on this work in a series of seven papers and two notes published in Plant Disease, Phytopathology, Mycologia, and Mycological Research in 2004 and 2005, and 12 abstracts published in APS journals from 2002 to 2005. All of Dr. Xiao’s work on these diseases has been accomplished since he joined the Department of Plant Pathology at WSU in August 2000.
 

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RUTH ALLEN AWARD:

This award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding, innovative contributions to research that has changed, or has the potential to change the direction of research in any field of plant pathology.

Thomas Baum     Eric Davis    Richard S. Hussey

There are few examples of teams in the plant pathology scientific community that have made a greater impact on their field than that made by Richard Hussey, Eric Davis, and Thomas Baum on our understanding of how plant-parasitic nematodes establish a parasitic relationship with their plant hosts. Dr. Hussey is widely recognized as a pioneer of molecular plant nematology. Drs. Davis and Baum received post-doctoral mentorship in the Hussey Lab and while continuing a close collaborative relationship with the Hussey Lab, each have established themselves in their own right in the field of molecular plant nematology as evidenced by publications and competitive grants received on their own. In additi