Candidates for Potomac Division Offices, 2003-04
Candidate for Vice-president
Dr. Robert E. Davis is a Plant Pathologist and Research Leader of the USDA-ARS Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. Bob received his B.Sc. degree in Botany from the University of Rhode Island and his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Cornell University, before joining the USDA-ARS Pioneering Laboratory for Plant Virology at Beltsville in 1967 to study the aster yellows disease pathogen -- then thought to be a virus. Focus of his research is the study of yellows disease pathogens, phytoplasmas (formerly mycoplasmalike organisms, MLOs) and spiroplasmas. In 1971, Bob discovered in corn stunt disease a unique helical, motile wall-less prokaryote which he named "spiroplasma.", the first representative of a new taxon of pathogens. Recently, he launched an ARS/University of Oklahoma project to sequence the genome of the corn stunt pathogen, Spiroplasma kunkelii. In studies of phytoplasmas, Bob and his group have worked to understand the relationships among the phytoplasmas, developing sensitive tools and methods for detection and identification, and contributing to taxonomy and nomenclature of phytoplasmas. He has been a regular member and attendee at Potomac Division and Annual Meetings of the APS since graduate student days and has served as Member and Chair of the APS Bacteriology Committee. Bob is a Fellow of APS and has received the Washington Academy of Sciences Award for Outstanding Research in the Biological Sciences in 1984; the USDA's Silver Plow Award in 1998; the APS Ruth Allen Award in 2001; and the Order of the Knight's Cross from the Republic of Lithuania in 2003.
Candidate for Secretary-Treasurer
Dr. Daniel P. Roberts (Dan) is a Research Microbiologist in the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory at the USDA-ARS facility in Beltsville, MD. Dr. Roberts earned a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1985 for his work with the bacterial plant pathogen Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora. He was a postdoctoral research associate in the Departments of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at the University of Georgia where he worked with virulence factors produced by Ralstonia (Pseudomonas) solanacearum. He joined the USDA-ARS Soilborne Diseases Laboratory (Biocontrol of Plant Diseases Laboratory) in Beltsville, MD in 1987 as a Research Microbiologist. He was reassigned to the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory in 1999. His research focuses on biological control of soilborne plant pathogens and plant microbe interactions.