Bergstrom, Gross, Bélanger, and Clark to
Stand for APS Office

Gary Bergstrom

Dennis Gross

Richard Bélanger

Christopher Clark

The APS officer election is upon us, and it is time to cast your vote for our officers. Your contribution is essential to the success of this process.

Candidates Gary Bergstrom, Cornell University, and Dennis Gross, Texas A&M University, have graciously accepted the responsibility of standing for election as APS vice president. In addition, Christopher Clark, Louisiana State University, and Richard Bélanger, Laval University, have agreed to stand for election as councilor-at-large.

Nominations were received from the members of the society through the nomination ballot in January. The Nominating Committee, which consists of the intermediate councilor-at-large as chair and the division councilors, selected candidates from these nominees using the procedures described in the APS Manual of Operations. APS Council shall declare the officers elected based on a plurality vote.

You can read profiles of all the candidates beginning on page 58. Ballots were mailed to members in April, with the deadline for return June 8, 2001. The ballots contain brief profiles and personal statements of leadership. Results of the election will be announced in the August issue of Phytopathology News and on APSnet.

APS Foundation Announces the
John S. Niederhauser Student Travel Fund

John S. Niederhauser

The APS Foundation is pleased to announce the establishment of a new named student travel fund due to the generosity of Dr. John S. Niederhauser. His recent gift of $10,000 establishes this fund to benefit graduate student travel to the APS Annual Meeting, and the interest from the fund will make possible an annual award. The first award will be made for a student to attend the 2001 APS Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City. The winner will be chosen along with the other student travel award winners by a selection committee composed of representatives from the APS Graduate Student Committee and two members each from academia, extension, and industry. The deadline for the 2001 competition was March 16, 2001. A biographical sketch follows.

Dr. John S. Niederhauser was born on September 27, 1916, in Seattle, WA. He graduated from Palo Alto Union High School in California and then attended Deep Spring College (California) from 1933 to 35, the Timuryazev All-Union Agricultural Academy in Moscow, USSR (1935-1936), and received his B.S. degree in 1939 and his Ph.D. degree in plant pathology in 1943 from Cornell University at Ithaca, NY. Dr. Herbert H. Whetzel served as his major professor. After a year as a plant pathologist with the USDA in Washington, DC, Dr. Niederhauser returned in 1945 to Cornell as an assistant professor of plant pathology.

After leaving Cornell, he served with the International Agricultural Programs of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1947 to 1972 in Mexico. During that time, he served in a variety of capacities but primarily focused on potato improvement. In 1971, he was the cofounder of the International Potato Center (CIP) in Lima, Peru, although he continued to reside in Mexico during his work with that Center until 1980, when he retired. During his many years as researcher and teacher, Dr. Niederhauser traveled extensively throughout the world; since 1981, he has served as a consultant with the Rockefeller Foundation, International Potato Center, PRECODEPA, US-AID, Winrock, and other national and international agencies involved in international development. Since 1985, he has been an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona. He resides in Tucson, AZ, and continues to be active in a variety of programs.

Dr. Niederhauser has received a large number of honors and awards, with the most visible one being the 1990 World Food Prize in recognition of his work with national programs that have dramatically increased potato production in many Third World countries. This prize was founded in 1986 by Dr. Norman Borlaug, the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize winner. It is given to an individual whose work has made a difference toward alleviating world hunger and malnutrition. Dr. and Mrs. Niederhauser donated $100,000 of the prize to establish the John and Ann Niederhauser Endowment (JANE) Fund within the APS Foundation. An annual competition is held for research proposals on potato late blight, and awards have been made in amounts ranging up to $10,000.

In 1999, Dr. John and Ann Niederhauser designated that a portion of the earnings from the JANE Fund be used for a cash prize to accompany the International Service Award. The prize is $2,000 to the award recipient and $1,000 to an international program recommended by the recipient. The International Service Award was established by the APS Council in 1998 to recognize outstanding contributions to plant pathology by APS members for a country other than his or her own. The recipient of this award is selected by the APS Awards and Honors Committee, and the first cash prize was made at the 2000 APS Annual Meeting.

Dr. Niederhauser attributes much of his success as a scientist to his wife, Ann Faber Niederhauser. When he received the World Food Prize on October 17, 1990, at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, an excerpt from his comments included this about Ann: “…And I wish to call your attention at this time to one very special person who has been a constant source of support and encouragement during my career. Not only has she traveled with me all over the world and shared the satisfaction of cooperating with our colleagues in so many countries, but she has created the home and family that have made my life so wonderful. Those of you who know her are aware of how vital she has been to whatever might have been accomplished.” The Niederhausers have 7 children and 12 grandchildren. Following a lengthy illness, Mrs. Niederhauser passed away on March 1, 2000. Donations in her memory were directed to the JANE Fund. Together, John and Ann have devoted their lives to providing more food for the world while preserving the quality of the environment. An excellent review of “International Cooperation in Potato Research and Development” was authored by Dr. Niederhauser and appears in the Annual Review of Phytopathology (1993, 31:1-21).

Each recipient of a named travel award receives a one-page biographical sketch of the individual being honored. All students who receive a travel award have a special designation by their paper title listed in the program book. In 2000, 23 travel awards of $400 each were made with funds from APS and the APS Foundation. This new fund brings the total number of named awards to 22; 2 more will be announced soon. A minimum of $2,500 is needed to establish a new award, and it is estimated that $4,000 will allow an award to be made every other year from the income on the investment.

It is possible to add to any of the named accounts. Donation checks should be payable to the APS Foundation and sent to APS Headquarters with a note indicating the appropriate fund for deposit of your donation. The individual or family of the individual being honored will be notified whenever additional gifts are made to the fund, although the amount of the gift will not be specified. Donors will also receive acknowledgment of their donation from the APS Foundation. Additional information on the Named Student Travel Award Program may be obtained from Stella Coakley by e-mail: coakleys@bcc.orst.edu or phone: 541/737-5264. Information on this and other APS Foundation activities are also available on APSnet.

APS Caribbean Division to Meet in Cuba
Jose Amador, Texas A&M University
Agricultural Research and Extension Center

The APS Caribbean Division is pleased to announce its annual meeting will be held in Varadero, Cuba, June 11-15, 2001, at the International Convention Center “Plaza América” in conjunction with the IV International Scientific Seminar of Plant Health and several related organizations.

This cooperative event will feature recent problems and results, as well as the trends in plant health and plant protection for the new millennium. A preliminary program schedule is available at www.apsnet.org/members/div/Caribbean%20Cuba-01.htm.

Traveling to Cuba does require obtaining a tourist visa from the Consular Section of the Cuban Interest Section. In addition to a tourist visa, to travel to Cuba and spend money there, U.S. citizens must travel under a license issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Specific details on obtaining both of these items are available at http://www.apsnet.org/members/div/visa.asp.

In addition to the 41st Annual Meeting of the APS Caribbean Division (APS-CD 2001), the following scientific meetings will take place during the event:

• IV International Scientific Seminar on Plant Health
• 33rd Annual Meeting of the Organization of Nematologists of Tropical America (ONTA 2001)
• X Latin American Workshop on Whiteflies-Geminiviruses
• VII Symposium on Ant Pests
• II Latin American Congress of the
• Regional Neotropical Section of the
• Biological Control International
• Organization
• Workshop on Scientific Information on Plant Protection
• International Workshop on Pests and Diseases in Banana: Current Situation and Challenges for the New Century (INISAV-CENSA- PROMUSA)

National organizing and scientific committees coordination is ensuring the enrichment of scientific debate with presentations and discussions on common topics.

Also in this issue: (as a .PDF file, see link below)

• Classifieds 64
• People 66
• Journal Articles 69
• Book Reviews 70
• Calendar of Events 72