New and Emerging Plant Viruses Colloquium Speakers

Biographies of the colloquium presenters

SUE A. TOLIN, Dept. of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061. Dr. Tolin received her B.S. from Purdue University in Agricultural Science, her M.S. in Botany, and her Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the Univ. of Nebraska. She is a Professor of Plant Pathology at VPI where she teaches courses in plant virology and molecular plant-microbe interactions, and has conducted research on viruses and virus diseases of several field, forage, fruit, and vegetable crops. Her current focus is on soybean and legume viruses -- poty, cucumo, and comoviruses -- their identity, genetic diversity and interactions with host resistance genes, epidemiology, and management. She served as APS President in 1994-95 and is now a National Plant Pathology Board member and represents APS in various public policy forums. An APS Fellow since 1984, she is also a AAAS Fellow and Agriculture section officer, and on the editorial board of Bioscience. http://www.ppws.vt.edu JANE E. POLSTON, University of Florida, Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, 5007 60th St. E., Bradenton, FL 34203. Dr. Polston received her B. S. and M. S degree from Virginia Tech and her Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the U. C. Riverside. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida’s GCREC where her research program has focused on the identification and characterization of new geminiviruses in both vegetable and ornamental crops in Florida and the Caribbean. She has developed an effective management practice for tomato mottle geminivirus and she has collected and identified several other geminiviruses in Florida. She has identified geminiviruses responsible for epidemics in vegetable throughout the Caribbean and is currently developing geminivirus-resistant tomatoes through genetic engineering. She has been an associate editor of Plant Disease and Councilor of the APS Caribbean Div. http://plantpath.ifas.ufl.edu/People/Faculty/Faculty.htm JAMES W. MOYER, Dept of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7616. Dr. Moyer received his B.S. from Washington State University in Agronomy, his M.S. and Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in Plant Pathology. He currently is a Professor of Plant Pathology at North Carolina State where he teaches a Plant Virology Course and specializes in research on major viruses and virus diseases of vegetable, ornamental and field crops with special emphasis on virus diseases of sweet potato and the genetics, evolution, epidemiology, and molecular characterization of Tospoviruses. http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/plantpath/people/faculty/index.html
	STANLEY G. JENSEN, USDA-ARS, Dept of Plant Pathology, Univ. Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583. Dr. Jensen received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Plant Pathology from the University of Nebraska. He is a Research Plant pathologist in the USDA-ARS Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research Unit at Lincoln, NE. He has experience studying the host plant physiology, electron microscopy, purification, taxonomy, molecular biology, and epidemiology of a number of viruses affecting cereal crops including barley yellow dwarf virus, maize chlorotic mottle virus, potyviruses of monocots, and more recently High Plains Virus. http://plantpathology.unl.edu/Welcome/Directory.html
LAURENE LEVY, USDA-APHIS, PPQ, NPGQC, BARC-East, Bldg 580. Beltsville, MD 20705. Dr. Levy received her B.S. in Biology from Loma Linda University, and her M.S. in Plant Science and Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from U.C. Riverside. She currently serves as Plant Pathologist in the Development Laboratory at the National Plant Germplasm Quarantine Center in Beltsville. Her interests are focused on development of rapid detection methods for viral and fungal pathogens of quarantine significance. http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/cphst/npgqbl.shtml
	STEVEN M. GARNSEY, USDA, ARS, U. S. Horticultural Research Laboratory, Orlando, FL 32803. Dr. Garnsey is a research plant pathologist with the USDA, ARS with over 35 years experience in characterization, detection, and control of virus and viruslike diseases of citrus. He has played a major role in developing research programs on exotic citrus pathogens, which are conducted in USDA facilities in Beltsville and Frederick, MD. This has provided opportunities to develop international research programs on citrus pathogens such as citrus chlorotic dwarf, citrus canker, and many others.
	RON H. BRLANSKY, University of Florida, IFAS, Lake Alfred, FL 33850. Dr. Brlansky is a Professor of Plant Pathology at the Citrus Research and Education Center at Lake Alfred. He has 20 years experience in characterization, detection, transmission, and microscopy of graft-transmissible citrus pathogens. He has been involved extensively in studying transmission of different exotic citrus pathogens using the USDA facilities at Frederick and Beltsville, MD. http://plantpath.ifas.ufl.edu/People/Faculty/Faculty.htm SAVAS KORKMAZ. University of Cukurova, Adana, Turkey. Dr. Korkmaz is a Reserch Plant Pathologist with the Subtropical Fruits Research and Experimental Center at the University of Cukurova. He has recently completed his Ph.D. dissertation research on CCD and has continued research on CCD and other citrus viruses at Orlando and Beltsville under a Joint US-Turkey project funded by the Research and Scientific Exchanges Division of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.
	BRYCE W. FALK, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. Dr. Falk received his B.S. degree from Cal Poly, SLO in Biology and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Plant Pathology from U. C. Berkeley. He is a Professor of Plant Pathology at Davis, is an active member of APS, has served as Associate and/or Senior Editor of Plant Disease, Phytopathology, Molecular Plant Pathology, and Virology over the past 16 yrs. His research interests include identification, characterization, epidemiology, molecular biology, and control of several Criniviruses and the diseases they cause. http://plantpathology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/
	ROBERT R. MARTIN, USDA, ARS, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, OSU, Corvallis, OR 97330. Dr. Martin received his Ph.D. from the Univ. of Wisconsin in Plant Pathology and has been employed by AgCanada and the USDA for the past 20 years. He is an Associate Professor of Plant Pathology at OSU (by courtesy appointment) and a USDA Research Plant Pathologist. His area of responsibility lies in identification, epidemiology, and control of viruses of small fruit crops, especially strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=3602

RETURN TO APSnet FEATURE STORY