APS Potomac Distinguished Service Award 2019
The 2019 recipient of the Potomac division of the American Phytopathological society distinguished service award received the Bachelor of Science degree in Plant Science from Rutgers University in 2002. Our awardee then earned a PhD in Plant Biology from Rutgers in 2008 studying the evolution of Colletotrichum species inhabiting grasses in diverse ecosystems.
Our award recipient then moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, to work as a postdoctoral research associate with the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Lab for two years.
Since 2011 our awardee has worked in Beltsville, MD, as a Research Molecular Biologist with the USDA ARS Systematics Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory which is now called the even easier-to-say “Mycology and Nematology Genetic Diversity and Microbiology Laboratory”. In this position, the awardee has dramatically advanced the application of modern sequencing and molecular tools for improving fungal systematics. If you have fungus infecting your boxwood, impatiens, turfgrass or just about any other plant and want to play with modern sequencing equipment, you should visit the lab of our award recipient.
Our award recipient has authored or co-authored more than 40 peer reviewed research publications in the past ten years and advised numerous high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral research associates. The awardee currently holds a joint appointment with the University of Maryland, Department of Plant Science & Landscape Architecture and has contributed to the greater plant pathology community in many capacities. For example, our award recipient served as the USDA ARS acting National Program Leader for Plant Health from 2017–2018. Our awardee has been previously recognized for outstanding contributions to the field and was named the USDA ARS Herbert L. Rothbard Outstanding Early Career Scientist in 2016.
The research of our awardee directly impacts growers of many ornamental plants. Accordingly, our awardee is routinely invited to give talks at national and international meetings and to stakeholder groups.
Our award recipient has also made major contributions to our division. The award recipient served as secretary-treasurer, vice president, president between 2013 and 2015 and continues to serve today as Potomac division representative to the APS Division forum. The awardee routinely brings many students and post-docs to our meeting every year.
Given the outstanding commitment to research and service to APS and continued commitment to the Potomac Division, it is an honor and pleasure to announce that JoAnne Crouch has been selected as the 2019 APS Potomac Division Distinguished Service Award recipient.
