The Excellence in Extension Award recognizes an APS member for excellence in extension plant pathology who have made outstanding contributions by creating, developing, or implementing extension-related programs or materials or who have provided significant leadership in an area of extension plant pathology.
Dr. Damon Smith has been a faculty member and extension specialist in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) since 2012 with a focus on research and extension in field crops pathology. Smith was promoted to associate professor in 2018 and to professor in 2022. Smith was also the director of the UW-Madison Nutrient and Pest Management (NPM) Program from 2020-2024. Prior to his appointment at the UW-Madison, Smith was an assistant professor and extension specialist at Oklahoma State University with responsibilities in horticultural crop pathology. Smith is a first-generation college student from upstate New York and graduated with a B.S. degree in biology from the State University of New York, College at Geneseo in 2001. Smith went on to obtain his M.S. degree in plant pathology in 2004 and his Ph.D. degree in plant pathology in 2007, both from North Carolina State University.
Smith’s responsibilities include research and extension efforts that focus on improving our understanding of the epidemiology of plant pathogens to develop better control recommendations for the sustainable management of field and forage crop diseases. His program is highly integrated, meaning that they work at the very basic level of plant pathosystems all the way up to very applied aspects of Plant Disease epidemiology and control. A recurring theme throughout Dr. Smith’s research and extension programs has been connecting understanding of pathogen biology to disease management through the development of disease forecasting tools. He has published on many disease models in different cropping systems including peanut, pecan, turfgrass, soybean, and corn. Smith also currently co-chairs the National Predictive Modeling Tool Initiative (NPMTI) Corn Research Area Committee. Dr. Smith is leading efforts on the development of new disease prediction tools for northern corn leaf blight, gray leaf spot, Gibberella ear rot, in corn, and frogeye leaf spot in soybean. He has used his research and disease forecasting expertise in creative deployment of these tools for farmers as smartphone applications (apps). Dr. Smith is a leader in field crop pathology statewide, nationally and internationally. He is frequently sought out for advice on managing diseases in Wisconsin and outside the state. He provides research-based expertise and input for outputs of the national Crop Protection Network and has an international presence having given a recent presentation of his research on Sclerotinia stem rot of soybean to the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) at the University of Pretoria, South Africa which was born out of collaborations around predictive modeling. Smith’s expertise has been awarded numerous times having earned the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Pound Extension Award, the Education Award Presented by the Wisconsin Agribusiness Association (WABA) for leadership and commitment to educational excellence, and the North Central Division of the American Phytopathological Association (APS) Early Career Award. The extension materials he generates are also equally successful with the Sporecaster, Sporebuster, Tarspotter smartphone apps and publications like “What’s on your seed?” earning Extension Education Community Education Materials Awards at the Agronomy Society of America meetings.
Dr. Smith is a prolific publisher, with more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, more than 100 peer-reviewed technical articles, 113 peer-reviewed extension publications, countless abstracts and proceedings, and over 300 extension newsletter articles. Smith has also edited/authored 5 books including work on all volumes of the APS Farmer’s Guide to Plant Disease series and led the efforts on the Farmer’s Guide to Wheat Diseases. Smith likes to think outside the box with scientific delivery methods to the masses. Jointly with his NPM team, he developed the YouTube Bumper Crops series aimed at delivering timely pest and agronomic information to farmers in video segments of less than 3 minutes. He also worked with the NPM team to develop traditional and non-traditional extension materials that support nutrient and pest management education to the state of Wisconsin and nationally. Smith has given presentations to more than 27,000 individuals over his years of service and continues to be a leader in pest management in the U.S.
In support of his active research and extension programs, Smith has been prolific in obtaining extramural funding, with grants of more than $6.6 million going directly to his program at UW-Madison alone. This includes several competitive federal funding sources from the USDA-NIFA-CPPM program, National Predictive Modeling Tool Initiative, U.S. Barley and Wheat Scab Initiative, and Hatch Program. Funding from commodity programs include a recent grant from North Central Soybean Research program of which Dr. Smith is the PI and was funded for three years totaling $1.5 million.
Smith enjoys mentorship and finds great value in training the next generation of agricultural and extension scientists. He has graduated six Ph.D. students and four M.S. students. He has also trained several post-doctoral scholars and undergraduate interns. He values depth and diversity in his program. Smith currently supports a full-time laboratory research scientist, a full- time field research scientist, one graduate student from India (Ph.D.), one graduate student from Brazil (M.S.) and one graduate student (Ph.D.) from the U.S. Dr. Smith also has one undergraduate research intern currently working in the laboratory.
Smith is also committed to service at the departmental, university, and society levels. He is currently Senator for the UW-Madison faculty senate representing Plant Pathology. He is also the chair of the departmental space and equipment committee and serves on the merit review committee. Smith has also served on the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts and Agriculture Institute Advisory Committee. Smith has co-led the National Predictive Modeling Tool Initiative – Corn Research Area Committee and is currently a senior editor for the APS journal PhytoFrontiers and is a past senior editor of Plant Disease.
Damon Smith’s work as a plant pathologist and extension specialist over the last 18 years has been exemplary. His continued energy in leading efforts to find solutions for farmers, obligation to mentoring students, dedication to service, and his willingness to be creative have positioned him as an excellent candidate for the APS Excellence in Extension Award.
