2010 APS Awards Brochure

The American Phytopathological Society 2010 Awards & Honors Ceremony

Photo courtesy of Visit Charlotte.

Sunday, August 8, 2010 Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.A.

Awards & Honors Ceremony Sunday, August 8, 2010 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

APS Early Career Recognition Barb Christ, APS President • APS Foundation 10th I. E. Melhus Graduate Symposium Awardees • APS Foundation Schroth Faces of the Future Early Career Professionals Symposium Awardees • APS Foundation Raymond J. Tarleton Student Fellowship Awardee • APS Foundation Pioneer Fellowship in Plant Pathology Awardee • APS Foundation Student Travel Awards • APS Public Policy Early Career Internship Presentation of the APS Awards James W. Moyer, APS Past President • APS Fellows • Excellence in Extension Award • Excellence in Industry Award • Excellence in Teaching Award • Ruth Allen Award • William Boright Hewitt and Maybelle Ellen Ball Hewitt Award • Lee M. Hutchins Award • Noel T. Keen Award for Research Excellence in Molecular Plant Pathology • Syngenta Award / Allison Tally, Syngenta Crop Protection

APS Early Career Recognition 10th I. E. Melhus Graduate Student Symposium Awardees

Schroth Faces of the Future Early Career Professionals Symposium Awardees

This prestigious symposium features presentations on graduate thesis work highlighting research aimed at providing a better understanding of the epidemiology, management, and phytosanitary issues of plant diseases caused by pathogens that are seedborne. The symposium is named in honor of Irving E. Melhus, a renowned teacher and outstanding researcher and pioneer in the field of plant pathology at what was then Iowa State College.

The Schroth Faces of the Future in Virology Symposium is designed to acknowledge the “up and comers” in virology. The awardees have the opportunity to highlight their current work and speculate on the future directions of their discipline. This symposium was made possible by a generous donation from Milt and Nancy Schroth. Milt Schroth is an internationally known expert on bacterial diseases, systematics, and biocontrol.

Bhabesh Dutta University of Georgia

Robert Louis (Lou) Hirsch University of Arkansas

Kameka Johnson University of Georgia

Jose Pablo Soto-Arias Iowa State University

Raymond J. Tarleton Student Fellowship Awardee

Olufemi J. Alabi Washington State University

Lucy Stewart USDA-ARS

Ioannis Tzanetakis University of Arkansas

Anna Whitfield Kansas State University

Pioneer Fellowship in Plant Pathology Awardee

This fellowship, awarded for the first time in 2010, was established by former APS Executive Vice President Raymond J. Tarleton to support graduate students in plant pathology research and to encourage students to further their careers in plant pathology.

Jonathan Jacobs University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Pioneer Fellowship in Plant Pathology is a graduate student fellowship through the APS Foundation with gifts from Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. to help attract students to careers in plant pathology, emphasizing disease resistance, host-pathogen interactions, and disease etiology. The fellowship provides a $20,000 annual stipend to the student for up to four years.

David E. Cook University of Wisconsin-Madison

APS Early Career Recognition Student Travel Awardees The APS Foundation is pleased to provide APS Annual Meeting Named Student Travel Awards to the following 28 individuals, selected out of a competitive pool of nearly 80 applicants.

The JosĂŠ and Silvia Amador Award Andre Souza North Carolina State University and Universidade Federal de Vicosa (Brazil)

The Elsie J. and Robert Aycock Award Xiulan Xu The Ohio State University

The J. Artie and Arna Browning Award Samuel Glucksman University of Florida

The J. Artie and Arna Browning Award Peter Horevaj University of Arkansas

The J. Artie and Arna Browning Award Karen Lackermann University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Caribbean Division Award Diego Quito Oregon State University

The H. J. Dubin Student Travel Award in honor of the Peace Corps Pamela Rojas Universidad de Talca (Chile)

The Robert W. Fulton Award TeeCie Brown Oklahoma State University

The Janell Stevens Johnk Award Kehinde Obasa Kansas State University

The Stephen A. Johnston Award Lisa Beirn Rutgers University

The Arthur Kelman Award Richard McNally Michigan State University

The Don E. Mathre Award Chakradhar Mattupalli University of Wisconsin-Madison

The John S. Niederhauser Award Erica Lassiter North Carolina State University

The Malcolm and Catherine Quigley Award Andrew Gougherty Iowa State University

The Luis Sequeira Award Marco Mammella Universita’ Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria (Italy)

The Virology Award Bindu Poudel University of Arkansas

The Kenneth F. Baker Award and The John F. Fulkerson Award H. Y. Kitty Cheung Trent University, Canada

The Kenneth and Betty Barker Award and The Stuart D. Lyda Award Marcos da Silva Iowa State University

APS Early Career Recognition

The Myron Brakke Award and The Gustaaf A. and Ineke de Zoeten Award Lingyun Hao University of Wisconsin-Madison

The C. Lee Campbell Award and The Forest Pathology Award Claudia Probst University of Arizona

The Eddie Echandi Award and The H. David Thurston Award Tiffany Enzenbacher Michigan State University

The Zahir Eyal Award and The Eugene S. Saari Award Lorena Gomez Kansas State University

The Richard L. Gabrielson Award and The Raymond G. Grogan Award Andrea Payne Oklahoma State University

The Dennis H. Hall Award and The Donald E. Munnecke Award Michele Burnham University of Georgia

The Tsune Kosuge Award and The Harry E. Wheeler Award Ye Xia University of Kentucky

The William J. Moller Award and The Roger C. Pearson Award Lucky Mehra University of Georgia

The Larry Wallace Moore Award and The John F. Schafer Award Nicole Ward Louisiana State University

The Joseph M. Ogawa Award and The Albert Paulus Award Guirong Zhang University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

APS Public Policy Early Career Internship

Stephen J. Vasquez University of California Cooperative Extension

The goal of the APS Public Policy Early Career Internship is to provide an opportunity for the selected individual to gain hands-on experience in public policy at the national level that relates generally to agricultural science and specifically to matters of interest to APS. By working with the APS Public Policy Board, the intern learns how scientific societies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), executive branch agencies (e.g., USDA, NSF, EPA, etc.), and the legislative branch interact in crafting public policy.

APS Awards APS Fellows The society grants this honor to a current APS member in recognition of distinguished contributions to plant pathology or to The American Phytopathological Society.

Peter J. Cotty was born in Brooklyn, NY. He received his progressively higher academic degrees from Boston University, Rutgers University, and University of Arizona. He is a senior research plant pathologist in USDA-ARS in the School of Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona.

Cotty is internationally recognized as the leading authority on the etiology and management of aflatoxin contamination and the biology, ecology, and evolution of Aspergillus section Flavi, which cause this severe mycotoxin problem. The outcomes of his innovations resulted in novel strategies for reducing a potent carcinogen, aflatoxin, from food and feed supplies. Prominent among his discoveries is the competitive exclusion method of displacing aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus flavus by their atoxigenic cousins. His pioneering patents on the use of native A. flavus strains to prevent aflatoxin contamination and the method for its use stimulated new avenues of research for many laboratories across several continents. He made persistent, creative, and effective efforts to secure EPA registration for the transfer and utilization of the biocontrol technology by the cotton industry and corn and pistachio growers. Cotty is an idealist. He deliberately kept his products in the public domain, so that they are affordable to farmers and shared among researchers worldwide for improving human health and preventing severe economic losses. Cotty chaired several APS committees and served as an associate editor of Plant Disease.

He is a superb mentor of both graduate and undergraduate students and is sought worldwide for his acumen on aflatoxin mitigation in different crops.

Yigal Elad’s research has made significant contributions to several areas of plant pathology, particularly the biological control of plant diseases, the physiology of diseased plants, and integrated management of foliar diseases of greenhouse crops.

He is the current president of the Israeli Phytopathological Society. Elad, born in 1952 in Tel Aviv, Israel, received all of his degrees from the Hebrew University. He is an expert in the biocontrol of foliar diseases using Trichoderma, yeasts and bacteria, exploring their interactions with the pathogen, the mechanisms involved, and their implementation. He is a leader in research on Botrytis diseases. Together with his team, he developed novel decision support systems for powdery mildew and for biocontrol management of Botrytis under field conditions based

on epidemiological parameters. Elad also studies the physiology of Botrytis infection in relation to ethylene and other plant hormones.

Currently, he is engaged in research on climate change effects on plant-pathogen-microflora interactions and on powdery mildew and gray mold in several crops. Elad has supervised many graduate students, edited several books, and published more than 140 publications in refereed journals, as well as invited reviews, book chapters, and publications in Hebrew. He has served on many national and international committees and is frequently invited as a keynote speaker or lecturer at national and international conferences. Many of his studies have been conducted jointly with graduate students and colleagues, and in all of them, he has successfully combined fundamental and applied research in plant pathology.

Robert L. Gilbertson received a B.S. degree in wildlife biology and an M.S. degree in plant pathology from the University of Massachusetts. After working as an extension technician in entomology, he received a Ph.D. degree in plant pathology from Colorado State University. After post-doctoral training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he joined the faculty in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California-Davis in 1990. Gilbertson has shown an unusual ability to contribute substantially to fundamental and applied research, and to exploit basic research results for practical ends, in both virology and seed pathology. He is recognized for his work on geminiviruses: in developing vector-independent inoculation procedures and, in collaboration with William Lucas, investigating the function of viral proteins in the trafficking of virus DNA within and between cells. Gilbertson has been a pioneer in applying molecular tools for investigating geminivirus population structure and evolution. His team was among the first to demonstrate pseudorecombination and recombination in geminiviruses. Together with Douglas Maxwell, Gilbertson identified the introduction of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus into the Dominican Republic, and helped develop a successful integrated management strategy. He and his colleagues have also detected and characterized whitefly- and leafhopper-transmitted geminiviruses infecting various crops in the United States, Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and West Africa. These efforts have led to new approaches for mitigating the severe losses these viruses cause. Gilbertson also is an exemplary teacher and has extensive professional activities, including service as editor-in-chief of Phytopathology from 2005 to 2008.

APS Awards Raymond D. Martyn, Jr. was born in Washington, DC, and spent his childhood in Indiana and Florida. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Florida Atlantic University and was awarded his Ph.D. degree by the University of Florida. Martyn then accepted a position as assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at Texas A&M University (TAMU), rising to the rank of professor in 1992. At TAMU, Martyn quickly established a reputation as an exceptional instructor, recognized three times as outstanding professor by the students. In 1995, he also was recognized at the college level at TAMU as an outstanding teacher. In 1997, Martyn accepted the position of professor and head of the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Purdue University. Martyn is recognized internationally for his research on diseases of melons and watermelons, with special emphasis on Fusarium wilts and Monosporascus vine decline. It is in the area of service that Martyn has truly excelled. Throughout his career, he has devoted his time and energies to the service of our science and professional societies.

Martyn has served APS and several of its divisions in numerous appointed and elected roles, including councilor for the North Central Division; vice president/president of the Southern Division; and vice president/president-elect/president of APS. As president of APS in 2008, he led the society to a successful centennial meeting and a record society membership of more than 5,000.

Sally A. Miller received a B.S. degree in biology from The Ohio State University (OSU) and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in plant pathology from the University of Wisconsin.

She worked in the plant biotechnology industry until 1991, when she joined the faculty of the Department of Plant Pathology at OSU in Wooster. Miller is a pioneer in the development and application of plant disease diagnostic assays. She and her coworkers were among the first to apply monoclonal antibody technology to the detection of fungal and oomycete pathogens.

After joining OSU, she continued to demonstrate leadership in this area and has made major advances in the use of serological and molecular assays to detect pathogens in vegetable crops. Miller has also maintained a strong applied research program that directly supports vegetable producers worldwide. Her research has focused on sustainable disease management and food safety, including the use of biocontrol and induced resistance mediated by organic amendments in traditional and organic systems. Miller is committed to solving critical problems and building phytopathology capacity in the developing world and has become firmly established as an international authority on diagnostics and management and of vegetable diseases. She has led long-term projects in 15 countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Central America and is in great demand as a speaker and advisor around the world. She currently serves as director of the APS Office of International Programs and was the 2002 recipient of the APS International Service Award.

Timothy D. Murray is professor of plant pathology at Washington State University (WSU). He earned a B.S. degree in plant science from the University of CaliforniaDavis in 1978 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in plant pathology from WSU in 1980 and 1983, respectively. He joined WSU in 1983 as a small grains pathologist.

He teaches General Plant Pathology, has directed 17 students to M.S. or Ph.D. degrees, and served on the committees of 35 other students. His research focuses on control of winter wheat diseases. Murray has studied fungicide resistance and population genetic structure of the eyespot pathogens, use of seeding date changes and soil pH adjustment to control Cephalosporium stripe, and breeding for resistance to eyespot, Cephalosporium stripe, snow mold, and wheat streak mosaic diseases. His innovative use of pathogens transformed with the GUS reporter gene and has resulted in a seedling test for eyespot resistance that provides reliable phenotypes in two months compared to one year in field plots and has led to the identification of new genes for eyespot resistance in six wild relatives of wheat. Murray has a long history of service to APS. As the founding editor-in-chief of Plant Health Progress, his visionary leadership led to the publication of the first APS electronic-only journal and the establishment of the multijournal, multidisciplinary Plant Management Network. He is author of A Colour Handbook of Diseases of Small Grain Cereal Crops and coeditor of The Encyclopedia of Plant Pathology. He currently chairs the committee developing the U.S. recovery plan for wheat stem rust race Ug99.

Krishna V. Subbarao obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in plant pathology from the University of Mysore, India, and a Ph.D. degree in plant pathology from Louisiana State University (LSU). Subbarao had postdoctoral stints at LSU and the University of California-Berkeley prior to joining the faculty of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California-Davis, where he is currently a professor. Subbarao’s impressive career achievements have come through the study of two fungal pathogens, Sclerotinia spp. and Verticillium spp. He has utilized these systems to develop pioneering research programs in the assessment of contemporary and changing production practices on plant diseases. Subbarao’s seminal and widely acclaimed contributions have come from his studies concerning the ecology of Sclerotinia. His research provided answers to long-standing questions concerning the distribution of two Sclerotinia species in California and the innovative means of managing diseases caused by these species. His significant and ongoing accomplishments have also come from the study of Verticillium dahliae. His demonstration of the mechanisms of broccoli-induced V. dahliae suppression using a combination of soil microbiology, soil chemistry, and molecular cytology is highly noteworthy. Subbarao possesses a prolific publication record with more than 120 refereed journal articles, a review in Annual Review of Phytopathology (2009), and invited book

APS Awards chapters. He previously served as associate editor and senior editor of Phytopathology, and has served either as a member or chair of a number of APS committees.

Frank F. White is a full professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at Kansas State University (KSU), where he joined in 1985. White was born and raised in southeast Washington state. His professional career started under the employment of Paul Williams at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. White graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a B.S. degree in molecular biology with honors in 1974 and received his Ph.D. degree in 1981 from the Department of Microbiology at the University of Washington, Seattle. White is best known for his characterization of pathogen genes governing hairy root disease and the role played by type III effectors in host gene expression. White’s group and collaborators demonstrated that major R gene-mediated resistance and virulence in bacterial blight of rice is the result of type III effector-specific host gene induction and have characterized a series of host genes that condition host susceptibility in a gene-for-gene manner. White has been the recipient of approximately $8 million in competitive research support in various forms over his career at KSU from NSF, NSF Plant Genome, USDA, KSU, and state funding agencies. White has coauthored 56 articles and reviews and has served as senior and associate editor for MPMI for six years. He has organized three symposia for APS and is a long standing member of the Bacteriology Committee. White has served as grant review panelist and ad hoc reviewer for many journals and national, state, and international funding agencies.

Roger P. Wise earned both his B.S. (physiology) and Ph.D. degrees (genetics) from Michigan State University.

Subsequently, he held post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Florida and the Max-Planck-Institut in KĂśln, Germany. In 1989, he assumed his current post as USDA-ARS research geneticist and professor of plant pathology at Iowa State University. For more than two decades, he has performed high-impact, cutting-edge research that has transformed our understanding of host-pathogen interactions. Early in his career, he demonstrated that the T-urf13 mitochondrial gene of T-cytoplasm maize causes male sterility and toxin sensitivity and, thus, was the molecular basis for the 1970 southern corn leaf blight epidemic. Later, he cloned the barley Mla (powdery mildew) resistance gene via map-based methods, resulting in a series of seminal studies on CC-NBS-LRR mediated resistance signaling. He co-led the development of the Barley1 GeneChip, used worldwide

to investigate the function of greater than 22,000 genes in this important crop. Using this technology, his team established that gene-for-gene resistance overrides pathogen suppression of hostdefense mechanisms and also recently discovered a master regulator for disease defense to Ug99 stem rust. To promote public mining of these data, he spearheaded efforts to develop PLEXdb, a major database resource for fundamental and applied plant research. He has trained numerous undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral scientists, and garnered uninterrupted competitive funding totaling more than $17 million. He has transformed the field not only through research findings, but also by catalyzing the adoption of new technologies and enabling broad access to new data and powerful analysis tools.

Excellence in Extension Award This award recognizes excellence in extension plant pathology.

Gary G. Grove, born in Canton, OH, received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in botany from Ohio University and in 1984 received his Ph.D. degree in plant pathology from The Ohio State University. Grove held appointments with Rohm and Haas and the University California-Davis before joining the faculty at Washington State University (WSU) in 1986 and becoming professor in 2006. He has statewide responsibilities for grapes, hops, and stone fruits and a split appointment of extension, research, and teaching. He is also director of WSU’s agricultural weather network (AgWeatherNet). Grove is a world leader in developing cutting-edge information delivery approaches to provide stakeholders information when and where they need it. He was one of the first to establish electronic bulletin boards to facilitate communication among stakeholders and extension/research personnel and was the author of one of the first fruit pathology sites on the internet. As technology advanced, he developed downloadable videos for hand-held devices and developed databases and compatible web pages that allowed growers to view information on pesticide recommendations, labels, and resistance management while in the field. As director of AgWeatherNet, Grove modernized a network of 132 weather stations throughout Washington that provides real-time weather and forecast data and models. The website receives about 300,000 visits per month and uses text messaging and synthetic voice technology to deliver weather and pest alerts. His extension and research efforts have developed unique insights in pathogen biology and disease epidemiology in irrigated perennial agriculture and resulted in a significant decrease in fungicide use in Washington orchards and vineyards.

APS Awards Excellence in Industry Award This award recognizes outstanding contributions to plant pathology by APS members whose primary employment involves work outside the university and federal realms either for profit or nonprofit.

N. Beth Carroll is a native of Greensboro, NC, and received B.S. and M.S. degrees in horticultural science from North Carolina State University (NCSU). She began her professional career as an agricultural extension agent in Buncombe County, NC. After six years in this position, she returned to NCSU to pursue a Ph.D. degree in plant pathology under the guidance of Paul Shoemaker and Eddie Echandi.

She began her industry career in 1988 with Ciba-Geigy, as a plant pathologist in Hudson, NY. Her career path has included several corporate restructurings, but she has held key managerial positions in Regulatory, Toxicology, Food Quality, and Stewardship Departments, and currently is a senior stewardship manager with Syngenta. She served for a number of years on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Pesticide Policy Dialogue Committee.

She has been active in APS for more than 20 years, serving on numerous committees, including the Industry (chair, 1996), Chemical Control, and Integrated Plant Disease Management Committees, and the APS Public Policy Board (PPB), serving as the first industry representative on PPB. A key PPB goal was to establish a better relationship with EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP).

Carroll set up regular meetings with OPP during PPB’s annual Washington visit, leading to a PPB/OPP roundtable meeting in February 2009. This meeting provided for APS interaction with OPP’s Biological Effects Assessment Division, USDA’s Office of Pest Management Policy, and the National Agricultural Statistics Survey on topics of mutual interest. She now serves on the Federal Advisory Committee for the National Agricultural Statistical Survey.

Excellence in Teaching Award This award recognizes excellence in teaching plant pathology.

Scott Evan Gold has developed a diverse teaching effort in fungal biology and biotechnology at the University of Georgia (UGA). His current teaching efforts (250– 300 students per year) include a graduate course on fungal genetics, an upper division undergraduate science elective course on fungi, and an intensive biotechnology laboratory course. In each of these courses, he utilizes plant-pathogenic fungi as interesting and relevant examples to convey biological principles.

For example, as part of the Biotechnology Laboratory course, Gold developed the use of the corn smut or Verticillium wilt pathogens as tools to involve students in original research on functional genomics in fungi. In his large undergraduate lecture course, Fungi:

Friends and Foes, Gold introduces students to topics and concepts in plant pathology. This is an opportunity to stimulate student interest in plant pathology, and there is frequent recruitment from the course to other plant pathology courses. Gold was a UGA Lilly Teaching Fellow, recognized as a UGA Outstanding Teaching Faculty, and was inducted into the UGA Teaching Academy. Gold has also served as a directed-research mentor for more than 40 undergraduates and seven high school students. Gold has received funding and has been an invited speaker related to his teaching efforts. In addition to student evaluations showing high numerical ratings on content and approach to teaching, Gold is noted for being a caring, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic teacher, providing students an opportunity to have an intense academic experience under a low-stress, welcoming, and motivating environment.

Ruth Allen Award This award recognizes individuals who have made an outstanding, innovative contribution to research that has changed or has the potential to change the direction of research in any field of plant pathology.

Rosemary Loria, born in Detroit, MI, received her B.S. degree from Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University (MSU) in 1974 and her M.S. (1977) and Ph.D. (1980) degrees also from MSU. She has pursued her professional career at Cornell University, working primarily on diseases of potato. Loria has made major advances in our understanding of the virulence of Grampositive bacteria, particularly Streptomyces species causing scab disease of potato. Using approaches involving genetics, biochemistry, and genomics, she and her colleagues have elucidated key steps in the biosynthesis of the phytotoxin thaxtomin, and they have shown that thaxtomin inhibits cellulose biosynthesis, thus explaining the tissue specificity and symptoms of scab disease. They also have provided genetic evidence that thaxtomin is essential for the pathogenicity of S. scabies and shown that the thaxtomin biosynthesis genes are carried on a pathogenicity island whose transfer in the laboratory can confer virulence to an otherwise nonpathogenic species of Streptomyces. Such horizontal gene-transfer events occurring in nature likely explain the scattered distribution of thaxtomin production and pathogenicity among various Streptomyces species. Loria’s investigation of virulence mechanisms has extensively exploited DNA sequencing of horizontally acquired regions and, more recently, the complete genome of S. scabies, and this has revealed additional virulencerelated factors that are broadly distributed among Gram-positive bacterial pathogens. Loria was chair of the Department of Plant Pathology at Ithaca from 1999 to 2005 and director of the Northeast Plant Diagnostic Network from 2002 to 2005.

APS Awards William Boright Hewitt and Maybelle Ellen Ball Hewitt Award This award recognizes a scientist within five years of their Ph.D. degree who has made an outstanding, innovative contribution directed toward the control of plant disease.

Nian Wang was born in Qufu, in Shandong Province, China. He received a B.S. degree in plant protection from Shandong Agricultural University in 1995 and his M.S. degree in plant pathology from China Agricultural University in 2001. He received his Ph.D. degree in plant pathology in 2005 from Texas A&M University. In 2005, he joined the lab of Steven Lindow at the University of California-Berkeley as a postdoctoral scholar where he performed global transcriptional analysis of Xylella fastidiosa. In 2007, he was appointed assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Cell Science of the University of Florida, at the Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred. In the short three years that he has been in his current position, he has already established himself as one of the leaders in the study of Huanglongbing disease of citrus (citrus greening) and citrus canker disease. Wang’s work has provided great insight into the process by which Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, the causal agent of citrus greening, colonizes Citrus species. Using very powerful new tools to describe both the culturable and unculturable bacterial community within the phloem of citrus trees, Wang has now shown that Ca. L. asiaticus is sufficient to account for citrus greening disease even though there is a surprisingly diverse bacterial community associated with both healthy and diseased trees. Wang has also described the many important changes in plant gene expression that are associated with infection with Ca. L. asiaticus.

Lee M. Hutchins Award This is an award to the author or authors of published research on basic or applied aspects of diseases of perennial fruit plants (tree fruits, tree nuts, small fruits, and grapes, including tropical fruits, but excluding vegetables).

Robert R. Martin was born on a dairy farm in central Wisconsin and received his B.S. degree in forestry (1975) and a Ph.D. degree in plant pathology (1979) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He then moved to Corvallis, OR, as a post-doctoral fellow at the USDA-ARS where he studied virus diseases of strawberry under Richard Converse. In 1982, Martin accepted a research scientist position with Agriculture Canada in Vancouver, BC. There, Martin established his own program in small fruit virology working on the identification and characterization of small fruit viruses. He was the first to obtain the sequence of Strawberry mild yellow edge virus and became a leader in the development of virus-resistant small fruit crops using genetic engineering. After 13 years with Agriculture Canada, he moved back to Corvallis and joined USDA-ARS as a research plant pathologist at the Horticultural Crops Research Unit. Martin is currently the research leader of the unit and holds a courtesy appointment as professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology and the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program at Oregon State University.

Martin is recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on small fruit viruses. His groups in Vancouver and Corvallis have identified and characterized more than 40 virus species and have developed strawberry and Rubus with engineered resistance to viruses, bringing small fruit virology into the molecular era.

APS Awards Noel T. Keen Award for Research Excellence in Molecular Plant Pathology This award recognizes APS members who have made outstanding contributions and demonstrated sustained excellence and leadership in research that significantly advances the understanding of molecular aspects of host–pathogen interactions, plant pathogens or plantassociated microbes, or molecular biology of disease development or defense mechanisms.

Gregory B. Martin was born in Lansing, MI. He received his B.S. (1979), M.S. (1984), and Ph.D. (1989) degrees from Michigan State University. From 1989 to 1992, he was a National Science Foundation post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Plant Breeding at Cornell University and from 1992 to 1998 he was an assistant professor and associate professor in the Department of Agronomy at Purdue University. In 1998, he moved to the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research where he now holds a joint appointment as the Boyce Schulze Downey chair and professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology at Cornell University.

Martin’s research focuses on the mechanisms that bacteria use to infect plants and, in turn, the mechanisms that plants have evolved to interfere with bacterial pathogens. The interaction of tomato with Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato has been the model system for this work. Martin and his post-doctoral mentor, Steven Tanksley, reported in 1993 cloning the first gene-for-gene resistance gene, Pto. Martin has shown that the Pto protein kinase physically interacts with two P. syringae pv. tomato type III effectors, AvrPto and AvrPtoB, and that such interaction is necessary for defense elicitation. Furthermore, analysis of AvrPtoB structure and function has yielded remarkable insights into the evolution of gene-forgene interactions occurring at the level of domains in a single pathogen protein. Martin is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Academy of Microbiology.

Syngenta Award This award is given by Syngenta to an APS member for an outstanding contribution to teaching, research, or extension in plant pathology.

Sarah J. Pethybridge obtained her bachelor of agricultural science degree with first class honors in plant pathology from the University of Tasmania, Australia, in 1995; four years later, she was awarded her Ph.D. degree from the same university. In her relatively young career, Pethybridge has distinguished herself as a productive and innovative epidemiologist. Her work balances fundamental research with applied outcomes. She has authored 42 peer-reviewed journal articles, 18 book chapters or review articles, 26 extension publications, and numerous other publications. Her recent contributions to the Australian pyrethrum industry are immense. As a result of her work, this industry was able to respond appropriately to ray blight disease, a devastating new disease that threatened the economic viability of pyrethrum production in Australia. Pethybridge’s research findings have resulted in average yield increases of 80% and net returns of up to $3,000/ha, and have been adopted by greater than 90% of the industry. Thanks to her efforts, the Australian pyrethrum industry is now positioned as the world’s largest and most stable supplier of pyrethrins. Pethybridge has provided outstanding service to the discipline with leadership roles within APS, the Australasian Plant Pathology Society, and the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology. She has chaired several APS committees and served as associate or senior editor for the Plant Health Instructor and Plant Disease, as well as senior editor for the journal Plant Pathology. She also was a coeditor for the Compendium of Hop Diseases and Pests, published in 2009 by APS PRESS.

APS 2009–2010 Division Awardees The following individuals were recognized throughout the past year at APS Division meetings for their contributions to the science of plant pathology, as well as to APS and in particular to their division.

Caribbean Division May 2009 Service Award—Lifetime of Outstanding Support Provided to the APS-CD James Steadman, University of Nebraska Graduate Student Paper Competition First Place Peta-Gaye S. Chang, VPI & SU Second Place Lina Ma Rodriguez-Salamanca, Michigan State University Third Place Jesse Palenchar, University of Florida

North Central Division June 2009 Distinguished Service Award Forrest W. Nutter, Jr., Iowa State University Travel Awards Kholoud Alananbeh, North Dakota State University Jae Behn, University of Nebraska Kim Chapman, Purdue University Margaret Ellis, Ohio State University John Hernandez Nopsa, University of Nebraska Peter Howe, Iowa State University Melanie Ivey, Ohio State University Jing Jin, Iowa State University Kevin Korus, University of Nebraska Chakradhar Mattupalli, University of Wisconsin Achala Nepal, North Dakota State University S. Thru Ppoyil, University of Illinois Krishna Purl, North Dakota State University Kacie Scholl, Purdue University Silvina Stewart, Iowa State University J. D. Weems, University of Illinois J. M. Yu, University of Illinois Student Oral Competition Awards First Place Achala Nepal, North Dakota State University Second Place Zhifen Zhang, Ohio State University Third Place Valdir Correa, Ohio State University Margaret Lee Ellis, Ohio State University

Student Poster Awards First Place Jackson Moeller, Iowa State University Second Place Aakansha Gambhir, North Dakota State University Third Place Chakradhar Mattupalli, University of Wisconsin Silvina Stewart, Iowa State University

Northeastern Division October 2009 Awards of Merit George Abawi, Cornell University Richard Bélanger, Université Laval Early Career Achievement Award Stacy Bonos, Rutgers University Graduate Student Presentation Award Joseph Roberts, Rutgers University

Pacific Division June 2009 Early Career Award Lyndon Porter, USDA ARS Vegetable and Forage Crops Research Unit Student Travel Awards Ernesto Moya, Montana State University Suman Mukherjee, New Mexico State University Grant Poole, Washington State University Hongyan Sheg, Washington State University Fushi Wen, University of Arizona Mohammad Yaghmour, University of California, Davis Student Paper Competition Awards First Place Nicholar Garber, University of Arizona Second Place Jeremiah Dung, Washington State University Third Place Laura Costadone, Washington State University Evans Njambere, Washington State University

Potomac Division March 2010 Distinguished Service Award Ethel Dutky, University of Maryland Student Travel Awards Jennifer Himmelstein, University of Maryland Sridhara Kunjeti, University of Delaware Graduate Student Research Awards First Place Matthew Kasson, Penn State University Second Place Leigh Ann Harrison, Virginia Tech Honorable Mention Matthew Cutulle, Virginia Tech Sridhara Kunjeti, University of Delaware

Southern Division February 2010 Outstanding Plant Pathologist Award for 2010 Christopher Clark, Louisiana State University Graduate Student Paper Competition First Place Moytri Roy Chowdhury, University of Arkansas Second Place Terry Spurlock, University of Arkansas Third Place Ashley Zearfoss, North Carolina State University Travel Awards Julie Campbell, Texas A&M University Bhabesh Dutta, University of Georgia Kirthi Yadagiri, Clemson University