The APS Foundation—Celebrating 25 Years of Growth and OpportunityRay D. Martyn, APS Foundation Chair, rmartyn@purdue.edu

The year 2012 marks a banner year for the APS Foundation, as we celebrate its 25th anniversary. Many milestones have been reached in the last 25 years, and there are many more to come, but first, a bit about how the foundation came to be. My thanks to Jim Cook for his recount of the foundation’s history in the 100-Year History of APS prepared for the centennial meeting, some of which is included here.

APS Council approved the appointment of the Endowment Fund Special Committee in 1985 with Roy Young as chair. The committee’s charge was to “build an Endowment Fund, oversee the investment of this fund, and to recommend appropriate uses of the income from the fund for the benefit of our members and profession.” Twenty-five years later the mission hasn’t changed, but its endowment has grown and its goals have

been greatly expanded. In 1986, council and the membership approved the recommendation that an APS Foundation be established as an independent entity that would receive and manage funds for endowment purposes. This was followed by a membership vote on a constitutional amendment authorizing the APS Foundation as an official 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The members of the special Endowment Committee, David French, Ralph Green, Frank Howard, James Tammen, Bill Tweedy, George Zentmeyer, and Roy Young, became the founding Board of Directors of the new APS Foundation, and Tammen was named the first foundation chair.

Early SuccessWithin the first year, 165 members donated $23,362 and council contributed another $8,500 to bring the total to almost $32,000 by the end of 1987. Twenty-five years later, many individuals have donated and the foundation’s endowment now stands at approximately $1.5 million. The first awards program initiated by the board was the Genesis. This program supported students to encourage creative thought and early development of innovations and to enhance the society’s international activities, as well as programs and special interests of the donors. The first APS Foundation Genesis Awards were presented to Forrest Nutter and Gail Schumann in 1987 to enhance the teaching of plant pathology to undergraduates and to three university libraries to enhance their holdings in plant pathology, one each in Uganda, China, and Bolivia.

Only a couple of years after its beginning, the APS Foundation embarked on perhaps its boldest campaign. In 1989, the foundation recommended to council that they jointly launch an Endowment and Building Fund Campaign, with the goal of raising $500,000 for the foundation’s endowment and another $400,000 for a major addition to the APS Headquarters building. Several significant corporate gifts were received, as well as the foundation’s largest-ever single gift of $100,000 from John and Ann Niederhauser that funded the John and Ann Niederhauser Endowment (JANE). Many other contributions were received over the following years, establishing the I. E. Melhus Fund, the Frank L. Howard Undergraduate Fellowship Fund, the Lucy Hastings de Gutierrez Fund, the French-Monar Latin American Fund, the Mathre Education Endowment, the Pioneer

In this IssueEditor’s Corner ........................................... 2APS Foundation ......................................... 8Public Policy Update .................................. 9APS Annual Report .................................. 10

Division News .......................................... 13Outreach .................................................. 14OIP News & Views .................................. 15People ...................................................... 16

Classifieds ................................................. 18APS Journal Articles ................................. 19 Calendar of Events ................................... 20

January 2012 • Volume 46 • Number 1

www.apsnet.org

Ray D. Martyn

Zebra Chip Management Webcasts Launched in Focus on Potato Resource Due to the recent zebra chip confirmations in the Pacific Northwest, the Plant Management Network’s (PMN’s) Focus on Potato resource is offering two webcasts on this economically important disease. The first webcast, entitled “Biology and Management of the Potato Psyllid and Zebra Chip Disease” by Joseph Munyaneza, research entomologist at the USDA-ARS Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory in Wapato, WA, will help viewers understand how the potato psyllid spreads zebra chip disease; the foliar and tuber symptoms of zebra chip; what the potato psyllid looks like at the adult, nymph, and egg stages of development; potato psyllid monitoring, sampling, and control; and the biology of the potato psyllid. This presentation can be viewed at www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/edcenter/seminars/potato/PotatoPsyllid.

The second webcast, entitled “Zebra Chip Disease of Potatoes,” by Gary Secor, North Dakota State University, will help viewers identify and understand the basic aspects of zebra chip. The presentation contains numerous color photos of disease symptoms; explains the field aspects, including host range, pathogen, and vector; and management practices that will help users manage this disease. This webcast can be viewed at www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/edcenter/seminars/potato/ZebraChip.

Other presentations are available on the Focus on Potato website at www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/fop. n

The APS Foundation continued on page 6

News

Newswww.apsnet.org

Editor-in-Chief: Doug JardineManaging Editor: Michelle BjerknessEditor: Amanda AranowskiDesign: Agnes WalkerAdvertising Sales: Cindy Anderson

Phytopathology News (ISSN 0278-0267) is published eleven times per year by The American Phytopathological Society (APS) at 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121 U.S.A. Phone: +1.651.454.7250, Fax: +1.651.454.0766, E-mail: aps@scisoc.org, Web: www.apsnet.org. Phytopathology News is distributed to all APS members. Subscription price to nonmembers is $69 U.S./$81 Elsewhere. Periodicals paid at St. Paul, MN. CPC Intl Pub Mail #0969249. Postmaster: Send address changes to Phytopathology News, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121 U.S.A.

Submission GuidelinesAddress all editorial correspondence to: Doug Jardine, Department of Plant Pathology, 4024 Throckmorton Hall, Kansas State Univer-sity, Manhattan, KS, 66506-5502 U.S.A. Phone: +1.785.532.1386; Fax: +1.785.532.5692; E-mail: PhytoNewsEditor@scisoc.org. In order to ensure timely publication of your news items and an-nouncements, please send in material six weeks prior to the date of publication. Material should be no more than six months old when submitted. Submission of materials as electronic files, via e-mail, will speed processing. For information on submitting electronic images contact Agnes Walker at awalker@scisoc.org. Deadline for submitting items for the February 2012 issue is December 15, 2012.

APS LeadershipCouncil

President: Carol A. IshimaruPresident-Elect: Michael J. BoehmVice President: George S. AbawiImmediate Past President: John L. SherwoodInternal Communications Officer: David M. GadouryTreasurer: Randall C. RoweTreasurer-Elect: Steven A. SlackSenior Councilor-at-Large: Anne E. DorranceIntermediate Councilor-at-Large: Walter F. MahaffeeJunior Councilor-at-Large: Jeff B. JonesDivisional Councilor: David G. Schmale IIIPublications Councilor: Anthony P. KeinathExecutive Vice President: Steven C. Nelson

Editors-in-Chief APS PRESS: Margery L. Daughtrey MPMI: Gary Stacey Phytopathology: George W. Sundin Phytopathology News: Doug J. Jardine Plant Disease: R. Mike Davis Plant Disease Management Reports: Frank P. Wong Plant Health Progress: Ned A. Tisserat The Plant Health Instructor: Katherine L. Stevenson

Board and Office Chairs and Directors APS Foundation Chair: Ray D. Martyn Divisional Forum Chair: Jim E. Adaskaveg PPB Chair: Jan E. Leach Publications Board Chair: Anthony P. Keinath OE Director: Scott E. Gold OEC Director: Seogchan Kang OIP Director: Sally A. Miller OIR Director: Brian D. Olson OPRO Director: Monica L. Elliott AMB Director: Scott T. Adkins AXMB Director: Rick Bennett

Division OfficersCaribbean Divisional Forum Rep.: Lawrence Datnoff President: Ronald D. French-Monar Vice President: Judith K. Brown Secretary-Treasurer: Aaron PalmateerNorth Central Divisional Forum Rep.: Tamra Jackson President: Anne Dorrance Vice President: James Stack Secretary-Treasurer: Carl BradleyNortheastern Divisional Forum Rep.: Wade H. Elmer President: Beth K. Gugino Vice President: Christian A. Wyenandt Secretary-Treasurer: David C. ThompsonPacific Divisional Forum Rep.: Jim E. Adaskaveg President: Debra A. Inglis President-Elect: Themis Michailides Secretary-Treasurer: Akif EskalenPotomac Divisional Forum Rep.: Daniel Roberts President: Boris A. Vinatzer Vice President: Yilmaz Balci Secretary-Treasurer: Bingyu ZhaoSouthern Divisional Forum Rep.: Timothy B. Brenneman President: David Langston President-Elect: Raymond W. Schneider Vice President: Jason Woodward Secretary-Treasurer: Donald M. Ferrin

2 Phytopathology News

Editor’s CornerThe Times They Are a-Changin’. Or Are They?Doug Jardine, Kansas State University, PhytoNewsEditor@scisoc.org

One of the benefits of being editor-in-chief is that I have a complete hard-copy set of Phytopathology News all the way back to Issue 1, Volume 1. In preparing to write this month’s column, I went back and arbitrarily chose January issues from a number of different years to get a feel for what was going on in the society and the world compared to today. What I found was that the adage “the more things change, the more they stay the same” might be truer than you think. As examples:

From a January 1968 article entitled, “Recruitment of future plant pathologists”: “In late September seven staff members for the Department of Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University…met with faculty members from the Departments of Biology at A &T University, Greensboro College, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

The purpose of the meeting was to establish a closer liaison between the several faculties and to point out the professional opportunities available in plant pathology to biology students.” It seems very similar to a current Office of Public Relations and Outreach (OPRO) initiative to me.

Here I’ve included an excerpt published in January 1974, from an article entitled “Agriculture science and the public” written by Norman Borlaug. (Reprinted from Horticulture Science 8(5):352.1973.) Borlaug writes, “I believe that the plight of the farmer stems from the narrow points of view of the consumer and government policy makers alike…Unless there is an awakening soon by both the urban consumer and the government policy maker, the exodus from farms will continue. Family farms will be replaced by corporate farms.” Sound familiar?

And from January 1980, a summary of a report presented to Secretary of Agriculture Bob Bergland naming nine priority areas for increased research and extension funding. Priorities included• implementing technology to increase domestic food production and meet what the report terms

world “food security” problems;• examining the social and economic implications of rural/urban changes in the structure of the

food and agricultural system;• meeting critical water management needs for agricultural production; and• examining human nutrition requirements and providing nutrition education program for

consumers.

One wonders if we had committed whole-heartedly to the last item 30 years ago, would we have as serious an obesity problem as we do today?

Bob Dylan wrote in 1963:“Come senators, congressmen please heed the call, Don’t stand in the doorway don’t block up the hall, For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled, There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’, It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls, For the times they are a-changin’.”

Or are they? n

Doug Jardine

January 2012 • Volume 46 • Number 1

Submission Guidelines for Phytopathology NewsMany members regularly submit items for the newsletter; others may do so more sporadically. Whether you know the editor-in-chief ’s e-mail by heart or you have never submitted a single article before, we encourage your submissions to Phytopathology News. If you have any questions regarding article submissions, contact Editor-in-Chief Doug Jardine at jardine@ksu.edu or at PhytoNewsEditor@scisoc.org. Materials should be submitted via the online submission form found at www.apsnet.org/members/phyto/submissionform.aspx. n

Phytopathology News 3

Upcoming Workshop Focuses on Human Pathogens on PlantsThe Human Pathogens on Plants Workshop will be taking place February 13–15, 2012, in Hyattsville, MD. Organizer Jacque Fletcher took a minute to sit down and answer a few questions about this highly anticipated event.

Q. Could you please give the readers an up-to-date overview of the human pathogens on plants scene? A. We have made really significant strides in the past five years to understand the relationships between human pathogens and plants, and exciting work is happening right now—as we speak! On the other side, though, the past couple of years have brought us more and more outbreaks of foodborne illness, and some—such as the E. coli incident in Germany and the Listeria outbreak in cantaloupe in Colorado—have been unusual or surprising in various ways. As our food production and distribution systems expand and change, we will need to remain vigilant and prepared to react to such new or unexpected situations.

Q. What are some of the biggest benefits that this workshop will offer?

A. Active, energetic researchers will be able to showcase their work on human pathogens on plants and develop new networks and collaborations. Granting agency personnel will learn about the most interesting new research activities in the field and contribute to discussions of research needs and priority setting. Established researchers will get to know the younger community of researchers and benefit from their fresh perspectives and ideas. The meeting of a broad range of people in a multidisciplinary setting and research plant pathologists interacting with research food microbiologists will offer the opportunity to help shape the food safety research landscape for the coming years.

Q. How did you get the idea for this workshop?

A. Foodborne illnesses caused by microbial contamination by agents such as E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella are on the increase; outbreaks of human pathogens on spinach, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers, sprouts, cantaloupes, and peanut butter have all made headlines in just the past year. This workshop is just the most recent in a series of events initiated/hosted by the APS Public Policy Board to bring the communities of plant pathology and food safety together for collaboration and synergism in research, teaching, and outreach related to human pathogens on plants. Plant pathologists bring field experience, knowledge of a diverse range of crops, understanding of plant-microbial interactions, technologies (such as pathogen detection, strain discrimination, management of microbes, host plant resistance, prevention of contamination), and expert trainers (extension personnel, crop consultants, etc.) to bear on the growing problems of foodborne illnesses.

Q. Do you have any specific goals or outcomes you are hoping to achieve?

A. First, to highlight and exchange the most creative and successful research concepts, practices, and resources on human pathogens on plants from both the plant pathology and food safety communities. Second, to create a lasting crossdisciplinary community in which members’ expertise can be leveraged and combined for stronger and more creative solutions to preventing and mitigating contamination of plant-based foods with human pathogens, all the way from the field to the family table. And, third, to identify and prioritize the current top issues and needs for research on foodborne pathogens on plants.

Q. What are you most excited for personally? Why?

A. I love to help bring “disparate” communities together to solve problems more creatively and completely than would be otherwise possible. Synergism happens!

Registration is now open for the Human Pathogens on Plants Workshop. Save $55 when you register by January 17, 2012! Visit www.apsnet.org/meetings/hppw for more details. n

Jacque Fletcher

@PlantDisease

Why You Should Follow Us

If you haven’t joined the nearly 1,300 people who do, what are you waiting for? Each day, we scour the Internet for the latest news relating to plant pathology. We also let you know when the new journal issues are online, and when you should check APSnet for a new Public Policy Board blog post or a new Feature. Here’s just a few of the headlines you missed:

BBC: The weird world of fungi

UN warns cassava virus, first identified by Bristol researchers, nearing an epidemic in Africa

US (NY): Nematode threatens garlic industry

Florida lab study shows Salmonella can enter tomatoes through leaves

U.S. Science Budget: @NSF goes back to basics to preserve basic research

InTheNews - NCSU researchers seek new treatments for strawberry diseases RT @PhytophthoraLab Nice site developed at Oregon State U:@ConchitaCano: Forest Phytophthoras of the World site RT @plantbiology @BBC ‘Powdercap strangler: Rare fungi found in UK garden’ InTheNews - Spain: Fungus destroys broccoli production

It’s easy to sign up and free to join! www.twitter.com/plantdisease.

Watch for this new column, Re-Tweets, in Phytopathology News, now highlighting recent updates from our Twitter feed.

4 Phytopathology News

In January 2012, the new Editorial Board for Phytopathology will begin its three-year term. George W. Sundin replaces Nik Grünwald as editor-in-chief and “looks forward to the challenge and to continuing the excellent work of Grünwald and the previous Editorial Board.” Sundin encourages authors to submit basic or applied manuscripts that improve our understanding of the nature of plant diseases, the agents that cause them, their spread, the losses they cause, and the measures that can be used to control them. Sundin has chosen an experienced and impressive group of senior editors, and they have been approved by the APS Publications Board on the basis of Sundin’s recommendations. To acquaint APS members with new board members, brief biographies are presented.

George W. Sundin, editor-in-chief, is a professor and extension specialist in the Department of Plant Pathology, Michigan State University. He has a B.S. degree from Penn State University, an M.S. degree from Michigan

State University, and a Ph.D. degree from Oklahoma State University. His main research interest is bacteriology with a focus on the Erwinia amylovora–fire blight pathosystem with work ranging from functional genomics and molecular host-pathogen interactions to chemical and biological control. In addition, Sundin works on fungicide resistance in various tree fruit pathogens, etiology of canker diseases of apple, antibiotic resistance, and the microbial ecology of enterobacteria associated with plants and insects. He also has classroom responsibilities for phytobacteriology. He served as a senior editor for Phytopathology from 2009 to 2011 and has also served as an associate editor. Sundin is a past councilor of the APS North Central Division and past chair of the Divisional Forum.

Peter Balint-Kurti, senior editor, is a maize geneticist/pathologist with the USDA-ARS Plant Science Research Unit based at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Much of his recent work has focused on understanding the genetic architecture associated both with the maize defense response

APS Welcomes Its Newest Editorial Board Membersand with resistance to multiple foliar pathogens of maize. He has served as an associate editor for Phytopathology (2008–2010), as a member of the MaizeGDB Editorial Board, and as the chair of the inaugural Maize Disease Genetics Workshop, held in Raleigh in February 2011. He is currently a member of the Maize Genetics Conference Steering Committee and is an adjunct associate professor in the Departments of Plant Pathology and Crop Science at North Carolina State University, where he team-teaches the graduate course Plant Disease Resistance: Mechanisms and Applications.

Thomas Baum, senior editor, is a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at Iowa State University, where he has been serving as department chair since 2005. In addition to teaching roles, Baum’s

responsibilities lie in the area of nematological research. His area of emphasis is the dissection of molecular mechanisms at the interface between plant and sedentary nematodes. Baum completed an agricultural sciences degree at universities in Bonn and Munich in Germany, obtained a Ph.D. degree at Clemson University in South Carolina, and conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Georgia before joining the faculty at Iowa State University in 1995.

Janna Beckerman, senior editor, is an associate professor of plant pathology at Purdue University. She received her undergraduate and M.S. degrees from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse and her Ph.D. degree from Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on developing environmentally sound disease management strategies that are economically feasible for fruit and ornamental production in the Midwest, and her research effort is directly tied to her extension work. Previously, she served as an assigning editor for Plant Disease Management Reports, Stone Fruits and Nuts. She is also the section chair for diseases of plants for the annual meeting board.

Maria Brandl, senior editor, completed an undergraduate degree in plant science at McGill University and earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in plant pathology with Steven Lindow at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a research microbiologist

and the lead scientist of the Plant-Microbe Interaction CRIS project in the Produce Safety and Microbiology Research Unit at the USDA-ARS in Albany, CA. Her laboratory studies the ecology of human enteric pathogens on plants. The main focus of her work is the identification of plant and bacterial factors that enable the colonization of plant surfaces by Salmonella enterica and pathogenic E. coli to inform science-based strategies for the reduction of bacterial contamination of fruit and vegetables. Other projects involve the study of microbe-microbe interactions and their role in the outcome of contamination events in the phyllosphere. She is the author of several book chapters and reviews regarding the biology of bacterial contaminants in the plant environment.

Odile Carisse, senior editor, obtained a baccalaureate degree in agronomy in 1987, a master’s degree in plant pathology in 1989, and a doctorate in epidemiology in 1992 from McGill University. She has worked as a plant pathologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada since 1992. She is also editor for the sections Epidemiology and French Scientific Papers for the Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology. She is chair of the international committee in plant disease epidemiology and an active member of the Canadian, American, and international societies of phytopathology. Her current research focus is the epidemiology and aerobiology of fruit and vegetable diseases. The overall aim of her research program is to identify gaps in knowledge on plant-pathogen biology and epidemiology that restrain our capacity to improve disease management, more specifically, to develop DNA-based tools to anticipate, prevent, and respond to the introduction and development of the major fruit and vegetable diseases. Currently, she is involved in the development and implementation of scouting networks for fruit and vegetable disease management using weather-based risk indicators

George W. Sundin

Peter Balint-Kurti

Thomas Baum

Janna Beckerman

Maria Brandl

Odile Carisse

Phytopathology News 5

and molecular detection of airborne inoculum and fungicide resistance genes.

Wade H. Elmer, senior editor, is a full scientist in the Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology at The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from Michigan State University in 1985. His assignment is to research the ecology and management of soilborne diseases of plants important to the citizens of Connecticut. His research program focuses primarily on diseases caused by Fusarium spp. He has served previously as an associate editor for Plant Disease and Crop Protection and as a section editor for Biological and Cultural Control Tests and Fungicide and Nematicide Tests.

Kathryne Everts, senior editor, is a professor and extension plant pathologist in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at the University of Maryland-College Park and shares a joint appointment

with the University of Delaware. She received her B.S. degree in 1981 and M.S. degree in 1984 from Colorado State University and her Ph.D. degree in 1989 from Michigan State University. Her vegetable pathology research and extension program is located at the University of Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore Research and Education Center in Salisbury. Everts’s lab works on understanding how cucurbit crop diseases develop in sustainable vegetable production systems. Their recent research has focused on 1) the role of green manure and no-till cover crops such as Vicia villosa (hairy vetch) in pathogen dissemination and disease management, 2) integrated disease management of watermelon Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum), and 3) the impact of deployment of new cultivars and fungicides on disease epidemiology and cucurbit crop losses. Her extension program focuses on applied research to develop integrated vegetable disease management practices incorporating cultural, chemical, biological, and host resistance methods. Everts was an editor for the Vegetable Section of the Fungicide and Nematicide Tests/Plant Disease Management Reports (2003–2007).

Marc F. Fuchs, senior editor, received his Ph.D. degree in molecular biology in 1989 at the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. He studied grapevine viruses at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research for 13 years. Fuchs became an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology at Cornell University in 2004 with research and extension responsibilities in vegetable and fruit crops. His current research emphasis is on the nature of virus populations and the development of management strategies through improved diagnostic methods and genetic engineering. In 2010, Fuchs was promoted to associate professor and extension plant pathologist at Cornell. He is currently serving as a senior editor for Journal of Plant Pathology and an associate editor for Transgenic Research.

Kelly Ivors, senior editor, is an associate professor and extension specialist in the Department of Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University and is located at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center

in Mills River. Her research and extension program focus on diagnostics, population biology, and management of pathogens attacking vegetables, Christmas trees, and ornamental crops, with specific emphasis on Phytophthora spp. and the downy mildews.

Margaret (Peg) Redinbaugh, senior editor, is the research leader for the USDA-ARS Corn and Soybean Research Unit at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster. She is an adjunct professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, Ohio State University. Her group researches different aspects of virus and insect-transmitted diseases in corn and soybean. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in biochemistry from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and did post-doc work at Michigan State University and North Carolina State

University. She joined ARS in 1989, working at the Crops Research Lab, Oxford, NC, and the Forage and Range Research Lab, Logan, UT. Charlie Rush, senior editor, received a Ph.D. degree in plant pathology from Texas A&M University in 1981. He conducted post-doctoral research on Phymatotrichum root rot of cotton with Texas AgriLife Research, Temple, and on fungal root diseases of wheat and pea at the Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser, WA. In 1986, he accepted the position of associate professor with Texas AgriLife Research, Amarillo. Rush is a regents fellow and professor, and his research focuses on epidemiological aspects of wheat streak mosaic, zebra chip of potato, and rhizomania of sugar beet.

Krishna V. Subbarao, senior editor, is a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, University of California-Davis. He works off campus at the U.S. Agricultural Research Station in Salinas. His research is focused on ecology, epidemiology, and

impact of altered production practices on diseases caused by Sclerotinia and Verticillium spp. and on elucidating mechanisms of disease suppression attained via cultural manipulations. In recent years, he has focused on the broader impact of pathogen migration on seed and population biology of Verticillium spp. He previously served as an associate editor and as a senior editor of Phytopathology.

Les J. Szabo, senior editor, is a research geneticist in the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory in St. Paul, MN. His research focuses on the biology, genetics, and genomics of cereal rust fungi. His research interests includes genetics and genomics of Puccinia graminis; population genetics and evolution of cereal rust fungi; effector gene function in the P. graminis-wheat/barley pathosystem; and

Wade H. Elmer

Kathryne Everts

Marc F. Fuchs

Kelly Ivors

Margaret (Peg) Redinbaugh

Charlie Rush

Krishna V. Subbarao

Les J. Szabo

Editorial Board Members continued on page 6

6 Phytopathology News

Fellowship, the International Travel Fund, the Noel T. Keen Fund, the Schroth Faces of the Future Fund, and the Raymond J. Tarleton Student Fellowship Endowment. In 2011, the J. Artie and Arra Browning Plant Medicine and Health Travel Fund was established, the first to fund travel specifically for a D.P.M. graduate student.

The Named Student Travel FundsIn 1995, the foundation initiated what has become perhaps its most successful and visible program, the named student travel awards. Initially established to honor deceased members, this initiative quickly grew to recognize living individuals as well. Within a few years, 20 named student travel funds had been set up and the number grew rapidly, now standing at 50. These funds assist talented graduate students in attending and participating in the APS Annual Meetings. Selection for these travel awards is highly competitive and the review and selection process is handled by the APS Graduate Student Committee. Since their inception, there have been 416 named student travel awards presented, totaling almost $188,000 (Fig. 1). Another 32 awards are planned for the 2012 Annual Meeting in Providence, RI.

Help Build the “Wall of Honor”Named student travel funds are a good way to honor an individual and their career; however, not everyone may want to start a new named travel fund. It takes a minimum of $2,500 to initiate a new fund and the corpus must reach at least $10,000 before an award can be made. Some may want to acknowledge or honor individuals who don’t have a travel fund in their name or for whom a named travel fund isn’t established. Examples might be memorial contributions to honor a colleague or a mentor who has passed away or a major professor recognizing their recent graduate. One might also wish to recognize significant achievements or events by an individual (e.g., special award, major accomplishment, promotion, etc.). To accommodate this, the foundation is starting a “Wall of Honor” campaign. A virtual wall whereby individuals can help build it by purchasing blocks of various sizes (dollar amounts). Once purchased, an inscription and the contributor’s name(s) would be placed on the block. A minimum contribution would purchase a small block, while larger

contributions would buy larger blocks. Thus, a single person or several people might purchase multiple blocks in honor or recognition of a specific individual. The foundation website would keep a record of all blocks purchased and display them as a virtual wall. Money contributed would go into the general endowment fund, which is used to supplement all funds as necessary. While this is being introduced during the 25th anniversary of the foundation, it will continue on. Look for more details soon.

development of DNA-based diagnostic tools for rapid identification of rust fungi at the species and subspecies levels. He is an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota.

Frank van den Bosch, senior editor, received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mathematical biology from Leiden University in the Netherlands. He is currently at Rothamsted Research, Hertfordshire, U.K., where his research group focuses on

the development and application of generic models to study the population dynamics and evolutionary ecology of plant pathogens. Key areas are models that combine population genetics and epidemiology to explore fungicide resistance management strategies and deployment strategies for crop resistance genes, evolutionary ecology approaches to study the effects of disease control on pathogen evolution, and detection and control of invasive plant pathogens leading to the development of multiple pest survey techniques, methods to develop surveys such that a pathogen is detected at an early stage, and techniques to map invading pathogens.

Youfu Zhao, senior editor, is an assistant professor in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in plant pathology from Zhejiang University and a Ph.D. degree in plant pathology from Oklahoma State University. He worked for the Institute of Plant and Animal Quarantine in Beijing for eight years and received post-doctoral training at the Department of Energy-Plant Research Laboratory and Department of Plant Pathology, Michigan State University. His research interests include biology of bacterial plant pathogens, bacterial genetics and genomics, signal transduction, and molecular biology of plant-microbe interactions. He has served as chair of the Bacteriology Committee and currently is an associate editor for Plant Molecular Biology Reporter. n

Frank van den Bosch

Youfu Zhao

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The APS Foundation continued from page 1Editorial Board Members continued from page 5

Other recent foundation initiatives include the Early Career Professional Development and Training Fund and the APS Public Policy Endowment. The Public Policy Endowment seeks to support a senior plant pathology fellow for several months while working within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). This was initiated by the APS Public Policy Board (PPB) in 2008, and at the 2011 APS Annual Meeting in Hawaii, the foundation partnered with PPB to launch a bold $100,000 campaign for this endowment in recognition of the PPB founding members and its 20th anniversary. To date, the campaign has received more than $48,000 in gifts and pledges. APS Council also pledged to match the first $50,000 in contributions to this fund.

From its humble beginnings in 1987, the foundation’s endowments have grown to more than $1.5 million in FY11 (Fig. 2), and $395,000 has been awarded to 581 individuals. Impressive as this may sound, only the net investment growth of the endowment can be used to support the various awards. As everyone knows, the investment climate of the last five years has not been ideal, to say the least, and this has affected the number of awards granted. However, the foundation is committed to providing as many awards as possible and continues to look for ways to accomplish its goals. At its board meeting in Hawaii, the foundation approved another $35,000 in awards for the 2012 Annual Meeting. Applications are now being accepted for several funds. Please visit www.apsnet.org/members/foundation/apply for details, or see page 8 of this issue for highlights. Over the past 25 years, the foundation’s goals have been revised and expanded, but its mission has not changed. And it relies entirely on contributions from APS members. In celebration of 25 strong years, we ask that you do your part to help support the next generation of plant pathologists and help secure the future of plant pathology and APS. Be an advocate. Grow plant pathology. Give today. n

2012 APS Annual Meeting Call For PapersBring out your highest quality research and get it ready to present at the 2012 APS Annual Meeting.

The APS Annual Meeting is known as the premier location of superior plant pathology research. Secure your place in the program! Submit your oral technical and poster abstracts February 1–March 15 to be a part of the program in Providence, RI! Bring your most exemplary work to present, as you will be sharing with the world’s top plant scientists and researchers.

Each year more than 1,500 of the world’s top plant scientists and researchers attend this meeting in order to share their own exciting and new science and to explore that of their colleagues. Take this opportunity to submit your latest and greatest plant science research and share it on this prestigious scientific stage. n 20

12

APS Annual MeetingAugust 4–8Providence, RI

New Multimedia/Multiplatform Presentations Availablefrom SON and ONTA“Introduction to Nematodes” and “History of the Society of Nematologists (SON)” are newly released (July 2011) multimedia/multiplatform (Macintosh and PS compatible) presentations that can be downloaded for free (for educational purposes) from the Internet. These presentations are available on the websites of the Society of Nematologists (www.nematologists.org) and the Organization of Nematologists of Tropical America (www.ontaweb.org). The “Introduction to Nematodes” presentation contains 123 multilayered slides in which 536 photographs, 159 illustrations, 17 tables, 16 videos, and 10 animations are embedded. The “History of the Society of Nematologists” presentation reviews the formation and evolution of SON over the last 50 years. These productions, more than two years in the making, were sponsored by the Education Committee of SON and authored by LSU AgCenter nematologists E. C. McGawley, C. Overstreet, and M. J. Pontif and USDA molecular biologist, A. M. Skantar. n

11th Annual Reporting Session for the Zebra Chip Disease of Potato Meets in San AntonioOn November 6–9, 2011, 115 participants attended the 11th Annual Zebra Chip Reporting Session in San Antonio, TX. Attendees represented 14 states and four countries, consisting of USDA researchers, university research and extension specialists, industry personnel (agribusiness and potato processing), and growers. Zebra chip (ZC) is a newly emerging disease—caused by the fastidious bacterium ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ and vectored by the potato psyllid—that poses a tremendous threat to all phases of potato production. It was first identified in northern Mexico in 1994 before spreading into south Texas by 2000. The known distribution of ZC has expanded throughout the Southwest and Great Plains of the United States, before now being newly found in the Pacific Northwest (Washington and Idaho) in 2010–2011. The disease has been additionally identified from Guatemala, Honduras, and New Zealand. Results of zebra chip research conducted over the last year were disseminated by participants via 48 presentations over two and one-half days. This multidisciplinary, multistate project was recently funded through the Federal Specialty Crops Research Initiative (SCRI) led by C. M. Rush of the Texas AgriLife Research (Texas A&M System) to explore all aspects of the disease. Subject matter for reports varied widely, including disease epidemiology, host/pathogen interactions, vector/pathogen management, pathogen detection and diagnosis, insect biology and monitoring, breeding for resistance and germplasm evaluations, molecular biology and physiology, and impacts of disease on potato production. n

Phytopathology News 7

8 Phytopathology News

Online Application for the 2012 Student Travel Awards Opens in FebruaryIf you are an APS student member giving an oral or poster presentation at the 2012 APS Annual Meeting in Providence, RI, you are eligible to apply for an APS Student Travel Award. We are interested in rewarding students who are the best and brightest in their field. Awards are available to all manners of study and scientific interest.

The online application process for the 2012 APS Student Travel Awards will open February 15, 2012, and continues through March 21, 2012. (Once activated, the online application will be available at www.scientificsocieties.org/aps/foundation/travel.) However, students who received an award in 2011 will not be eligible for an award until 2013. Award winners will receive $500 to support their travel to the 2012 APS Annual Meeting in Providence. Applications are due by noon Central time on March 21, 2012, and advisor letters are due by noon Central time on March 28, 2012. These deadlines are strictly enforced; no applications or advisor letters will be accepted after the posted deadline. Students are encouraged to apply early.

“The APS travel award has been a matter of constant encouragement and motivation for me,” says Bindu Poudel, a previous awardee from University of Arkansas. “The honor continues; it is something that did not end at the award ceremony,” added Poudel.

Eligible students are encouraged to review the application requirements for the travel award, which are available at www.apsnet.org/members/foundation/apply/Pages/StudentTravelAwards.aspx. Applicants should consider preparing their responses in a word processing application prior to completing the online form. Once the form is available online, applicants can paste the content of their submission directly into the form. Applicants are required to submit an abstract for the 2012 meeting and fill out the online abstract application. The application requires students to answer questions about their research, to make a case for a hot topic that they feel should be presented at the next APS meeting, and requires a recommendation from their graduate advisor. A complete list of requirements can be found on the application website.

“As a previous awardee, I encourage all APS graduate students to apply. This award not only boosts your résumé but also provides you with support to present your work in the national arena. The APS Annual Meeting is a special opportunity to connect with and serve the broader APS community. APS sees it as an investment in us, the future of plant pathology,” says Jonathan Jacobs, University of Wisconsin-Madison, chair of the APS Graduate Student Committee. n

APS Foundation

Last Chance for Several Funding Opportunities from the APS FoundationDeadlines are quickly approaching for several funding opportunities. These APS Foundation awards provide unique opportunities for student plant pathologists to support their research and increase their participation in APS activities.

The 2012 I. E. Melhus Graduate Student Symposium will feature four to five graduate student presentations on host plant resistance and disease management; each presenter will receive $500 in travel funds for the 2012 APS Annual Meeting. Applications are due January 9, 2012. Full details are available at www.apsnet.org/members/foundation/apply/Pages/IEMelhusGradStudentSymposium.aspx.

The Raymond J. Tarleton Student Fellowship can be used as a stipend for research expenses, books, research or scientific meeting travel, summer internships, and/or equipment. Applications are due January 13, 2012. One award of $1,500 is available; view full details at www.apsnet.org/members/foundation/apply/Pages/RaymondTarleton.aspx.

The Frank L. Howard Undergraduate Research Fellowship supports undergraduate research to be conducted over a minimum of one summer or school term, and the funds may be used for stipend (three months) and research budget expenses. One award of $1,000 is available. Applications are due January 24, 2012. n

Early Career Bacteriologists—Apply for the 2012 Schroth Faces of the Future AwardThe APS Early Career Professionals Committee, with support from the APS Foundation, is sponsoring the Schroth Faces of the Future Symposium at the 2012 APS Annual Meeting in Providence, RI. The Schroth Award, created through an endowment established by Milt and Nancy Schroth, recognizes early career scientist (within 10 years of receiving a Ph.D. degree) whose research and forward thinking have positioned them to be the “up and comers” in their fields. These fields, which are rotated on an annual basis, are nematology, mycology, bacteriology, virology, and most recently, host resistance-host/pathogen interactions and epidemiology-disease management.

Originally, the 2012 Schroth Award was scheduled to highlight early career scientists in the field of mycology. However, mycology will be delayed until the 2013 APS Annual Meeting, which will be held jointly with the Mycological Society of America. As such, this year’s symposium, entitled “Schroth Faces of the Future—Forging New Frontiers in Plant Bacteriology,” will feature presentations from four individuals shaping the future of bacteriology. Speakers will be selected from a committee composed of bacteriologists and members of the Early Career Professionals Committee. Awardees will receive $500 to subsidize travel to the meeting and an opportunity to submit a mini-review for publications as an APSnet feature article.

To apply, submit via e-mail and as a single-merged PDF document, a one-page essay describing your research and views on the future of bacteriology, curriculum vitae, and an abstract of the proposed presentation to Teresa Hughes at hughestj@purdue.edu. Applicants will also need to solicit a letter of nomination from an established scientist to be sent directly to the above address. Nomination letters must include an evaluation of the applicant’s research, including comments addressing the innovation and impact of this research in the field of bacteriology. The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. (EST), February 15, 2012. Please see www.apsnet.org/members/foundation/apply/Pages/SchrothSymposium.aspx for additional details. n

Phytopathology News 9

Public Policy UpdateAPS Members Join Cooperative Voice in DC on Research Funding for Food and Agriculture Last November, APS members Kellye Eversole (Eversole Associates and APS Public Policy Board) and Angela Records (Eversole Associates and APS Public Policy Fellow) joined representatives from other scientific societies in drafting a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. The letter, which is described below, urged the committee to increase or maintain federal funding for research for food and agriculture (read: plant pathology). More than 1,200 groups and individuals signed the letter, including several APS members. Although the committee failed to reach an agreement, the efforts of this ad hoc group were not in vain. The letter has been circulated among other members of Congress and has served as a reminder of the critical importance of agricultural research. Below are the full details on the effort which was distributed to the media immediately following the letter being sent; a link to the letter and the list of signatories is also provided.

1,200 Speak Up More than 1,200 individuals, companies, organizations, educational and research institutions, and other stakeholders joined together to stress the vital importance of robust research funding for food and agriculture. This initiative represents one of the largest and most diverse efforts to speak up in support of science for food and agriculture.

The letter asked the members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the “super committee”) to increase or at least maintain federal funding for research for food and agriculture as the committee develops overall budget proposals for the future. Recent studies have concluded that research funding for food and agriculture needs to be increased steadily and significantly if future challenges are to be met. For example, signatory Dana Peterson, CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers, said that “The super committee must maintain a long-term investment in the public agriculture research system if we are going to increase crop production to meet the demands of a growing, global population for nutritious food.”

The select committee is the bipartisan group charged with issuing a recommendation to Congress by the end of November 2011 to reduce federal budget deficits by at least $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years.

The signatories came from all 50 states and represented many sectors—from small family farms to large multinational corporations to individual academic departments and some of the nation’s largest and most prestigious educational institutions. Roger Beachy, former director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, said that the extraordinarily broad range of interested parties emphasizes “the importance of U.S. agriculture remaining sustainable and internationally competitive into the future.”

The success of the agriculture and food industry plays a significant role in the overall health of the U.S. economy and has been one of the few bright spots in recent years. In 2010, U.S. farms and ranches spent $288 billion to produce goods valued at $369 billion; the value of U.S. food and agriculture exports is expected to be more than $140 billion in 2011, creating a record trade surplus of $42.5 billion for the sector. Furthermore, the jobs of 21 million Americans depend on the vitality of the U.S. agriculture and food sector.

Investments in publicly funded research are critical for maintaining a successful agriculture and food sector. For every $1 invested in publicly funded agricultural research, $20 in economic activity is generated. Although the private sector engages in its own research and development, it depends on the results of foundational research provided by public support. According to signatory Michiel van Lookeran Campagne, head of Syngenta Biotechnology, “Federally funded research for food and agriculture has been a foundation on which technology innovators and growers in the U.S. have built the most competitive agricultural sector in the world. Syngenta invests about a $1 billion a year in R&D for agricultural innovation to help farmers improve productivity, and the sustainability of their business and the environment…We translate the knowledge from public sector research in basic science and technology into new products and techniques for growers. Federal funding for this research is essential for U.S. competitiveness.”

As the letter concludes, “continued investment in science for food and agriculture is essential for maintaining the nation’s food, economic, and national security,” a statement that is endorsed by more than 1,200 individuals and organizations from across the United States. The letter and list of signatories is available at http://bit.ly/vOnFvh. n

IMPORTANT APS DATES TO REMEMBER

January 20126 International Travel Fund

applications due9 Applications for the I. E. Melhus

Symposium due13 Raymond J. Tarleton Student

Fellowship applications due20 APS vice president and councilor-

at-large applications due for 2012 election

24 Frank L. Howard Fellowship applications due

February 201215 APS Foundation Schroth Faces of the

Future Symposium applications due25 APS Foundation Student Travel

Award application process opens

March 201215 APS Annual Meeting abstract

submissions due21 APS Foundation Student Travel

Award applications due21 APS Foundation Browning Plant

Medicine and Plant Health Travel Award applications due

Applications for Browning Plant Medicine and Plant Health Travel Award Due March 21

The Browning Plant Medicine and Plant Health Travel Award was established by Past President J. Artie Browning and his wife, Arra, to assist graduate students majoring in the Doctor of Plant Medicine or Doctor of Plant Health in attending and participating in a professional meeting or conference appropriate to their interests. This travel fund will allow students to participate in other professional society meetings, in addition to APS, such as the Entomological Society of America, the Crop Science Society of America, the Agronomy Society of America, Weed Science Society of America, and others. Additionally, there is no restriction as to where the meeting or conference is held, domestically or internationally. Applications are due March 21, 2012. Full details are available online at www.apsnet.org/members/foundation/apply/Pages/BrowningPlantMedicineHealthTravelAward.aspx. n

10 Phytopathology News

This is my first substantive writing assignment as the new internal communications officer (ICO) of APS, and I’m already late. Danise Beadle (immediate past ICO) was a superb mentor, but I’m still playing catch up. APS Council is comprised

of a remarkable group of volunteer members, who are aided by an equally remarkable group of APS Headquarters staff. It’s an honor to work with them. APS Council is now more than one year into operations under its new governance structure. There has been a considerable downsizing and reorganization of council to streamline meetings and facilitate strategic planning. To the rank and file membership of APS, the changes are largely transparent. From an insider’s view, everyone has been on a steep learning curve. In the past, as members and officers rotated on and off council in a staggered schedule, there was always a mix of novice and experienced members. With respect to the new governance structure, to some degree, we’re all novices. It keeps us on our toes.

Council meets at a fall retreat shortly after the annual meeting as part of the strategic planning process. Any late-career professional could be forgiven if their eyes glazed and rolled completely over at the mention of strategic planning. These are all too often low-utility activities, wherein reorganization becomes the solution in search of a problem. I see several key aspects of the situation at APS that set it apart. First, we have a shared goal of service to society and a common vision of our future. Second, we sought training from an entity with world-class experience in strategic planning for professional societies and foundations. Third, council is committed to ongoing strategic planning, as this job is never finished. Fourth, we devote the bulk of our time to strategic issues and try to stay out of the weeds. We invest time to find and recruit the best people, issue clear charges, give them the resources that they need, and then get out of their way. Fifth and last, decisions are largely data-driven, and we follow up with metrics to ensure we’re making progress toward a goal.

So, what have we done for you lately? In response, consider the following.

Effective communication within APS and the world beyond. Only a few APS members know from first-hand experience just how large and complex an organization APS has become. We have more than 4,800 members in 90 countries. We currently operate more than 57 boards, offices, committees, and foundations and one of the largest publishing houses of plant protection literature (APS PRESS). We publish four of the most respected journals of our profession. Maintaining these operations requires a professional staff and literally hundreds of member volunteers. Awareness of their responsibilities and activity is a minimal requirement. Coordinated management of the total operation necessitates effective communication between APS Council, APS Headquarters, and each unit, and with the general APS membership. In September 2011, council began to succinctly lay out the organization of operations and the relation of all operations to strategic goals. Every council officer now serves as a liaison to a particular APS board or office. The liaisons are the conduit for communication to and from council and boards and offices of APS. A divisional councilor (David Schmale) ensures effective communication among APS divisions and between divisions and council. Yes, I know this all sounds like administrative gobbledegook. Here’s how it affects you: We’ll all soon find it easier to figure out who to call to meet a particular member need or address a particular issue relevant to APS. For those of us on council, we can see the whole organization, operations, responsibilities, and interrelationships at a glance. OK, perhaps we’ll need a good hard 10-minute stare. My point is that we can finally see it all and that will help council operate even better than it does now.

Innovation and new opportunities. In 2011, APS began recording and distributing oral sessions from the annual meeting via APSnet. Development of mobile apps for APS members, including the first meeting app which debuted in Hawaii, is a recent new product approach. One idea includes developing mobile apps for the general public that will help identify the most common diseases of garden plants. Such projects will be coordinated with the APS Office of Public Relations and Outreach (OPRO) and APS PRESS. APS PRESS continues to expand its electronic publishing offerings. Initial efforts have been directed at developing electronic versions of several compendia, currently available books, and electronic versions of any new books that we will publish. Other ventures include electronic-only publications

that deliver features that are only possible in electronic form. For example, experimental protocols could be developed that include a user feedback/comment section to show variations on techniques. The use of webinar technology through the APS Plant Management Network, APSnet, and the APS Education Center has offered the chance to extend outreach efforts to distribute research results; a new requirement imposed by many granting agencies. If you are sending proposals to such grants programs, this is a service that you need to check out. APS continues to drive its innovation and open doors for future APS possibilities, thanks to the creative ideas of various member groups, including the Office of Electronic Communications, an office that is regularly looking for the latest online opportunities and encouraging their utilization.

Financial health of APS. At a time when many organizations are struggling to maintain membership and relevance, APS is financially sound and growing. We have done so with either no increase or minimal increases in member dues for several years. There is a concern that APS presently depends on institutional subscriptions for approximately one-third of its annual revenue. More institutions were subscribed in 2011 than ever before. As institutions trim budgets, we have largely been spared as lesser journals are cancelled and subscriptions to APS journals are retained. However, if journal business models evolve to an author pay system, APS may need to move quickly to secure new nonjournal income streams. To be sure we invest our available resources wisely, we

The APS Annual Report David M. Gadoury, APS Internal Communications Officer, dmg4@cornell.edu

APS Annual Report

David M. Gadoury

New innovations, such as this annual meeting app which debuted in Hawaii, are a top priority for APS. Watch for several new upcoming product launches, including digital compendia, in 2012.

Phytopathology News 11

screen our options against their potential to generate revenue, value to members, timeframe for development, and available resources and capabilities.

The real heavy lifting in the finances of APS is done by the members of the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) and the financial staff at APS Headquarters. FAC has worked closely with the vice president for finance to continually update the APS Financial Strategic Plan and monitor the financial position of the society throughout FY2010, which ended June 30, 2010, with an unaudited net income of $693,188. For FY2012, the proposed budget, which includes a net income of $92,500, was approved by council in April 2011 and became effective July 1, 2011. FAC, the APS president, and APS Council have developed recommendations to further improve the financial position of the society. FAC recommended to council the appointment of a new ad hoc Committee on Innovation and Entrepreneurship charged to develop ideas for new APS services to better serve members that might also serve as new revenue streams to support society activities. Council is just beginning to vet the ideas coming out of this committee, several of which will be explored in detail in the coming months. FAC and APS President John Sherwood also worked with the APS Foundation Board to support the foundation moving forward with the current objectives in their strategic business plan.

Publishing advancements. Several impressive titles were published by APS PRESS in 2011, including The Conspectus of World Ethnomycology: Fungi in Ceremonies, Crafts, Diets, Medicines, and Myths by Frank Dugan; Genome-Enabled Analysis of Plant-Pathogen Interactions, edited by Thomas Wolpert et al.; Virus and Virus-Like Diseases of Pome and Stone Fruits by Ahmed Hadidi et al.; Smut Fungi of the World by Kálmán Vánky; and Fire Blight: History, Biology, and Management by Tom van der Zwet et al. During the APS Annual Meeting, Jean Ristaino demonstrated her new, beautifully illustrated CD entitled Key for Identification of Common Phytophthora Species. APS PRESS is interested in publishing similar keys for the identification

of other organisms. Nine compendia are currently being prepared for electronic delivery. APS PRESS hopes to keep digital compendia “evergreen” by constantly adding to content. The development of apps from compendium material is another important goal for APS PRESS, aiming to expand the audience for APS products. A digital image database is being developed for a fourth quarter 2012 release with an online value-priced subscription delivery model to ensure continued income from this valuable APS PRESS resource as the CD-ROM format becomes obsolete.

The Plant Health Progress Editorial Board meeting focused on ways to increase submissions, and thus increase revenue, to the journal. The APS Publications Board and the editors-in-chief of our core journals have worked diligently to position the journals as “the” place to publish in plant pathology, and our impact factors have continued trending up and remain strong. The Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (MPMI) Editorial Board successfully developed a second-ever focus issue on plant-microbe symbioses (November 2011 issue). Another focus issue planned for 2012 will have a theme related to plant-nematode and plant-insect interactions. The hope is that this focus issue will make it clear to the research community that MPMI welcomes publications in these areas. The 2010 impact factor of MPMI was 4.01. MPMI has been the most successful of APS’s three print journals in attracting reviews. In the past 12 months, MPMI has published 10 Current Reviews and three Technical Advances. The impact factor of Phytopathology for 2010 was 2.428 (the highest ever). The Phytopathology Board is also planning a focus issue. The Plant Disease impact factor for 2010 was 2.387, also the highest ever. All three APS journal covers will have a new look starting in January 2012, and Phytopathology will include color photos for the first time.

Meetings, meetings, meetings. One issue guaranteed to generate a response from members has to do with the format and conduct of the annual meeting. It has always been so. Council deals not only with the annual meeting of APS, but a host of divisional and auxiliary meetings as well. The latter may play an increasingly important role in the finances of the society, particularly if we are successful in our bid to host the International Conference of Plant Pathology in 2018. But, second to our journals, it’s the annual meeting of APS that is the single most relevant service that we provide to members and the profession. Despite its sometimes frustrating complexity and hectic pace, it is widely perceived as a must-attend venue for keeping pace with science and outreach in plant pathology, maintaining professional and social contacts in the discipline, and networking nationally and internationally. With respect to the APS Annual Meeting, the Annual Meeting Board continues to solicit ideas and suggestions from members to improve the annual meeting

experience. Like most things in life, this game is played by those who show up. APS subject matter committees have a substantial influence on the meeting program through their ability to suggest and organize symposia, colloquia, and workshops. We also need to hear from a broad section of the general membership to ensure that the program reflects more than the ideas of influential committee chairs. Do you want more opportunities to showcase your research in an oral presentation or have more feedback on a poster than is presently provided? Do you feel that symposia dominate the annual meeting program to the exclusion of individuals? What technology or simple tricks could be used more advantageously in our 104-year-old meeting format? If you have an idea, you can make it known to any member of the Annual Meeting Board, or ask that it be added to the agenda for discussion at a monthly conference call of APS Council.

The Annual Meeting Board is reviewing the success of the recently completed 2011 Joint Meeting with IAPPS in Hawaii. New, technology-driven planning tools available in preparation for the 2012 meeting in Providence should streamline the organization of sessions and their placement in the annual meeting schedule. These same tools should also get the bugs out of the mobile schedule app first deployed at the 2011 meeting.

By the time this report appears, the APS Auxiliary Meetings Board will have overseen the APS National Field Crops Rust Symposium held December 14–16, 2011, at the Marriott River Center Hotel in San Antonio, TX. This meeting followed the highly successful APS National Soybean Rust Symposia series, addressing the biology and management of rust diseases in corn, soybean, small grain cereals, and other agronomic crops of national importance. Additionally a workshop entitled Human Pathogens on Plants—A Multidisciplinary

APS Annual Report continued on page 12

Several impressive titles were published by APS PRESS in 2011. Electronic delivery of key resources will be available in 2012 from digital compendia to a digital image database.

The 2011 APS-IPPC Joint Meeting in Honolulu, HI, drew more than 1,600 attendees from 55 countries and featured the latest in plant pathology research through 35 special sessions, hundreds of technical presentations, and 1,000 posters.

12 Phytopathology News

Strategy for Research will be held in Hyattsville, MD, February 13–15, 2012. The meeting is being sponsored by the APS Public Policy Board (PPB) and the International Association for Food Protection and costs will be offset in part by a grant from USDA-AFRI. Jacqueline Fletcher is the workshop coordinator and Rick Bennett is the Auxiliary Meetings Board liaison. The meeting is being planned for 80–100 anticipated attendees.

Professional development activities and resources. APS provides extensive opportunities for professional development. The placement service available on APSnet is the place to go to either advertise for personnel or search for a position in the discipline. Every annual meeting has featured one or more workshops dealing with various aspects of career development, mentoring, and survival strategies for early career professionals. These activities will be expanded, in part by the new APS Leadership Institute, but also through the coordinated activity of council and several APS committees, boards, and offices as part of the overall strategic plan. Do you need a reason to join and become engaged in APS? Ask someone who has a job.

The APS Foundation has completed one full year of operation under its new strategic business plan. Significant contributions were received last year from four outstanding benefactors Milt Schroth, J. Artie Browning, H. Jesse Dubin, and Jim Cook, totaling more than $75,000. The foundation awarded 53 individuals travel grants to the Hawaii meeting, totaling $36,100. In partnership with PPB, the APS Foundation launched the PPB Founder’s Campaign at a special reception, garnering $43,000 in commitments over the next three years for the Public Policy Endowment. Additional activities have been initiated for solicitation of other potential “gifts of significance.” At its Hawaii board meeting, the foundation approved $35,000 for the 2012 awards. Although the overall financial market is still weak, the

foundation has recouped some of the major losses of 2008–2010. The future of the discipline. Two ad hoc committees on the future of the discipline and the future of plant pathology education published their final reports as Feature Articles in the December 2009 issue of Plant Disease (93:1228-1237 and 93:1238-1251). Council is now acting upon the findings and recommendations of those committees. The wave of retirements has just begun to hit the discipline. Its impact might be temporarily offset by the present economic downturn, but the magnitude of the age demographic effects will far exceed the impact of any contemplated downsizing. Incoming data indicate prospective job candidates have good reason for tempered optimism. Council is repeating the census of plant pathologists in the United States so we’ll be in a better position to predict future employment trends in teaching, extension, research, industry, and government service. APS is actively engaged as a clearinghouse for Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs nationally as a vehicle by which we will attract the best students to the profession. We now have national outreach and recruitment efforts at several venues like the National Conference for Undergraduate Research (NCUR) and the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). APS is a lead agency involved with the new Coalition for a Sustainable Agricultural Workforce (CSAW), an industry-centered effort that seeks a federal/private partnership to support agricultural research. We don’t yet know which of these efforts will really pay off or to what degree. But part of the strategic planning process is to objectively measure the return on investment, so those answers are forthcoming.

Expanding outreach of plant pathology. OPRO is now in its second year of a three-year plan to provide outreach to students and teachers to complement and support the APS education initiative. OPRO board members staffed an APS booth at the annual Convention of the Future Farmers of America in October 2010, where interactions took place with both teachers and students. A survey of FFA attendees who stopped by the OPRO booth in 2010 was completed in March 2011. Respondents indicated they have used or would be interested in using the lessons and laboratory experiments available from the APSnet Education Center. Other outreach activities included attending the annual National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) conference in October 2011 in Anaheim, CA; the SACNAS conference in San Jose, CA, also in October 2011; and the NCUR conference in March 2011 at Ithaca College. OPRO will conduct a similar recruitment effort for REU programs and graduate programs in plant pathology at the next NCUR in Utah in 2012. A roster of interested applicants from the 2011 NCUR was forwarded to university plant pathology programs nationwide. n

Detailed APS Annual Report and Committee Listings Available Online; Treasurer’s Report in March Phytopathology News

A detailed version of the 103rd Annual Report is available at www.apsnet.org/about/governance/annualreports. The report of the treasurer will be published in the March issue of Phytopathology News. In addition, for the most up-to-date listing of APS leadership, including council, boards, offices, and committee listings, visit www.apsnet.org/members/apsleadership.

APS Annual Report continued from page 11

APS is expanding its outreach efforts through increased visibility at several high school undergraduate and teacher events, including a booth for the first time this past year at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research. These and several other projects are coordinat-ed by the Office of Public Relations and Outreach.

Scientific Program Just Announced!

Visit www.apsnet.org/meet for full session descriptions, presentations,

speakers, and more.

A World of Knowledge Packed into the Smallest

State in the U.S.A.

2012 APS Annual MeetingAugust 4–8

Providence, RI, U.S.A.

Special sessions will be in the following catagories:• Biology of Pathogens

• Disease Control and Pest Management

• Diseases of Plants

• Ecology and Epidemiology

• Molecular/Cellular/Plant-Microbe Interactions

• Professionalism/Outreach

More to coMe!

Bring Your Best research! call for Papers opens February 1

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The 63rd annual meeting of the APS North Central Division, hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, met at the DoubleTree Hotel in Omaha, NE, June 15–17, 2011. Meeting attendees were provided a very thorough symposium entitled “Water for Food Initiative: The Role of Plant Pathology in Managing Crop Production in Reduced Water Environments.” This was followed by a poster session, student presentations, and an evening banquet. Fifteen students within the North Central Division received travel awards to offset costs of attending the meeting this year. Students were nominated by their department to attend the meeting.

The prestigious North Central Division Distinguished Service Award was presented to Berlin Nelson, North Dakota State University, at the evening banquet. Nelson was honored with this award for his significant contribution

Division NewsAPS North Central Division Meets in NebraskaLoren J. Giesler, North Central Division Secretary-Treasurer, lgiesler@unlnotes.unl.edu

to the region in Sclerotinia and other fungal diseases that he has researched throughout his career. Six graduate students received either an award for their poster or oral presentations. Oral presentation winners were Kevin Korus (University of Nebraska-Lincoln [UNL])—first place ($300); Luisa Castiblanco (Michigan State University [MSU])—second place ($200); and Ryan Shelby (University of Illinois)—third place ($100). Winners of the poster competition were Justin McMechan (UNL)—first place ($300); Rodrigo Werle (UNL)—second place ($200), and Kim Lesniak (MSU)—third place ($100).

The 2012 meeting of the North Central Division will be hosted by The Ohio State University and held at the Shishler Conference Center on the OARDC Campus in Wooster, OH, June 13–15, 2012. n

Berlin Nelson, recipient of the Distinguished Service Award, pictured with North Central Division President Deanna Funnell-Harris.

Oral paper competition winners at the North Central Division meeting.

Poster competition winners at the North Central Division meeting.

Student travel awards were granted to Scott Koenig and Nathan Stetzel (Purdue University); Guirong Zhang and Ryan Shelby (University of Illinois); Cristian Quispe and Oscar Perez-Hernandez (University of Nebraska-Lincoln); Jaimin Patel and Gazala Ameen (North Dakota State University); Yuba Kandel and Prabin Tamang (South Dakota State University); Luisa Castiblanco and Caleb Knepper (Michigan State University); Derrick Mayfield and David Hessel (Iowa State University); and Amber Hoffstetter (The Ohio State University).

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APS Highlights Plant Pathology Curricula and Career Options at the National FFA Convention

High school teachers and students were initiated into the fascinating world of plant pathology at the 84th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, IN, from October 19 to October 21, 2011. The APS booth, sponsored by the Office of Public Relations and Outreach (OPRO), piqued the curiosity of attendees by showcasing disease samples from agronomic and horticultural crops. Gail Ruhl of Purdue University provided a variety of specimens, including Fusarium rot of pumpkin, cedar-apple rust, Dutch elm disease, and powdery mildew, among others. Attendees were also drawn to the booth by the new OPRO t-shirts with the slogan “Don’t get caught with your plants down,” worn by APS representatives Eric Honeycutt (Bartlett Tree Research Lab) and Tim Durham (Florida Gulf Coast University).

The APS representatives spoke with students and teachers about the featured samples, plant pathology careers, and educational resources available through APS. Disease compendia and

APS member Tim Durham, speaking with an ag ed teacher about educational resources on APSnet at the 84th National FFA Convention.

Emerald Ash Borer Research and Technology Development Meeting Held at OSUThe Ohio State University’s (OSU’s) Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center hosted 180 scientists from the United States and Canada for the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Research and Technology Development Meeting, October 12–13, 2011, in Wooster, OH. EAB is an invasive insect responsible for killing millions of ash trees in urban settings and forests in the midwestern United States and Canada. Research topics featured at the conference included biological control, insecticide trials, development of resistant hybrid ash trees, traps, management of infestations, ecological impacts of ash tree losses, and mapping of ash trees in public areas. Sourav Chakraborty, a post-doctoral researcher with Pierluigi (Enrico) Bonello in OSU’s Department of Plant Pathology, presented “Characterizing phloem browning in ash—A possible defense mechanism.” Chakraborty also presented a research poster; Bonello was a coauthor on six presentations and two posters with collaborators from OSU, Michigan State University, and the U.S. Forest Service. David Showalter, a plant pathology doctoral student with Bonello, also attended the conference. Dan Herms, OSU professor of entomology, was the conference organizer. Funding for the conference was provided by OSU and USDA APHIS. n

the textbook Essential Plant Pathology by Gail Shumann and Cleo D’Arcy were some of the resources on display. APS members staffing the booth distributed 350 teacher packets with a career brochure and poster. The packet also included a list of resources available at the APS Education Center website that teachers can incorporate into their curricula.

The National FFA Organization is a national youth organization of more than 500,000 student members preparing for careers in the science, business, and technology of agriculture. FFA has more than 7,000 local chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Leadership and personal development through agricultural education is part of the FFA’s mission. The 2011 convention drew approximately 55,000 attendees and featured the theme “I Believe.” n

Spreading the Word about Plant Pathology

In October 2011, members from the Office of Public Relations and Outreach (OPRO) attended the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) conference. High school, community college, and private and public institution

Outreachbiology teachers were able to stop by and learn more about plant pathology as well as view a banner describing nematodes and corn smut in a can. These items plus APS t-shirts “Don’t get caught with your plants down” and stickers with “Interested in corn SMUT” generated interest in the booth. Teacher packets were given away and included lesson plans on plant pathology and resource materials from the APSnet Education Center. Monica Elliott and Scott Gold attended the NABT conference on behalf of OPRO which took place in Anaheim, CA.

The Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) conference, held in San Jose, CA, October 27–29, 2011, was a new endeavor for OPRO this year, and provided students with a look at plant pathology as a scientific career option. Carolee Bull and other APS volunteers had the chance to inform students about the various opportunities through conversations at the APS outreach booth as well as during a special symposium session. Students in attendance were both at the high school and undergraduate levels. Many students picked up the provided department contact listing and showed interest in pursuing a degree in plant pathology.

Providing a presence at these venues is a key outreach priority for OPRO and offers the board a chance to connect directly with the audiences we are focused on educating about plant pathology—students and teachers. New to the OPRO booth this year is a plant pathology career banner. Materials, such as career brochures and career posters, and banners can be requested by APS members to be used on display for related activities throughout the year. The banners and career poster are also available for downloading from the OPRO website. Contact Monica Elliott (melliott@ufl.edu) with your interest, or visit the OPRO website for additional information and resources at www.apsnet.org/members/outreach/opro and you too can help spread the word about plant pathology. n

APS member Carolee Bull (far right) and APS volunteers who presented at the special session “Plants: and inter-kingdom and interdisciplinary crossroads” during the 2011 SACNAS Conference.

Phytopathology News 15

OIP News & ViewsApplications for International Travel Award Due This Month!The International Travel Award, supported through the Office of International Programs (OIP), in cooperation with the APS Foundation, offers support for travel costs for early- to mid-career APS members native to and working in developing countries who otherwise would not be able to participate in the 2012 APS Annual Meeting. One award of $1,500 is available. Applications are due January 6, 2012. Application instructions and award details are available on APSnet at www.apsnet.org/members/foundation/apply/Pages/InternationalTravelFund.aspx. n

Second Annual Citrus Health Research Forum Held in ColoradoEighty researchers, industry representatives, and international, federal, and state regulators from Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the United States gathered for the Second Annual Citrus Health Research Forum, held October 3–6, 2011, in Denver, CO. The forum, an industry-driven meeting aimed at ensuring a productive and thriving citrus industry in the face of the destructive huanglongbing (HLB)/Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) pathosystem, was jointly hosted by the Citrus Research Board of California and the Citrus Health Research Program Science and Technology Coordination (STC) group. The meeting focused on current citrus research efforts as well as identifying priorities for future research endeavors.

The conference was organized around three research outcomes: 1) maintaining the productivity of citrus groves affected by ACP and HLB, 2) preventing or slowing the spread of HLB and ACP, and 3) keeping groves free of HLB and ACP. Cochairs of each outcome group organized, and in some cases delivered, state-of-the-science summaries in a joint session which were followed by individual sessions with invited speakers hosted by the cochairs of each outcome group. Topic-driven discussion speakers included Kim Bowman, USDA-ARS Horticultural Research Laboratory (HRL); Tom Turpen, Citrus Research and Development Foundation; El-Desouky Ammar, USDA-ARS HRL; Kirsten Pelz-Stelinski, University of Florida; Johanna Daily, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Stephen Lapointe, USDA-ARS HRL; and Ed Stover, USDA-ARS HRL.

The forum reaffirmed the commitment of scientists, government, and industry to work together toward a resolution for the devastating ACP/HLB vectored pathosystem. n

Researchers, industry representatives, and international, federal, and state regulators from Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the United States gathered for the Second Annual Citrus Health Research Forum in Denver, CO.

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16 Phytopathology News

PeopleStudent Degrees

Christian Aguilar has successfully completed her M.S. degree in plant pathology at Washington State University. Her dissertation was on assessment of chickpea seed disinfestation procedures and detection

of Ascochyta rabiei in chickpea seed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The fungal pathogen causes Ascochyta blight, a devastating disease of chickpea. The absence of internationally accepted standards for assaying chickpea seed has made it difficult to predict Ascochyta blight epidemics based on seed infection/infestation rates. Aguilar developed a quantitative PCR assay incorporating TaqMan-MGB fluorescent chemistries for the rapid detection of A. rabiei in chickpea seed. She demonstrated the specificity of this molecular assay in PCR and qPCR using purified genomic DNA of A. rabiei, Ascochyta relatives, and other fungi isolated from chickpea seed. Her data showed that this assay was sensitive enough to detect 1 pg to 100 fg of purified A. rabiei DNA, with PCR efficiency of 93%. Her refined conventional seed plating assay and developed qPCR assay will provide additional insight into the epidemiological implications associated with seed-borne transmission of A. rabiei and will improve the management of Ascochyta blight. Her advisory committee included Tobin Peever (chair), Martin Chilvers (Michigan State University), Tim Murray, and George Vandemark. Aguilar will continue studying for her Ph.D. degree in the same department under the direction of Changlin Xiao.

Matthew Bakker graduated with a Ph.D. degree in plant pathology from the University of Minnesota in June 2011. His dissertation research, “Interactions between plants and antagonistic streptomycetes,” was conducted under the direction of Linda Kinkel. Bakker received a B.A. degree from Dordt College, Sioux Center, IA, in 2004 with a double major in biology and environmental studies. After graduation, he was employed for one year working in quality control and in research and development related to the production of commercial biocontrol

products at BioWorks. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Colorado State University, a position funded through the USDA AFRI NIFA Fellowships Grant Program. The title of his proposal for the competitive position was “Mechanisms behind the enrichment of beneficial microbial taxa and functions by plants.”

Tiffany B. Enzenbacher received her M.S. degree in plant pathology in August 2011 from Michigan State University (MSU) under the direction of Mary Hausbeck. Her thesis is entitled “An evaluation of cucurbits and

ornamentals for susceptibility to Phytophthora spp.” and focused on elucidating cucurbit host susceptibility to P. capsici and the etiology of P. capsici and P. tropicalis affecting greenhouse ornamentals. Enzenbacher received numerous accolades while pursing her degree at MSU, including a 2010 Michigan Vegetable Council Vegetable Industry Scholarship, the 2010 Eddie Echandi and H. David Thurston APS Student Travel Awards, and the 2010 first place award for the Eighth Annual Plant Science Graduate Student Research Symposium in East Lansing, MI. While at MSU, Enzenbacher also assisted in disease diagnostics of grower cooperator vegetable and ornamental crop samples, conducted several IR-4 Project trials, and co-authored an extension bulletin. Lian Lian received her M.Sc. degree from the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota (UMN) in September 2011. The title of her thesis was “Identifying novel sources of resistance to the soybean cyst nematode.” Committee members included Senyu Chen and Nevin Young as coadvisors and Dean Malvick. Lian is now working on genomic selection in corn while pursuing her Ph.D. degree under the direction of Rex Bernardo in the Department of Applied Plant Sciences at UMN.

Jon Menke received his Ph.D. degree in plant pathology from University of Minnesota in May 2011 under the direction of Corby Kistler.

His supervisory committee included Nevin Young, Gary Muelbauer, and Ben Lockhart. Menke’s thesis, entitled “A study of Fusarium graminearum virulence factors,” dealt with the transcriptome of the Fusarium head blight pathogen in

wheat and rice and the role of the genes Tri9 and Tri12 in pathogenesis. Menke has accepted a post-doctoral position in the laboratory of Brian Steffenson working on mapping genes for disease resistance in barley. As an undergraduate working on a directed research study with Lockhart, Menke and colleagues discovered a new plant pararetrovirus, the Tobacco vein-clearing virus. Between his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees, Menke worked for several public and private sector entities, including the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, MJ Bioworks, J. David Gladsone Institutes, and Bayer, Inc.

Award

Prem D. Kharbanda, an emeritus scientist at Alberta Innovates—Technology Futures (Alberta Research Council), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was recently awarded the 2011 China Tianshan Award for his significant contributions to the economic and social progress in Xinjiang, China. At the invitation of the Foreign Experts Bureau of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, he travelled to Urumqi, China, to receive the award on September 26, 2011. The elegant award ceremony was attended by more than 200 invited guests, including many working in the province and high-ranking officials. Huang Wei, the vice governor of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Han Chen, chair of the Foreign Experts Bureau, greeted the guests. Tomato processing is the leading industry in Xinjiang, producing more than 600,000 tons of paste which accounts for 80% of the total Chinese and over 13% of the global export market. Over the past six years, Kharbanda helped to set up a new crop disease diagnostic lab at the Shihezi Vegetable Research Institute, Shihezi, Xinjiang, China, (SVRIS), and provided expertise to diagnose important diseases on processing tomatoes, cotton, and peppers. All three crops are severely affected by several Fusarium spp. and Verticillium spp., causing significant economic losses in the region. He trained several staff to recognize various diseases, isolate and identify fungi, and provided expert advice on management of these diseases. He also guided four students in their postgraduate research at the SVRIS. SVRIS staff can now screen tomato and pepper varieties for disease resistance. In March 2011, the Alberta

Christian Aguilar

Matthew Bakker

Tiffany B. Enzenbacher

Lian Lian

Jon Menke

Phytopathology News 17

Institute of Agrologists recognized Kharbanda as a distinguished agrologist for his outstanding service to agriculture over the past 35 years at their annual meeting in Banff. He was a recipient of the AVAC/ASTech Innovation in Agricultural Science Prize in 2000, the highest award for agricultural research in Alberta for his role in preventing the spread of blackleg of canola in the province. Kharbanda was inducted into the Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2008 by the Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development.

Collaborations

Jahn Davik is presently a visiting fellow from the National Agricultural Research Service of Norway (Bioforsk) working with David Gadoury, Robert Seem, and Lance Cadle-Davidson at Cornell University’s New York State Agricultural

Experiment Station in Geneva. Davik’s work focuses on mlo resistance to powdery mildew in strawberry (Podosphaera aphanis).

Andrea Ficke, of the National Agricultural Research Service of Norway (Bioforsk), was recently a visiting fellow at Cornell University’s (CU’s) New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva. Ficke was at CU as part of a collaborative project with D. M. Gadoury and R. C. Seem (Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology), C. Linn (Department of Entomology), and T. Acree (Food Science and Technology) to study volatile organic compounds as diagnostic and detection tools for cereal pathogens.

Zvezdomir Jelev, assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, Agricultural University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, was recently a USDA Borlaug Fellow at Cornell University’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station

in Geneva with D. M. Gadoury and R. C. Seem (Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology) to initiate a collaborative

project on the epidemiology and management of grapevine powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator) and grapevine downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola).

Aruppillai Suthaparan is presently a visiting fellow from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB) working with David Gadoury, Robert Seem, and Lance Cadle-Davidson at Cornell University’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva on the use of high-energy LEDs and UVB to suppress powdery mildews in greenhouse crops, and phytochrome systems in powdery mildews.

New Position

Kabir Peay is a new assistant professor at the University of Minnesota (UMN) in the Department of Plant Pathology. He completed his master’s degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science and received his Ph.D. degree

from the University of California-Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. Peay’s dissertation examined ecological controls of diversity and community structure of ectomycorrhizal fungi using “tree islands.” His first post-doctoral position (with Tom Bruns) was an extension of that research but focused on the dispersal of ectomycorrhizal fungi to seedlings planted as new “tree islands.” Peay’s second post-doc was with Tad Fukami at Stanford University where he studied the arrival order and competitive outcomes of yeasts in nectar of flowers. Now at UMN, his lab uses fungi to study community ecology topics, such as community assembly, links between above- and below-ground communities, and the links among biodiversity, biogeography, and ecosystem function. As a new professor, Peay is teaching a course, Biology and Ecology of Fungi, which covers key components of fungal biology, including ecology, physiology, genetics, and diversity, as well as major groups of fungi, morphological features, and life cycles. While conducting research in Borneo, Peay along with Bruns discovered a new mushroom species. Spongiforma squarepantsii was recently described in Mycologia by Dennis Desjardin, Peay, and Bruns. The report was quickly picked up and reported on by many popular media sources due to the attention-grabbing name.

In Memory

On September 23, 2011, The American Phytopathological Society lost a long-time member, collaborator, and friend with the passing of Michael G. Tiffany, senior plant pathologist at Agdia, Inc. Mike received his B.Sc. degree in microbiology from Adelphi University in 1975 and his M.Sc. degree in plant pathology from the University of California-Riverside (UCR). Over the next 35 years, Mike’s passion for plant pathology and plant diagnostics was evident at UCR, Washington State University Prosser Experimental Research Station, Ball Floraplant, and at Agdia, Inc., where he joined in 1995. Mike was very active in APS helping on many committees and functions, including organizing and leading the Ornamental Virus discussion group that meets yearly at APS national meetings. Mike touched many lives with his enthusiasm for sharing knowledge. He was a great teacher and mentor to many of us and he cherished his interactions with all. Mike was 63 years old.

Dr. James (Jim) Lowell Dale, 88, of Fayetteville, AR, passed away on Sunday, November 13, 2011. He was a plant pathologist in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Arkansas (U of A) for 32 years. He became a member of APS in 1968. Prior

to joining the Department of Plant Pathology in 1956, Dr. Dale was a World War II veteran, having served in the 64th and 96th Naval Construction Battalions with duty in Newfoundland, Samar, in the Philippines, and Tsingtao in north mainland China. He received a B.S. degree from Eastern Illinois University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in plant pathology from the University of Illinois (U of I). In 1967, he served as a consultant for USAID and U of I on a project designed to initiate the growing of soybeans in India. In 1973, he was a NATO senior fellow to France, where he consulted with other scientists working with newly discovered phytoplasma-induced plant diseases. At U of A he taught the beginning plant pathology course for many years and also an advanced course on bacterial and phytoplasma diseases. His research was concerned with the diseases of corn, sorghum, and turf, and diseases caused by phytoplasmas. He retired as professor emeritus in 1988. Dale is survived by a son, James L. Dale, Jr., of Conway, AR; two granddaughters, Danielle Dale, of New Orleans, LA, and Megan Dale, of Fayetteville, AR; and a sister, Sally Dale Hunt, of Olney. He is also survived by one nephew and two nieces. He was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Martha Williams Dale, and a brother, William Dale. n

Kabir Peay

Jahn Davik

Andrea Ficke

Zvezdomir Jelev

Aruppillai Suthaparan

James (Jim) Lowell Dale

18 Phytopathology News

Assistant Professor, Field Crops Extension and ResearchUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Plant Pathology, invites applicants for a 12-month tenure-track position at the assistant professor level. The position will focus on pathology of field crops and carries a 75% extension/25% research distribution of effort. Job requirements are a Ph.D. degree in plant pathology or related discipline; strong foundation in the principles and concepts of plant pathology and relevant research experience; effective oral and written communication skills, including the ability to use modern delivery technologies to reach diverse audiences; and positive attitude for teamwork, including the ability to motivate others. Submit electronic copies in PDF form of CV; cover letter with statement of extension and research interests; copy of undergraduate and graduate transcripts to Douglas Rouse, Department of Plant Pathology, 1630 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706-1520 U.S.A. by e-mail at fieldcrop@plantpath.wisc.edu. Candidate should also request that three letters of reference be sent. Position is open until filled.

Assistant Professor of Wheat PathologyNorth Dakota State University (NDSU), Department of Plant Pathology, invites applicants for a tenure-track position at the assistant professor level. The appointment will be 90% research and 10% teaching. The successful candidate will develop a fundamental and applied research program on wheat diseases of economic importance to North Dakota in at least one of the following areas: leaf spot diseases caused by fungi, bacterial diseases, or virus diseases. All areas of inquiry are possible within these areas. This position will strengthen a department that includes expertise on Fusarium head blight of wheat, wheat rusts, barley pathology, and small grains extension pathology. The successful candidate will interact and communicate effectively with this team of cereal pathologists, NDSU wheat breeders, and appropriate commodity groups. The successful candidate will advise graduate students, teach

a graduate-level course in an area of expertise, and provide service to the university and the profession of plant pathology. Minimum qualifications include an earned Ph.D. degree in plant pathology or closely related field that includes extensive training in plant pathology; demonstrated ability to conduct and publish research on plant diseases of agronomic crops; and strong interpersonal/communication skills. Salary is negotiable. Position is open until filled. Review of applications will begin February 20, 2012. NDSU policy requires applications be completed online at http://jobs.ndsu.edu/postings/1344. Documents to submit include a letter of application that describes research/teaching interests and how the minimum and preferred qualifications are met, CV, and transcripts. Applicants should have three letters of reference mailed directly to Jack Rasmussen, Professor and Search Committee Chair, North Dakota State University, Department of Plant Pathology, P.O. Box 6050, Dept. 7660, Fargo, ND 58108-6050 U.S.A.

Staff Research Associate IIIThe National Clean Plant Network (CCPN) is seeking an applicant to facilitate operations of their citrus program that produces and distributes pathogen-tested citrus propagative materials. This position will support the disease testing and therapy processes and address technical inquiries from stake holders and will develop literature and a website describing program activities and a secure website to support the CCPN activities. The assistant will assist in all aspects of meeting logistics and reporting. This position will provide design and documentation support for network performance audits. For more detailed information go to job #201110071539 at https://irecruitportal.ucr.edu/irecruit/!Controller?action=jobs_webui.show_page&page=jobs_browser&public=true&module=jobs.Requirements: bachelor or master’s degree in plant pathology, plant sciences, biology, or related field. The job requires laboratory and greenhouse research and management experience. Communication skills and

experience with stakeholders service are important job requirements. Computer, organizational, and writing skills are also required. This position is open until filled.

Extension Plant PathologistThe University of Massachusetts (UMass) Extension is seeking a plant pathologist to work within UMass Extension’s Agriculture and Landscape Program to provide knowledge and plant diagnostic support to growers, arborists, and grounds managers in Massachusetts. Individual will serve as a recognized expert and resource for clientele in areas related to plant pathology primarily in the area of woody ornamental plants and to a lesser degree in greenhouse and vegetable crops and manage and maintain daily operations of the UMass Plant Diagnostic Lab. Develop, organize, and teach educational programs for extension staff and clientele and conduct applied research, scholarly and creative activities as appropriate, and prepare required reports, fact sheets, and articles for trade and professional publications and maintain and update web page in his/her respective area. To view the lab, visit http://extension.umass.edu/agriculture/index.php/services/plant-problem-diagnostics. This position requires an M.S. degree in plant pathology or related area plus three years professional experience; ability to maintain a diverse schedule of local, regional, and statewide activity which is not restricted by access to public or private transportation; excellent interpersonal/group process skills; and demonstrated ability to participate effectively in professional team efforts and with diverse groups of people. Applicants should send 1) CV; 2) a letter of application that includes a statement of extension/research/teaching interests, experience, and professional goals relevant to this position; 3) names/addresses of three to five references (including telephone numbers and e-mail addresses); and 4) unofficial transcripts from universities attended to: Search R40679, Employment Office, 167 Whitmore Administration Building, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-8170 U.S.A. This position is open until filled. n

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APS Journal ArticlesPhytopathologyJanuary 2012, Volume 102, Number 1 Colonization and Movement of GFP-Labeled

Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis During Tomato Infection.

Xylella fastidiosa Plasmid-Encoded PemK Toxin Is an Endoribonuclease.

Effect of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ on Fitness of Its Insect Vector, Bactericera cockerelli (Hemiptera: Triozidae), on Tomato.

Is the Emergence of Dothistroma Needle Blight of Pine in France Caused by the Cryptic Species Dothistroma pini?

Variability in Fusarium Head Blight Epidemics in Relation to Global Climate Fluctuations as Represented by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Other Atmospheric Patterns.

Effects of Prior Vegetative Growth, Inoculum Density, Light, and Mating on Conidiation of Erysiphe necator.

Identification of Race-Specific Resistance in North American Vitis spp. Limiting Erysiphe necator Hyphal Growth.

Whole-Genome QTL Analysis of Stagonospora nodorum Blotch Resistance and Validation of the SnTox4–Snn4 Interaction in Hexaploid Wheat.

Within-Field Variation of Fusarium graminearum Isolates for Aggressiveness and Deoxynivalenol Production in Wheat Head Blight.

Detection and Quantification of Pratylenchus thornei in DNA Extracted from Soil Using Real-Time PCR.

Invasion Genetics of the Chestnut Blight Fungus Cryphonectria parasitica in Switzerland.

Characterization of Biofumigated Ralstonia solanacearum Cells Using Micro-Raman Spectroscopy and Electron Microscopy.

Calculation of Diagnostic Parameters of Advanced Serological and Molecular Tissue-Print Methods for Detection of Citrus tristeza virus: A Model for Other Plant Pathogens.

Characterization of a Virus Infecting Citrus volkameriana with Citrus Leprosis-Like Symptoms.

Plant DiseaseJanuary 2012, Volume 96, Number 1Potato and Tomato Late Blight Caused by Phytophthora

infestans: An Overview of Pathology and Resistance Breeding.

Effects of Temperature on ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ and Zebra Chip Potato Disease Symptom Development.

Effect of Crop Rotations on Rotylenchulus reniformis Population Structure.

Genetic Variability of Rotylenchulus reniformis.Effect of Silicon Absorption on Soybean Resistance to

Phakopsora pachyrhizi in Different Cultivars.Biological Properties of Potato virus X in Potato: Effects

of Mixed Infection with Potato virus S and Resistance Phenotypes in Cultivars from Three Continents.

Reevaluation of Host Specificity of the Closely Related Species Pseudoperonospora humuli and P. cubensis.

Epiphytic Survival of Erwinia tracheiphila on Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.).

Virulence, Frequency, and Distribution of Races of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici and P. striiformis f. sp. hordei Identified in the United States in 2008 and 2009.

Pathogenic Variation of Phakopsora pachyrhizi Isolates on Soybean in the United States from 2006 to 2009.

Modulation of Aphid Vector Activity by Potato virus Y on In Vitro Potato Plants.

Toxicity and Resistance Potential of Selected Fungicides to Galactomyces and Penicillium spp. Causing Postharvest Fruit Decays of Citrus and Other Crops.

Relationship Between the Application of Foliar Chemicals to Reduce Common Scab Disease of Potato and Correlation with Thaxtomin A Toxicity.

Evaluation of a Warning System for Early-Season Control of Grapevine Powdery Mildew.

Sensitivity of Erysiphe necator to Demethylation Inhibitor Fungicides in Virginia.

Development and Evaluation of Two Pecan Scab Prediction Models.

Early Blight Control in Potato Using Disease-Orientated Threshold Values.

Virulence Dynamics and Regional Structuring of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici in France Between 1984 and 2009.

First Report of Bacterial Leaf Spot of Basil Caused by Pseudomonas viridiflava in Hungary.

Fruit Rot of Tinda Caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa–A New Report from India.

First Report of Xanthomonas hortorum pv. hederae Causing Bacterial Leaf Spot of Hedera hibernica in Slovenia.

First Report of Pseudomonas cichorii Associated with Leaf Spot on Soybean in South Korea.

First Report of Damping-Off of Rhodiola sachalinensis Caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 HG-II in China.

First Report of Orange Rust of Sugarcane Caused by Puccinia kuehnii in Colombia.

First Report of Leaf Disease on Cinnamomum subavenium Caused by Colletotrichum fioriniae in China.

First Report of Guinea Grass Smut Caused by Conidiosporomyces ayresii in Japan.

First Report of Cylindrocladiella parva as a Grapevine Pathogen in New Zealand.

First Report of Colletotrichum acutatum Causing Bitter Rot on Apple in Italy.

First Report of Mango Dieback Caused by Pseudofusicoccum stromaticum in Brazil.

First Report of Fusarium Stem and Crown Rot of Fennel in Arizona Caused by Fusarium avenaceum.

First Report of a Root and Crown Disease of the Invasive Weed Lepidium draba Caused by Phoma macrostoma.

First Report of Asian Brown Rot Caused by Monilia polystroma on Apricot in Switzerland.

First Report of Neocosmospora striata Causing Peanut Pod Rot in China.

First Report of Quinoa Downy Mildew Caused by Peronospora variabilis in the United States.

First Report of Leaf Spot Caused by Ascochyta marginata on Aralia elata in Korea.

First Report of Fenhexamid-Resistant Botrytis cinerea Causing Gray Mold on Heurchera in a North American Greenhouse.

First Report of Plasmopara obducens Causing Downy Mildew on Impatiens walleriana in Hungary.

First Report of a Leaf Spot on Conyza sumatrensis Caused by Phoma macrostoma in China.

First Report of Black Spot Caused by Boeremia exigua var. exigua on Field Pea in Australia.

First Report of Zucchini yellow mosaic virus in Watermelon in Serbia.

First Report of Watermelon chlorotic stunt virus in Watermelon in the Palestinian Authority.

First Report of Potato spindle tuber viroid in Cape Gooseberry in Slovenia.

First Report of Rice stripe virus of Proso Millet in Korea.

First Report of Peach latent mosaic viroid in Peach Trees in Montenegro.

First Report of Sorghum mosaic virus Causing Mosaic in Miscanthus sinensis.

First Report of the Cyst Nematode (Heterodera elachista) on Rice in Hunan Province, China.

Root-Knot Disease Caused by Meloidogyne arenaria and M. javanica in Teak in São Paulo State, Brazil.

MPMIJanuary 2012, Volume 25, Number 1Genome-Wide Identification of Genes Regulated by

the Rcs Phosphorelay System in Erwinia amylovora.Infection Dynamics in Viral Spread and Interference

Under the Synergism Between Cucumber mosaic virus and Turnip mosaic virus.

Functional Characteristics of an Endophyte Community Colonizing Rice Roots as Revealed by Metagenomic Analysis.

Cell Individuality: The Bistable Gene Expression of the Type III Secretion System in Dickeya dadantii 3937.

Ethylene-Responsive Element-Binding Factor 5, ERF5, Is Involved in Chitin-Induced Innate Immunity Response.

Inducible Maize Defense Mechanisms Against the Corn Borer Sesamia nonagrioides: A Transcriptome and Biochemical Approach.

High-Throughput Screening and Analysis of Genes of Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri Involved in Citrus Canker Symptom Development.

Ammonium Secretion During Colletotrichum coccodes Infection Modulates Salicylic and Jasmonic Acid Pathways of Ripe and Unripe Tomato Fruit.

Mutations in the Antiviral RNAi Defense Pathway Modify Brome mosaic virus RNA Recombinant Profiles.

Microarray Analysis Shows That Recessive Resistance to Watermelon mosaic virus in Melon Is Associated with the Induction of Defense Response Genes.

A Role for Bradyrhizobium japonicum ECF16 Sigma Factor EcfS in the Formation of a Functional Symbiosis with Soybean.

Plant Management Networkwww.plantmanagementnetwork.org

Plant Health ProgressField Evaluation of Trichoderma spp. for Control of

Armillaria Root Rot of Peach.Testing for Plant-parasitic Nematodes that Feed on

Corn in Iowa 2000-2010.Survey of Fungal, Nematode, and Virus Diseases of

Soybean in Alabama.Effects of Soybean Leaf and Plant Age on Susceptibility

to Initiation of Infection by Phakopsora pachyrhizi. n

The American Phytopathological Society3340 Pilot Knob RoadSt. Paul, MN 55121United States of America

PERIODICALS

Calendar of Events

For the most current listing go to www.apsnet.org/meetings/meetingcalendar.

Other Upcoming Events

March 20121-3 — Second International Symposium of Bio-Pesticides and Eco-Toxicological Network. Bangkok, Thailand. www.isbiopen.sci.ku.ac.th/contact_us.html

20-22 — Joint Meeting of the 58th Annual Conference on Soilborne Plant Pathogens and the 44th Annual California Nematology Workshop. San Marino, CA. http://soilfungus.ars.usda.gov

April 201222-26 — Ascochyta 2012: The 3rd International Ascochyta Workshop. Córdoba, Spain. www.ascochyta.org

May 201220-24 — Bouyoucos Conference on the Advances in Research on Soil Biological, Chemical, and Physical Properties for Sustainable Constructed Rootzones. Philadelphia, PA. www.constructedrootzones.org

21-25 — 4th International Workshop for Phytophthora, Pythium, and Phytopythium. University of Maryland, College Park, MD. www.psla.umd.edu/faculty/Balci/workshop2011/index.cfm

June 201218-21 — Eighth International Workshop on Grapevine Trunk Diseases. Valencia, Spain. www.upv.es/gihf/iwgtd

July 20121-5 — Plant and Canopy Architecture Impact on Disease Epidemiology and Pest Development. Rennes, France. https://colloque.inra.fr/epidemiology_canopy_architecture

29-August 2 — XV Intl. Congress on MPMI. Kyoto, Japan. www.ismpminet.org

August 201226-29 — 20th Iranian Plant Protection Congress. Shiraz, Iran. www.20thippc.ir

September 20129-14 — Sixth Meeting of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Working Party 7-02-09 “Phytophthora in Forests and Natural Ecosystems.” Córdoba, Spain.http://iufrophytophthora2012.org

November 201225 — Third International Symposium on Biological Control of Plant Bacterial Diseases. Agadir, Morocco. www.iavcha.ac.ma/biocontrol2012

August 201325-30 — 10th International Congress of Plant Pathology. Beijing, China. www.icppbj2013.org n

APS Sponsored EventsFebruary 2012 5-6 — APS Southern Division Meeting.

Birmingham, AL. www.apsnet.org/members/divisions/south/meetings

13-15 — Human Pathogens on Plants Workshop. Hyattsville, MD. www.apsnet.org/meetings/humanpathogenplants

March 2012 14-16 — APS Potomac Division Meeting.

Winchester, VA. www.apsnet.org/members/divisions/pot

April 2012 15-18 — APS Caribbean Division Meeting.

South Padre Island, TX. www.apsnet.org/members/divisions/carib/meetings

June 2012 13-15 — APS North Central Division

Meeting. Wooster, OH. www.apsnet.org/members/divisions/nc

27-29 — APS Pacific Division Meeting. Sacramento, CA.

www.apsnet.org/members/divisions/pac

August 2012 4-8 — APS Annual Meeting. Providence, RI. www.apsnet.org/meetings/annual APS Northeastern Division Meeting will be

joint with the APS Annual Meeting

Upcoming APS Annual MeetingsAugust 10-14, 2013 — Austin, TX.August 9-13, 2014 — Minneapolis, MN.

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