WASHINGTON, Feb. 9-Plant physiologist Timothy R. Gottwald of Fort Pierce, Fla., has been named by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) as the agency's "Distinguished Senior Research Scientist of 2004." ARS is the chief scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Gottwald and seven other outstanding senior ARS scientists will be recognized at an awards ceremony today at the Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building here. Each winner will receive a plaque, a cash award and additional research funding.
Gottwald, who works at the ARS Subtropical Plant Pathology Research Unit in Fort Pierce, is being honored for exemplary scientific leadership in developing principles of epidemiology that served as the basis for controlling or eradicating serious foreign and domestic plant diseases, in particular citrus canker, plum pox, citrus tristeza and pecan scab. Since joining ARS in 1979, Gottwald has published 172 articles and book chapters and 123 abstracts, and has made more than 200 research presentations at national and international scientific and industry conferences.
Gottwald and his colleagues conducted epidemiology research that served as the scientific and operational basis for the Citrus Canker Eradication Program in Florida. The program was established to curb the spread of citrus canker in both commercial and residential citrus trees in the state. The team's research showed that the previous practice of removing all citrus trees growing within a 125-foot radius around canker-infected trees was inadequate to curtail the infection's spread. In January 2000, based on the group's research findings, this distance was increased to 1,900 feet to better protect Florida's multibillion-dollar citrus industry.
ARS is also honoring seven "Area Senior Research Scientists of 2004." They are:
* Beltsville Area -- Jerry C. Ritchie, ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Unit, Beltsville, Md., for research in soil and water conservation on ways to manage, conserve and improve the quality and sustainability of soil and water resources.
* Mid-South Area -- W. Paul Williams, ARS Corn Host Plant Resistance Research Unit, Mississippi State, Miss., for research leading to solutions to the corn industry's insect, nematode and aflatoxin problems.
* Midwest Area -- Michael P. Russelle, ARS Plant Science Research Unit, St. Paul, Minn., for research accomplishments addressing agriculture's impact on nitrogen cycling, and for mentoring students and peers.
* North Atlantic Area -- Marvin J. Grubman, Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Orient Point, N.Y., for research on a novel vaccine strategy for prevention and control of foot-and-mouth disease in livestock.
* Northern Plains Area -- James S. Schepers, ARS Soil and Water Conservation Research Unit, Lincoln, Neb., for leadership and innovation in developing improved nitrogen management practices to protect the environment.
* Pacific West Area -- Raymond I. Carruthers, ARS Exotic and Invasive Weeds Research Unit, Albany, Calif., for establishing the first successful consortium for the control of saltcedar; leading projects to manage saltcedar, yellow starthistle and giant reed; and conducting groundbreaking research in the areas of integrated pest management and biological control of invasive pests.
* Southern Plains Area -- John E. George, ARS Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory, Kerrville, Texas, for research and leadership in developing innovative methods for controlling ticks that can spread cattle fever, including identifying the means by which ticks can develop resistance to the chemicals used to combat them.
ARS also will present awards to eight "Early Career Scientists of the Year" who have earned their doctorates within the past decade and have been with the agency for seven years or less. The highest of these honors is the Herbert L. Rothbart Outstanding Early Career Research Scientist of the Year.
The 2004 Rothbart Award winner is Edward S. Buckler, a plant geneticist at the agency's U.S. Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory in Ithaca, N.Y. He is being honored for pioneering genetic approaches that let researchers identify individual genes that control complex agronomic traits in plants. This could help breeders develop improved agricultural crops.
The seven other ARS Area Early Career Scientists for 2004 being honored today are:
* Beltsville Area -- Yan Zhao, ARS Molecular Plant Pathology Unit, Beltsville, Md., for exceptional advances in research on viroids, virus-based gene vectors, plant transformation and spiroplasma and phytoplasma genomics.
* Mid-South Area -- Brian G. Bosworth, ARS Catfish Genetics Research Unit, Stoneville, Miss., for research to identify genetic factors controlling catfish fillet yield and quality, and to develop improved catfish germplasm.
* Midwest Area -- Sharon K. Papiernik, ARS North Central Soil Conservation Research Laboratory, Morris, Minn., for research on how pesticides move through soil and water.
* Northern Plains Area -- James F. Campbell, U.S. Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, Manhattan, Kan., for pioneering research on stored-product insect pest behavior and ecology, resulting in information that can be used to improve integrated pest management in food facilities.
* Pacific West Area -- Kenneth E. Overturf, ARS Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research Unit, Hagerman, Idaho, for development of innovative approaches to the genetic selection of trout that can thrive on grain-based diets.
* South Atlantic Area -- Charlene R. Jackson, ARS Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, Athens, Ga., for contributions to the study of antimicrobial resistance in Enterococci bacteria.
* Southern Plains Area -- W. Clint Hoffman, ARS Areawide Pest Management Research Unit, College Station, Texas, for developing and transferring technology related to aerial pesticide application equipment and protocols used in areawide pest management.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
