![[Department of Plant Biology and Pathology]](http://njaes.rutgers.edu/_common/images/subheads/plantbiopath.gif "[Department of Plant Biology and Pathology]"){kind=small}
Departmental faculty and staff presented cutting-edge research the 36th Annual New Jersey Green Expo -- posted April 2012
The 36th Annual New Jersey Green Expo–Turf and Landscape Conference–was held on December 6-8 at the Taj Mahal Resort in Atlantic City, NJ. This regional event is one of the top turf and landscape conferences in the country and attracted more than 1,200 turfgrass managers from Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. This year?s event was jointly hosted by the New Jersey Turfgrass Association, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of New Jersey, the Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. More than 70 presentations from world renowned authorities in turfgrass science were given at the three-day show. New Jersey Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney addressed conference attendees on December 6 and spoke about fertilizer and pesticide legislation and its potential impact on the turfgrass industry.
A wide range of Rutgers faculty and staff presented cutting-edge research, including Richard Buckley (director, Rutgers Plant Diagnostic Lab); Bruce Clarke (extension specialist in turfgrass pathology; director of the Center for Turfgrass Science; Joseph Clark (lab technician, Plant Biology and Pathology); John Grande (manager, Rutgers Snyder Research Farm); Stephen Hart (associate extension specialist in weed management); Bingru Huang (Plant Biology and Pathology; Ralph Geiger Endowed Chair in Turfgrass Science); Albrecht Koppenhofer (extension specialist in turf entomology); Carrie Mansue (field researcher, Plant Biology and Pathology); William Meyer (Plant Biology and Pathology); James Murphy (extension specialist in turf management); Stephanie Murphy (director, Rutgers Soil Testing Lab); Brad Park (lab researcher, Plant Biology and Pathology); and Sabrina Tirpak (lab technician, Plant Diagnostic Lab).
A two-day trade show, showcasing new turf products and equipment from over 70 companies, was another major highlight of the conference. Unlike many turf and landscape shows in the country that have seen their attendance dwindle over the last few years, the New Jersey Green Expo continues to grow and prosper, thanks to the close partnership between Rutgers University and the $3.2 billion turfgrass industry in the state.
ISE Coordinator in Nigeria visits Rutgers -- posted April 2012
At the invitation of Rutgers‘ International Science and Education (ISE) team, Dr. Victor Adetimirin,
professor of Plant Breeding at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, and coordinator of
Rutgers‘ ISE program in Nigeria visited the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences from
October25-28. Adetimirin‘s visit was in fulfillment of ISE‘s requirement to invite collaborators to
Rutgers for academic interaction with faculty and students. Highlights of his visit included:
- Teaching of our International Ag: New Crops and New Uses class on "Vegetable Crops of
West Africa: Diversity, Adaptation and Nutraceutical Values," meeting with the Director
of Center for African Studies, Dr. Ousseina Alidou, a guided tour of Rutgers Gardens and
Horticultural Research Farm II (Turfgrass Research Center) on Ryders Lane (October 25);
- Guided tour of Rutgers Agricultural Research & Extension Center (RAREC) at Upper
Deerfield, RCE of Monmouth County office at Shrewsbury, and Rutgers Plant Science
Research and Extension Farm in Adelphia (October 26);
- Meeting with ISE team, guided tour of faculty laboratories in Foran Hall, and the nut tree
research plot at Horticultural Farm 3 on Ryders Lane (October 27), and
- Seminar presentation at the Plant Biology Graduate Program Seminar Series on Trends in
Crop Improvement Research in West Africa: Perspectives from the University of Ibadan,
Nigeria (October 28).
Adetimirin expressed satisfaction with the conduct of Rutgers interns Nicholas Greene and Syed Abbas whom he supervised in Nigeria in the summer of 2009 and 2010. He was pleased with the accomplishments of the students and has maintained contact since the students completed their internship. He assured the ISE team of his determination to explore the possibility of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, also sending students to Rutgers to maximize the benefit of the ISE program as a fully interactive initiative for students and faculty. Adetimirin is also Rutgers‘ chief contact in Nigeria for the Excellence in Higher Education for Liberia‘s Development initiative, led by Jim Simon (Plant Biology and Pathology). The ISE program, which started in 2008, is jointly funded by USDA/NIFA and Rutgers NJAES, and managed by Michael Lawton, director and Albert Ayeni, co-director (Plant Biology and Pathology).
Rutgers Plant Biology graduate students won awards for the following presentations at the Annual Meeting of the Crop Science Society of America held in San Antonio, TX: -- posted April 2012
- David Jespersen - Turfgrass Stress Tolerance (Oral Presentations): Identification of proteins associated with heat-induced and genetically-controlled leaf senescence in coolseason grass species.
- Lisa Beirn - Turfgrass Pathology (Oral Presentations): What Is the true identity of the fungus that causes Dollar Spot on turfgrass?
- Emily Merewitz - Turfgrass Stress Tolerance (Poster Presentations): Identification of differentially expressed genes in Creeping Bentgrass with
elevated Cytokinin content under drought stress.
- Katelyn Venner - Poster Presentation: Response of Tall Fescue cultivars to Mesotrione applied at establishment.
- James W. Cross - Poster Presentation: Responses of Tall Fescue Genotypes to heat and drought stress.
- “Promotion of women in science” at the Gender Equality Symposium, National Agricultural and Food Research Organization, National and University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba City, Japan, in September.
- “Jokichi Takamine: Japanese father of American biotechnology” at the Sacred Heart School, Sapporo, Japan, in September.
- “Jokichi Takamine and the birth of biotechnology” at the International Union of Microbiological Societies, Sapporo, Japan, in September.
- “Promotion of women in science: USA and Japan” to the Support Office for Female Researchers at the Hokkaido University (FResHU) F3 Symposium, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, in September.
- "Model systems and fungal volatile organic compounds" at the University of Maryland’s Department of Entomology in October.