(left to right): Shirley Graves, Dean Glawe, Marilyn Tilbury

2003 Volunteers of the year
for WSU-Puyallup Mycology Program.

The contributions of dozens of volunteers have been critical to the work of the Plant Pathology's Mycology Program at the Puyallup Research and Extension Center. During 2003, Master Gardeners and other volunteers contributed 951 specimens of powdery mildews, and did data entry work, proof-reading, and database development involving 818 hours of labor valued at $13,137. On November 22, two individuals were recognized as WSU-Puyallup Mycology Program Volunteers of the Year for 2003, in recognition of outstanding contributions. Shirley Graves, Pierce County Master Gardener, was recognized for contributing 300 hours of work maintaining specimen records and doing proof-reading for the new substrate-fungus database for the Pacific Northwest. Marilyn Tilbury, King County Master Gardener, was recognized for contributing nearly 400 powdery mildew specimens that included a number of new records for the Pacific Northwest and North America. As tokens of appreciation for their efforts, Shirley and Marilyn were presented with certificates of appreciation and limited edition prints of a rhododendron (without powdery mildew symptoms!).

Valerie Akins Receives 20 Year Certificate.

Valerie Akins, Program Assistant for Department of Plant Pathology, received a certificate and pen for her 20 years of service to Washington State University. She also received a letter from President Rawlins thanking her for her 20 years of dedication to the University.

Congratulations and thanks, Valerie!

Pictured above: (left to right): Ekaterini Riga
and Isgouhi Kaloshian.

Speaker for Plant Pathology/Crop Science Fall Seminar.

Dr. Isgouhi Kaloshian was invited to speak for the Plant Pathology/Crop Science Fall Seminar series.

Dr. Isgouhi Kaloshian joined the faculty of the Nematology Department, University of California, Riverside in 1997. Dr. Kaloshian became interested in nematology in her native Lebanon. After she obtained a M.S. degree at the American University of Beirut in the area of Plant Protection, she immigrated to the United States, where she earned a Ph.D. degree at U.C. Riverside under Ivan Thomason. She pursued an interest in molecular nematology as a postdoctoral associate in the laboratories of David Bird, U.C. Riverside, and Valerie Williamson, U.C. Davis. Dr. Kaloshian was among the first to isolate and characterize a gene for nematode resistance, and is presently one of a small number of molecular nematologists in the world. Her research focuses on host signal pathways that mediate resistance to nematode and insect predation.

Hanu Pappu's submission to APS is featured as the image of the week at APS online.

Symptoms induced by Dahlia mosaic virus (DMV) in dahlia. The typical (and common) symptom of DMV infection is mosaic on foliage (left). Other symptoms include chlorosis along the veins which may spread to the entire leaf and with age, the entire foliage of an infected plant may show severe chlorosis (right).

Tobin Peever travels to Japan.

Tobin Peever, Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University (center) recently spent 2 weeks in the laboratories of Tohru Teraoka (left) and Tsutomu Arie (right), Laboratory of Plant Pathology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT), Fuchu, Japan. Peever's visit was supported by a Grant-In-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science entitled "Analysis of the Evolutionary History of Phytopathogenic Fungi based on Gene Genealogies" held by Teraoka and Arie. While in Japan, Peever presented a poster at the 3rd Conference on Fungal Genetics and Molecular Biology held at the University of Tokyo and gave a seminar at TUAT entitled "Evolution of Host Specificity of Ascochyta
Species on Legumes".

Visitor from New Delhi, India

Dr. Celia Chalam is a staff scientist at the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) in New Delhi, India. She is responsible for screening and maintaining virus-free germplasm, with focus on legumes. NBPGR has a state-of-the-art Gene Bank, made possible by a Cooperative Agreement between the US Agency for International Development and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research of Government of India.

She will be spending three months in Hanu Pappu's lab working on molecular techniques for virus detection and their adaptation to seed certification programs. She arrived in Cougar Town during the home coming weekend and got a taste of the homecoming festivities (chariot races, marching band,and the cougar pride!). She says she is enjoying the peace and tranquilityof Pullman as her native place, New Delhi, the capital of India, is a city
of about 8 million people and 'rush hour' actually lasts all day!

This issue focuses on High Plains Disease on sweet corn,
and diagnosis of some of the diseases occurring on leafy vegetables. Color photos of several diseases are included.

We hope that you take a moment to view this issue, or
forward the web address to someone interested in vegetables.

Pictured above (left to right) Christine Davis and Dr. Jack Rogers.

Visitor from Duke University

Jack Rogers recently hosted Christine Davis, a Ph.D. student from Duke University. Ms Davis is an authority on liverworts (Bryophyta) and is investigating fungal endophytes of these plants. Rogers investigates xylariaceous fungi, a number of which Ms Davis has found in endophytic association with liverworts. Rogers is cooperating with Ms Davis in identifying these fungi. Among other things, they collected liverworts in the Laird Park, Bovill, Elk River area and, in spite of the dry conditions, found a number of them.

Dr. David Weller on Special Assignment.

Dr. David M. Weller, Research Leader of the USDA-ARS Root Disease and Biological Control Research Unit and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, was invited by the Section of Phytopathology, Faculty of Biology at Utrecht University, The Netherlands to assume the Willie Commelin Scholten Endowed Chair from May 1 to November 1, 2003. The professorship is supported by an endowment from the Willie Commelin Scholten (WCS) Foundation. Dr. Weller taught a graduate course entitled "Bacteria-Plant Interactions in Biological Control of Plant Pathogens," advises graduate students, and is conducting research on induction of systemic resistance in Arabidopsis by rhizobacteria. Utrecht University is one of the major research and teaching universities in The Netherlands.

For more photos click here

WSU's Vegetable Pathology Team Present a Workshop.

On July 24th, members of WSU's Vegetable Pathology Team presented a workshop on the diagnosis of diseases affecting chenopodiaceous and cruciferous vegetables in northwestern Washington.

complete story

Washington State High School Ag Teachers Visit Plant Pathology

Nine high school teachers attended a workshop presented by Plant Pathology faculty, Dr. Tim Paulitz, Dr. Xianming Chen, Dr. Hanu Pappu.

complete story

Pictured above:
Front row: (left to right) Michelle Seidl, Lee Whitford, Lori Carris, Jennifer Falacy.
Second row: (left to right) John Dennis, ANgela Muhinickel, Claudia Nischwitz, Brenda Callan
Third row: (left to right) Gary Laursen, Jack Rogers, Randy Bell, Joe Ammirati, John Hanna, Fred Rhoades
Back row: (Left to right) Dennis Oliver, Bryce Richardson, Ben Legler, Dean Glawe.

Plant Pathology Faculty and Graduate Students Attend The Pacific Northwest Fungi Project Foray and Taxonomic Database Workshop.

Dean Glawe, Jack Rogers, Lori Carris, Jennifer Falacy and Bryce Richardson attended the Pacific NW Fungi Project Foray and Taxonomic Database Workshop at Pack Forest, WA . The foray and workshop held over the weekend of May 16-18 was a great success. There were 20 participants and representation from Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and British Columbia. They formed 7 working committees that are working on projects including standardizing collection information for databases, database design, web page design, local arrangements for a fall foray and meeting, etc. They established an Advisory Board for the PNW Substrate-Fungus Database (formerly known as Shaw's Host Fungus Index for the Pacific Northwest), and they discussed (briefly) the long term possibility of turning it into an online journal. In short, the weekend saw a successful launch of the consortium, development of a strong partnership between WSU and UW in organizing it and running it (Joe Ammirati and Dean Glawe are the co-chairs), and establishing a leadership position for WSU in a regional program that didn't even exist a year ago.

Students need to use eInfoCenter to view their grades. The Registrar's office is receiving RONet account applications from students who are being told that they can view their grades using RONet. This is erroneous. Students should be directed to the eInfoCenter for viewing their grades and for many other registration issues.

Contact: karl_ibsen@wsu.edu

Graduate Students Receive Travel Awards.

Congratulations go out to our graduate students Leila Vasquez-Siller, Kurt Schroeder, and Jennifer Falacy who have been selected to receive individual Graduate Student Travel Awards from WSU's Graduate School to help support summer travel to professional meetings. The Graduate School received proposals from 95 students and awarded grants to 49. We are very proud of each them and pleased that they will be representing the department.

Pictured above (left to right):
Leila Vasquez-Siller, Kurt Schroeder, Jennifer Falacy

(For more information click here)