Crop Sciences Newsletter #123, September 17, 2007

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

...Three Department of Crop Sciences people were honored at the College of ACES and Paul A. Funk Recognition Awards banquet held in April.  Michael Gray received the Paul A. Funk Recognition Award.  Doug Maxwell received the Professional Staff Award for Sustained Excellence in Research.  The Staff Award for Excellence was presented to Marcia Johnson.  Congratulations to all of you!

...Steve Moose was granted Faculty status in the Molecular Bioengineering of Biomass Conversion Research Theme in the Institute for Genomic Biology.  The initial appointment is for five years and renewal is subject to the outcome of periodic review.  Congratulations!

...Darin Eastburn and Cleo D’Arcy’s proposal “Taking it Home: Do Students Connect Course Material to their Daily Lives?” was selected for funding from the Provost’s Initiative on Teaching Advancement.  Liudmila Tafremava also received funding for her proposal, “Introduction to Neuromorphic Engineering: A New Multidisciplinary Course and Educational Study”. Congratulations to the three of you!

...Faculty members included on the “Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students for Spring 2007" are: Fred Below, Germán Bollero, Don Bullock, Darin Eastburn, Fred Kolb, Steve Moose, Pat Tranel and Lila Vodkin.  Teaching Assistants included were: Jeff Coulter, Erin Kim, Sarah Schultz and Maria Villamil.  Congratulations on a job well done!

...Don Bullock was selected to receive the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Teacher Fellow Award which was presented at the annual NACTA conference held in Urbana in June.  Congratulations!

...During the recent elections, Fred Kolb, Gustavo Caetano-Anolles, and Martin Bohn were elected to represent faculty for two-year terms on the Faculty Advisory Committee beginning August 16, 2007 and continuing through August 15, 2009. Snook Pataky, Brian Diers, Dean Riechers, and German Bollero remain as the Faculty-at-Large representatives through August 15, 2008.  Kris Ritter was elected to represent staff for a two-year term.  Juliann Seebauer remains the Academic Professional Representative, Jeff Coulter remains the Graduate Student Representative, and Don Ort  the zero-time Faculty Representative to the DAC through August 15, 2009.  Congratulations to all!

...Ramya Vittal and Shinyi Lee received North Central America Phytopathological Society travel awards to attend the annual meetings in June.  Congratulations!

...The Department was well represented at the 2007 North Central Weed Science Society Collegiate Weed Science Contest, held July 19 at the Bennett Agricultural Research facility in Richland, IA. Mike Butler placed first in the Sprayer Calibration and Problem Solving categories, and the team of Caitlin Allen, Mike Butler, Kevin Miller, and Chris Rudisil placed third in Overall Undergraduate teams. Michael Bell, Charlie Mitsdarfer, Phil Parrish, Yim So, and A. J. Woodyard competed as graduate students. Students were coached by Aaron Hager, Dawn Refsell, and Pat Tranel. Congratulations to all!

...Congratulations to all the Department of Crop Sciences 2007 recipients of fellowships.  The recipients are: Devin Nichols, Ainsworth Family Endowment in Crop Sciences Fellowship; Catherine Byers, Samuel R. Aldrich Soil Fertility Fellowship; Jeffrey Church and Narasimham Upadyayula, William B. and Nancy L. Ambrose Fellowships; James Craig, Brockson Graduate Fellowship; Matt Hunt, Charles Adlai Ewing Endowed Graduate Fellowship; Tim Pruski, J. C. Hackleman Fellowship/Illinois Crop Improvement Association Graduate Fellowship; Adam Henninger and Jacob Delheimer, Richard H. and Elizabeth C. Hageman Endowed Graduate Research Fellowship; Eric Anderson, Floyd S. Ingersoll Graduate Research Fellowship; Jeff Coulter, Kraft/Frerichs Graduate Fellowship; Michael Bell, Fred W. Slife Graduate Fellowship; Sofia Silva, Darwin Traditional Corn Breeding Fellowship by A. Forrest Troyer; Carolyn Bonin, Catherine Kandianis and Andrew Woodyard, Jonathan Baldwin Turner Graduate Fellowships; Horacio Lopez Nicora, Fulbright Fellowship; and Tung Ahn Pham, Viet Nam Educational Fellowship.

...Department of Crop Sciences recipients of awards presented at the ACES Student Awards Banquet in April were: Brian Fisher, Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award; Andrew Bowman, Robert B. Troutman Student Leadership Award; Jared Walter, American Society of Agronomy National Student Recognition for an Outstanding Senior; Regan Joehl, Benjamin Martin and Jared Walter were 2007 Bronze Table recipients.

PUBLICATIONS

...Caetano-Anollés G., H-S. Kim and J.E. Mittenthal (2007) The origins of modern metabolic networks inferred from phylogenomic analysis of protein structure. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences USA 10: 9358-9363.

...Singh, R. J., G. H. Chung, and R. L. Nelson. 2007. Landmark research in legumes. Genome 50: 525-537.

FUNDING RECEIVED

...FREC funded proposals for Fred Below, $53,398 for the project “Fertilizer and Management Inputs to Optimize End Use Characteristics of Corn Hybrids”; Steve Ebelhar, $27,454 for “Nitrogen Phosphorus and Potassium Management for Intensive Wheat and Double Crop Soybean Rotations”, $31,712 for “Effects of Tile Drainage on Crop Yields and Nutrient Management in Southern Illinois”, $45,335 for “Evaluation of New Nitrogen Fertilizer Technologies for Corn”; Fabian Fernandez, $67,730 for “Impact of Phosphorus and Potassium Rate and Placement on No-Till Rainfed Corn Production Systems”; and, Emerson Nafziger, $19,870 for “Assessing Variability in Corn Response to N Rate”, and $65,450 for “A Statewide, On-Farm Corn N Rate Response Testing Program”. 

...The USDA funded proposals by Nancy Pataky, $60,000 for the “North Central Plant Diagnostic Network--Special Soybean Rust Allocation”; Susan Ratcliffe $60,000 for “Addressing Colony Collapse Disorder: Initiation of a National Response”, and $986,479 for “North Central Integrated Pest Management Center: A Regional Approach to Pest Management Implementation”; and, Torbert Rocheford, $15,000 for “Maize Genetics Planning Retreat for Post Genome Era”. 

...The North Central Soybean Research Program awarded Glen Hartman $21,250 for the project “Sentinel Plots to Monitor the Spread of Asian Soybean Rust in the U.S. Soybean Production Regions”.  Vera Lozovaya received $20,000 from AgroFresh for the project “Identifying the Health Promoting Composition of Soy Seeds”.  The National Science Foundation awarded Michael Plewa $199,745 for “Collaborative Research: Predicting and Tackling the Emerging Public Health Threat of Nitrogenous Disinfection Byproducts”.  Kevin Steffey received $15,800 from Syngenta for “Field Trials - Black Cutworm Corn Earworm MOA”.  The Illinois Soybean Association awarded Lila Vodkin $60,000 for “Proposal for ISPOB Program Area 2007: Genomics and Biotechnology Approaches to Identify Gene Function in Soybean”.

...The Southern Region IPM Center awarded $5,500 to Mohammad Babadoost, $39,890 to Carl Bradley and $69,585 to Susan Ratcliffe for the Illinois IPM PIPE 2007.

...The Weed Science Society of America funded a $1,000 Undergraduate Research Award for Pat Tranel.  Snook Pataky received a $1,000 American Phytopathological Society Howard Fellowship.

UPCOMING CONFERENCES, SYMPOSIA & WORKSHOPS

...ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings, A Century of Integrating Crops, Soils and Environment, will be held November 4-8, 2007 in New Orleans.

...The Entomological Society of America will hold its 55th Annual Meeting in San Diego, December 9-12, 2007.  The theme for this year is  "Making Connections: Innovation, Initiative, and Influence”.

...The International Conference on Agricultural Engineering & Industry Exhibition, Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering for a Sustainable World, will be held June 23-25, 2008 in Hersonisso, Crete - Greece.

GRAD STUDENT BULLETIN BOARD

...The officers for the Crop Sciences Graduate Organization 2007-08 year have been elected. Congratulations to the 2007-2008 CSGO Officers!

President- Carol Bonin
Vice President- Catherine Byers
Secretary- Jake Delheimer
Treasurer- Matthew Maughan
Graduate Student Policy and Grievance- Tim Pruski
Graduate Seminar Committee Representative- Ki-Seung Kim
Social Chair- Josie Hugie

PERSONALS

...Dear Friends in Crop Sciences, Thank you for the lovely parting gift & farewell gathering.  I cherish all the friendships & experiences over the past 15 years.  This department will always hold a special place in my heart.  Love, Carol Phillippe

...Your kindness and sympathy at this time is more deeply appreciated than any word of thanks can ever express.  Thank you for the beautiful card that you sent.  Sincerely, Jerry and Karen Chandler

...Dear Friends in Crop Sciences, Thank you for the many kind expressions of sympathy and support we received following my father’s unexpected death.  Thank you, too, for the lovely floral tribute which was sent for the memorial service.  It meant a great deal to Fred and me to know you were thinking of us.  Gratefully, Judy and Fred Kolb