Lafayette Frederick Diversity in Mentoring Award Established
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www.apsnet.org January 2021 Volume 55 • Number 1 Lafayette Frederick Diversity in Mentoring Award Established The Lafayette tion and APS Coun- Frederick Diversity cil have pledged in Mentoring Award “If given the opportunity, if given $20,000 each in was established by the the chance, one may achieve, one matching funds, APS Foundation in may ascend to heights of reason- so the first $40,000 in donations will be honor of Dr. Lafayette able prominence in one’s field, and doubled. To donate to the Lafayette Fred- Frederick to provide one can make an effort to increase erick Diversity in Mentoring Award fund, mentored experiences by one’s effort the opportunities for visit the APS Foundation web page, click in plant pathology for others to also develop their talents, on Donate Online, and select Lafayette students and postdocs their skills, and become highly pro- Frederick Mentoring Award from the list. from underrepresented minority groups. Dr. ductive scholars in the field. And my For more information on this award, Frederick had an esteemed career in botany, effort has been, of course, to strive please visit the Lafayette Frederick Diversity mycology, and plant pathology as a faculty to bring more of these kinds of in Mentoring Award web page or con- member at Southern University and Atlanta persons into the field of mycology, tact Anna Testen, Sally Miller, or David University and as department chair at How- plant pathology, and botany as pro- Gadoury. ard University. Throughout his career, Dr. ductive and outstanding scholars.” Frederick was a tireless mentor and advocate for students of color. The goal of this award Dr. Lafayette Frederick, The call for applications for the Lafayette is to increase the number of practicing plant APS Centennial Meeting Frederick Diversity in Mentoring Award pathologists from underrepresented groups Plenary Session opens February 1, 2021. ■ by providing funds to mentors to enhance their mentees’ professional and educational A fundraising goal of $100,000 has been development through experiential learning. set to endow this award. The APS Founda- PLANT PATHOLOGY’S PERPLEXING PAST: THE REST OF THE STORY Roland Thaxter—A Little Known Early American Plant Pathologist Robert M. Harveson, University of Nebraska, Panhandle REC, Scottsbluff Roland Thaxter a botanist or mycologist, never a plant pa- Perplexing Past, continued on page 2 (1858–1932) was the thologist. Although his stint as a practicing first plant pathologist plant pathologist was short lived, he made appointed to the first influential, significant contributions that agricultural station es- were important to the development of plant In This Issue tablished in the United pathology in its early years in the United APS Foundation ����������������������������������������3 States, the Connec- States. Regardless of the semantics, his long APS Opportunities ������������������������������������3 ticut Agricultural and productive career as a plant scientist is OPRO . 4 Experiment Station, the rest of the story. in 1888. In doing so, New Editorial Boards ��������������������������������5 Roland Thaxter he became the 10th Background and Education New Assistant Features Editors ������������������6 (Lloyd, 1917). plant pathologist in Roland Thaxter was born (August 28, Donors of Distinction . 9 the nation and was the first one hired as 1858) into an aristocratic and intellectual People . 10 a result of the 1887 Hatch Act. This act New England family with a legacy of Har- Graduate Student Spotlight . 11 created agricultural experiment stations, vard graduates going back three generations Classifieds ������������������������������������������������12 while also providing annual funding for each on his father’s side. His father, Levi Thax- Research Notebook . 14 state. Thaxter always considered himself as ter, was a lawyer and Harvard graduate, as Phytopathology News January 2021 1 Perplexing Past, continued from page 1 were his grandfather and great grandfather. His mother, Celia Thaxter, was well-known Editor-in-Chief: Kenny Seebold Editor: Jordana Anker and respected in the literary world via her published books. Design: Jordana Anker Thaxter’s artistic skills and prestige as a botanist were demonstrated by his beautiful Advertising Sales: Brianna Plank line drawings of fungi, particularly the order, Laboulbeniales, for which he later was con- Phytopathology News (ISSN 0278-0267) is published monthly, with the August/September issue combined, by The American Phytopatho- sidered a world authority. It was said that he inherited his imaginative artistic traits from logical Society (APS) at 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121 his mother, a regard for scientific accuracy from his father, and an interest in biology and 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 nature from both. all APS members. Subscription price to nonmembers is $116. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from Harvard in 1882 with a bachelor’s degree, Submission Guidelines: Address all editorial correspondence to: Kenny he entered Harvard Medical School in autumn 1883 to study medicine. Before comple- Seebold, Valent USA, 608 Havana Court, Lexington, KY 40511 U.S.A. Phone: +1.859.940.5184; E-mail: [email protected]. In or- tion of medical school, he won a Harris Fellowship. Although his first love was entomol- der to ensure timely publication of your news items and announcements, please send in material six weeks prior to the date of publication. Material ogy, his 2-year appointment allowed him to leave medical school and enter Harvard’s should be no more than six months old when submitted. Submission of graduate school, where he concentrated on cryptogamic botany. Thus, from 1886 to 1888 materials as electronic files, via e-mail, will speed processing. For informa- tion on submitting electronic images contact Jordana Anker. Deadline for he was an assistant to the pioneering American botanist W. G. Farlow while working on submitting items for the February 2021 issue is January 22, 2021. his doctoral degree. He had previously published six brief papers involving insects, but his APS Leadership seventh and first important mycological publication described species of the rust patho- Council gen, Gymnosporangium, and his Ph.D. thesis was titled “The Entomophthoraeae of the President: Mark Gleason President Elect: Amy Charkowski United States.” Vice President: Ron Walcott Immediate Past President: Lindsey du Toit Connecticut Experiment Station Internal Communications Officer: James Bradeen Treasurer: Lawrence Datnoff Thaxter was always more interested in basic than applied research, but while at the Senior Councilor-at-Large: Katherine L. Stevenson Councilor-at-Large: David Gent Connecticut Experiment Station, he was greatly pressured to serve the tax-paying citizens Councilor-at-Large: Courtney Gallup Divisional Councilor: Ashok Chanda as a state employee with applied research efforts to solve specific production problems. Publications Councilor: Krishna Subbarao He stayed in this position only three short years but still made major contributions to Executive Vice President: Amy Hope practical plant pathology. He described a number of new diseases, including the cause of Editors-in-Chief APS PRESS: Darin Eastburn potato scab, calling it Oospora scabies (now known as Streptomyces scabies), and character- MPMI: Jeanne M. Harris Phytobiomes: Carolyn Young ized the pathogen, separating it from other soil microbes, and determined the pathogen’s PhytoFrontiers: Niklaus Grünwald role in the disease. He also identified and named the downy mildew disease of lima beans Phytopathology: Harald Scherm Phytopathology News: Kenny Seebold as Phytophthora phaseoli. Plant Disease: Alexander V. Karasev With onion smut, he showed that the disease was soilborne, not seedborne, and that Plant Disease Management Reports: Kerik Cox The Plant Health Instructor: Chris Little the young plants were only susceptible for a few days. He proposed the first soil treatment Plant Health Progress: Pamela Roberts Plant Management Network: Cristi Palmer as a disease control measure, illustrating that the application of sulfur within a row with Board and Office Chairs and Directors the seed would protect the seedlings until they reached the stage of immunity. He then 2026 Professional Development Forum: Renée Rioux coerced a mechanic to design and create machinery that planted the fungicide and seeds Academic Unit Leader Forum Chair: Steve Jeffers APS Foundation Board Chair: David M. Gadoury together followed by demonstrations of this new process in a farmer’s field. Divisional Forum Chair: Walt Mahaffee Thaxter’s invention of a prototype knapsack sprayer, consisting of a copper wash boiler PPB Chair: Rick Bennett Publications Board Chair: Krishna V. Subbarao with a hand force pump and a Vermorel spray nozzle for a price of about $8.00 (roughly OE Director: Monica M. Lewandowski OIP Director: Susan D. Cohen $200 today), was another useful contribution to plant pathology. With the use of this OPSR Director: Jeffrey Stein novel sprayer, he was one of the first pathologists in the United States to conduct research OPRO Director: Nicole M. Donofrio AMB Director: Paul Esker utilizing the Bordeaux mixture (which he detested) as a fungicide on potatoes, grapes, and Division Officers quinces. Caribbean Divisional Forum Rep: Gilberto Olaya President: Judith K. Brown, Back to Harvard Past President: Carolina Cedano-Saavedra Vice