ARS Employees Honored by USDA

By Jan Suszkiw
June 10, 1998

Thirty-eight Agricultural Research Service employees will receive individual or team awards today for excellence from U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman in Washington at USDA's 52nd annual Honor Awards ceremony. Glickman is scheduled to present plaques to the awardees at a 1 p.m. ceremony on the West Lawn of the Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.

Contact ARS News Service (phone 301 344-2173, jsuszkiw@asrr.arsusda.gov) for fax or electronic mail copies of news releases about any of the ARS awardees, who are named under the award categories below.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

* For extraordinary effort to preserve human and animal life, minimize structural damage, salvage experimental materials and ensure safety and security during the flood of 1997, to the Red River Valley Flood Response Group, Grand Forks, North Dakota. The ARS members are group leader James G. Penland, David P. Allard, Orris R. Johnson, Patricia F. Geary, David B. Milne, James H. Botnen, Curtiss Hunt, Gwen M. Dahlen, Deborah S. Meyer, Sharon Y. Peterson, Mark R. Muth, Gregory M. Graham, Bonnie M. King, and Terry R. Standridge. The group's North Dakota state members are Denice Schafer, Rodney Bubach, Gary Adams, Barbara Kueber, Sandra Gallagher, Judy Schumacher, Virginia Ballintine, Karin Tweton, and Martin Glynn.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

* For research leadership and creativity in addressing challenges to manage and control the agricultural nutrients phosphorous and nitrogen, to Harry B. Pionke, soil scientist and research leader, Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Laboratory, University Park, Pennsylvania.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

* For developing an outstanding partnership between ARS and Delaware State University (DSU) to expand educational opportunities and research capacities--to the Grape Germplasm Group, which includes leader Donna M. Gibson, of ARS' Plant Protection Research, Ithaca, New York; James R. McFerson, ARS Plant Genetic Resources, Geneva, New York; and Cyril Broderick, of DSU in Dover.

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE

• For superior achievement in developing and transferring ginning technology to increase the quality and profitability of cotton, to W. Stanley Anthony, supervisory agricultural engineer and research leader of Cotton Ginning Research, Stoneville, Mississippi. Stanley also is a recipient of the USDA "Silver" Plow Award.
• For pioneering research contributions to the discovery and characterization of novel pathogens that cause plant diseases which impact U.S. and world agriculture, to Robert E. Davis, plant pathologist and research leader of the Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory, Beltsville, Md.
• For outstanding scientific achievement, invention and technology transfer achievements in creating FanteskTM, a new food additive, to Kenneth Eskins and George F. Fanta, both at the National Center for Agricultural and Utilization Research, Peoria, Illinois.
• For basic research on new methods of preempting economic losses from aflatoxin contamination of food and feed supplies, to the Food and Feed Safety Group. The team includes leader Thomas E. Cleveland, Deepak Bhatnagar, and Peter Cotty, all of the Southern Regional Research Center, New Orleans, Louisiana.

The following ARS employees will receive Secretary's Awards as members on groups nominated by other USDA agencies.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

* The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and ARS Medfly group. The ARS members are Nicanor J. Liquido (formerly ARS), Hilo, Hawaii; Donald O. McInnis, Tropical Fruit, Vegetable and Ornamental Crop Research Laboratory, Honolulu, Hawaii; and John M. Sivinski, Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, Florida. Also being recognized are ARS employees James R. Baxter, Raul Rivera, William T. Wilson at the Beneficial Insects Research Unit in Weslaco, Texas.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

* The Nutrition Education for Diverse Audiences Conference Planning Committee, nominated by Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). ARS members are Jimmy D. Goodman and Corinne Montandon (posthumously), Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, and Frankie Schwenk, formerly with the Beltsville (Md.) Human Nutrition Research Center.

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE

• The Current Research Information System Enhancement Group, nominated by CSREES. The group's ARS members are Darrell F. Cole, Office of Technology Transfer; Deana L. Parks, National Agricultural Library; and Charles F. Murphy and Frank Flora, National Program Staff, all at Beltsville, Md.
• The Scrapie Research Group, nominated by CSREES, with leader Katherine I. O'Rourke and Donald P. Knowles, as the ARS members. They are both at Animal Disease Research, Pullman, Washington.
• The National Food Safety Education Conference Planning Group, nominated by the Food Safety Inspection Service. The group's ARS member is Cynthia A. Roberts, a University of Maryland contract employee at the National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Md.