News Release

MADISON, WI, October 1, 2009 – The American Society of Agronomy (ASA) will recognize the following individuals at the 2009 Awards Ceremony on Nov. 2 during the scientific society’s Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA, www.acsmeetings.org. The annual awards are presented for outstanding contributions to agronomy through education, national and international service, and research.

• John L. Havlin, North Carolina State University – Agronomic Resident Education Award.John L. Havlin is a professor in the Soil Science Department and director of distance education, College of Agriculture, North Carolina State University. He received a B.S. from Illinois State University and M.S. and Ph.D. from Colorado State University. His expertise is in nutrient management and viticulture. He is a Fellow of ASA, SSSA, and the National Association of College Teachers in Agriculture. He also served as SSSA president. He received numerous awards and authored the textbook, Soil Fertility and Fertilizers. The Agronomic Resident Education Award recognizes traits that characterize excellence in resident classroom teaching through classroom skills, performance by graduates, student-teacher interactions, and recognition of accomplishments as a classroom teacher.

• Robert L. Nielsen, Purdue University – Agronomic Extension Education Award.Robert L. (Bob) Nielsen is professor and extension corn specialist in the Department of Agronomy at Purdue University. He received a B.S. from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Minnesota. His responsibilities include crop management research and extension programming for corn production in Indiana. Dr. Nielsen’s crop management website (KingCorn.org) was developed in 1994 and is a popular public agronomic site. The Agronomic Extension Education Award recognizes educational contributions of extension agronomists, industrial agronomists, or others whose primary contributions are in teaching or education outside the university classroom.

• Frederick A. Cholick, Kansas State University – Agronomic Service Award. Frederick A. Cholick is a professor of agronomy at Kansas State University and Dean of the College of Agriculture and director of K-State Research and Extension. Dr. Cholick has a B.S. from Oregon State University and M.S. and Ph.D. from Colorado State University. He has been a wheat breeder, worked in international agriculture development, provided leadership for federal agricultural funding, and farm bill legislation. The Agronomic Service Award recognizes development of agronomic service programs, practices, and products for acceptance by the pubic. The focus is on agronomic service with associated educational, public relations, and administrative contributions of industrial agronomists, governmental, industrial, or university administrators, and others.

• Douglas Bentson, GRAINCO FS Inc. – ICCA of the Year Award. Douglas Bentson is a Certified Crop Adviser and Certified Crop Specialist with GRAINCO FS Inc., Mazon, IL. He received an associate’s degree in agriculture from Joliet Junior College. He has been advising local farmers, working within the FS system, and networking with crop specialists for more than 30 years. His focus is working with local farmers on improving crop yields while limiting their risk with the aim of improving their bottom line.The award recognizes a Certified Crop Adviser who delivers exceptional customer service, is highly innovative, ahs shown leadership in the field, and has contributed substantially to the exchange of ideas and the transfer of agronomic knowledge in the agriculture industry.

• B. Todd Campbell, USDA-ARS, Florence, SC. – ASA–CSSA–SSSA Early Career Professional Award. B. Todd Campbell is a research geneticist at the USDA-ARS Coastal Plains Research Center, Florence, SC. He received a B.S. from North Carolina State University, and M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Nebraska. His program combines traditional breeding and molecular tools to enhance cotton production. Dr. Campbell serves as an associate editor for Crop Science, member of the cotton germplasm registration committee, and member of the cotton germplasm and national cotton variety testing committees. The Early Career Professional Award recognizes early career members who have made an outstanding contribution in agronomy, crop science, and/or soil science within seven years of completing their final degree.

• Patrick C. Wall, CIMMYT – International Service in Agronomy Award. Patrick C. Wall is director of CIMMYT’s Global Conservation Agriculture Program. He received a B.S. from University of Rhodesia, and M.S. and Ph.D. from Reading University, England. For the past 20 years he has focused on the adaptation of the principles of conservation agriculture to the conditions of farmers with different biophysical and socioeconomic circumstances, especially those of smallholder resource-poor farmers.

• Charles W. Rice, Kansas State University – Environmental Quality Research Award.Charles W. (Chuck) Rice is a distinguished professor in the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University. He received a B.S. from Northern Illinois University, and M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Kentucky. His research focus is on soil microbial ecology and soil carbon and nitrogen transformations in agricultural and grassland ecosystems. He served as associate editor of Soil Science Society of America Journal and is Fellow of ASA, SSSA, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

• Robert L. Mikkelsen, The International Plant Nutrition Institute – Agronomic Industry Award. Robert L. Mikkelsen is the western North American director of the International Plant Nutrition Institute. He conducts training on nutrient management throughout the region. He previously was on the faculty at North Carolina State University and a research scientist with the Tennessee Valley Authority. He received a B.S. from Brigham Young University and Ph.D. from University of California-Riverside. He serves on the board of directors for SSSA and the American Society for Horticultural Science.

• David B. Mengel, Kansas State University – Werner L. Nelson Award for Diagnosis of Yield-Limiting Factors. David B. Mengel is a professor of agronomy at Kansas State University with responsibilities in research, extension, and teaching. He received a B.S. and M.S. from Purdue University and Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. He previously served on the faculties of Louisiana State and Purdue. His applied research and extension program focuses on fertilizer management, especially nitrogen, making efficient fertilizer recommendations, soil testing, and plant analysis. The Werner L. Nelson Award for Diagnosis of Yield-Limiting Factors recognizes outstanding performance in the development, acceptance, and/or implementation of diagnostic techniques and approaches in the field. The selection criteria are the creativity and innovation of the nominee. The award is supported through a contribution by the late Dr. Nelson to the Agronomic Science Foundation.

• Lea Shanley – ASA-CSSA-SSSA Congressional Science Fellow. Lea Shanley works in the office of Senator Bill Nelsons (D-Florida) where she serves as the resident expert on scientific and technical issues. Shanley is a recent Ph.D. graduate (2008) from the University of Wisconsin. She is a broadly-trained professional who blends policy and inter-agency coordination experience with in-depth knowledge of geographic information science (GIScience) and its application to environmental and resource management. Her research efforts and professional activities have focused on the intersection of science and technology, law, and society.
  
  
• Gebisa Ejeta, Purdue University – E.T. & Vam York Distinguished ASA Lectureship. Gebisa Ejeta’s personal journey would lead him from a childhood in a one-room thatched hut in rural Ethiopia to scientific acclaim as a distinguished professor, plant breeder, and geneticist at Purdue University. Dr. Ejeta is the recipient of the 2009 World Food Prize for his contributions in the production of sorghum, which have dramatically enhanced the food supply for millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. His scientific breakthroughs in breeding drought-tolerant and Striga-resistant sorghum have combined with his persistent efforts to foster economic development and the empowerment of subsistence farmers through the creation of agricultural enterprises in rural Africa. He has been selected to present the E.T. & Vam York Distinguished ASA Lectureship at the 2009 ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting.
  
  

• James B. Beard, Texas A&M University – Martin & Ruth Massengale Distinguished ASA Lectureship. James B. Beard is professor emeritus in the Soil and Crop Sciences Department at Texas A&M University. He received a B.S. from The Ohio State University, and M.S., Ph.D., and D.A. honoris causa from Purdue University. Dr. Beard has provided leadership and coordination of research programs in stress physiology and culture of cool- and warm-season turfgrasses. Teaching activities included undergraduate courses, plus graduate grass ecology and stress physiology courses, and as major professor to 47 graduate students. He has been selected to present the Martin & Ruth Massengale Distinguished ASA Lectureship at the 2009 ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting.