American Phytopathological Society

Potomac Division

The 55th annual meeting of the Potomac Division was held jointly with the Northeastern Division at the Loews Hotel in Annapolis, Maryland, from March 10-12, 1999. The theme for the meeting was: "Bridging Technology Gaps in Education and Research"

The program started on Wednesday afternoon with a cancellation, due to heavy snow fall the previous day, of the Forest Pathology Tour of Washington DC, organized by Dale Bergdahl, Bill MacDonald, and Rob Defeo and Jim Sherald of the National Park Service. Instead, a group toured the Naval Academy grounds. The traditional Extension Update session, organized by Erik Stromberg and Norm Lalancette, and the Industry Update, organized by Roger Kaiser, proceeded as scheduled. This was followed by an evening symposium on "Delivery of Information Through New Technologies - Communications in the New Millennium", organized by David Clement.

Potomac Division President Nichole O'Neill opened the Thursday morning session by introducing Dr. Henry A. Virts, D.V.M., Maryland Secretary of Agriculture, and Dr. James W. Wade, Associate Dean and Associate Director, University of Maryland Cooperative Extension, who welcomed the attendees. This was followed by a symposium on "The Relative Value of Molecular Characters in Understanding Fungal Evolution," organized by Paul Tooley, and concurrent contributed papers. After lunch, it was time for the Graduate Student Paper Competition of the combined divisions, where four papers were presented, followed by contributed papers, and the business meeting (see below). A poster session and industry and APHIS display was combined with a social and preceded the banquet. The Friday morning program consisted of a concurrent contributed papers, and a symposium on "Advances in the Biology and Management of Gray Leaf Spot (Pyricularia grisea) in Cool-Season Turfgrasses," organized by Peter Dernoeden. This symposium drew 123 non-division members from the regional and national turfgrass industry.

The Thursday evening banquet was highlighted by numerous awards to members and students to recognize their achievements. APS President Dr. Carol Windels delivered the banquet address, describing some of the results of the recent APS membership survey.

The Potomac Division Distinguished Service Award was presented to Dr. Seong Hwan Kim and Dr. Kenneth L. Deahl by immediate past president Ethel Dutky, in recognition of their service to the Potomac Division. The Northeastern Division presented its Award of Distinction to Stan Pennypacker. Potomac Division's Bob Mulrooney and Northeastern Division's Peter Oudemans, co-chairs of the graduate student competition evaluation committee, announced the winners of the joint student paper competition. First place certificates and awards ($250 each) were by both R. Scott Shaw, Michigan State University, for his paper "Cyanide-resistant respiration and altered virulence in the oak wilt fungus Ceratocystis fagacearum," co-authored by H. Bertrand and D.W. Fulbright, and Peter M. Sforza, Virginia Tech, for his paper "Effect of transgene Bt toxin and applications of tefluthrin, azoxystrobin and propiconazole on yield and agronomic characters of near isoline double-cropped corn in Virginia", co-authored with E.S. Hagood, and E.L. Stromberg. The Resolutions committee, chaired by Tom van der Zwet, presented official thanks and resolutions in the traditional format of the Potomac Division. Following the presentation of the awards, the new officers of the division were presented. They are:

President	Bob Mulrooney, Univ. of Delaware
Vice-President	Vern Damsteegt, USDA, Frederick
Secretary/Treasurer	Anton Baudoin, VPI&SU
Councilor	Erik Stromberg, VPI&SU
Immediate Past President	Nikki O'Neill, USDA, Beltsville

A total of 15 posters and 22 contributed papers, of which 4 were graduate student competition papers, were presented at the meeting.

The business meeting, starting with a joint session of the Potomac and Northeastern Divisions was opened by Potomac President Nikki O'Neill.

Marguerite Benedict read the necrology report. She commemorated the life and career of Dr. Richard Sayre, a USDA nematologist with a great interest in biological control of nematodes, and Dr. Horace Barnett of West Virginia University, a former APS President, cherished teacher, and author of a famous book.

Northeast President Chris Becker introduced APS President Carol Windels, who commented on various aspects of the Society's business. Journal pricing structure is being reviewed, and on-line enhancements such as the ability to publish pictures with Disease Notes and layman's summaries with Plant Disease articles will be introduced. Eighty percent of APS Press sales are to non-Society members. CD-roms are doing well and more are coming. Publication of Fungicide and Nematicide Tests has been transferred to APS Press, and on-line publication will be added. APS-Net features are proving popular. Additional Net areas are being developed including citable "Plant Pathways" which will include areas devoted to teaching, as well as Fungicide and Nematicide Tests. APS Foundation activities include an increasing number of student travel awards, the Melhus student speaker, the JANE (Niederhauser) Fund, and the OIP Challenge at the national meeting. The Office of International Programs is continuing its activities in providing library assistance to institutions in Third-World countries. The Office of Public Affairs and Education produces an increasing number of press releases and organizes displays at expos and teacher conferences. Future meeting sites will be Montreal (1999), New Orleans (2000), Salt Lake City (2001), and Milwaukee (2002). In response to a question there was some discussion about archiving Net materials and the practice of posting one's own papers on one's own website.

Cynthia Ash presented a brief report on behalf of Headquarters' staff. HQ employs about 75 employees, of which 50% works for APS. Major activities involve publications (journals, APS Press) and membership services. APS is starting a short course program, with several offerings this year, including a refresher course in statistics, a course in molecular biology and genomics (in conjunction with the Montreal meeting), and conferences on shade tree diseases and ecology of urban soils. APS will also be involved in the celebration of Science on the Mall with the Smithsonian in October 1999 in Washington DC. APS also administers the "certified professional plant pathologist" certification program.

Potomac Division Councilor Erik Stromberg reported on society finances. Prices of journal subscriptions will go up by $5 while page charges will be reduced by $30. Northeastern Division councilor Tom Burr encouraged people to have students apply for the Melhus award.

David Clement reported on behalf of the Local Arrangements Committee on meeting registration numbers, which are shown in the table below

Attendance at the 1999 joint meeting of the Potomac and Northeastern Divisions of APS

	Northeast	Potomac	Both Div	Other	Total
Regular members	27	49	5	6	87
Student members	11	11			22
Emeritus members		3			3
One-day, turf symposium				123	123
One-day, other	1	4		5	10
Column Totals	39	67	5	134	245

Jim Locke was unable to be present to provide an update on future Division meetings. The plan is that the Potomac Division will host a joint meeting every 5 years with the next one schedule in 2003, while the Northeastern Division will host one in 2001 or perhaps 2002. This concluded the joint part of the business meeting.

Both Divisions then continued with a separate session. The Potomac Division's Treasurer's report for 1998 was presented by Treasurer Anton Baudoin. The operating account showed a deficit of $117.03, while the Memorial Fund gained $115.29. Part of the Memorial Fund has been transferred to an investment account through APS Headquarters (same kind of account where APS Foundation funds are invested); due to fluctuations in the stock market this has not yet resulted in much gain. Nikki O'Neill read the report of the Auditing Committee, consisting of Diane Reaver and R. Jay Stipes, that they had found the accounts to be in order. The Treasurer's report was accepted.

Ethel Dutky reported on behalf of the Nominations and Elections committee that Vern Damsteegt has been elected Vice-President. She also reported that some votes had been received by email, and presented a motion to allow this practice, with the understanding that the identity of email voters cannot be kept secret from the ballot counters. The motion to allow email voting was seconded and approved.

Erik Stromberg read a list of companies that had made contributions toward meeting expenses: Zeneca, Rohm and Haas, Tomen Agro, Novartis, Bayer, BASF, Uniroyal, and American Cyanamid.

Ethel Dutky reported that there were no applicants for the Memorial Fund Travel award, so the award was not made this year.

Secretary Anton Baudoin reported that he had updated the Division's Bylaws with the amendments made by past business meetings and posted the update on the Division's website. Since the position of immediate past president has accumulated a considerable number of duties over the years, the officers have discussed adding the immediate past president to the Executive Committee of the Division. However, since this involves a change in the Division's Constitution, this proposal will need to be formally announced to the membership before it can be voted on at next year's business meeting.

APS Foundation reported that the Jack Barnes Travel Fund was only $534 short of becoming endowed, and asked both the Potomac and Northeast Division to consider contributing $267. The motion to grant this contribution was made and seconded, amended to round up the amount to $300, and carried.

Bob Mulrooney issued the formal invitation to the Division to have the year 2000 meeting at the University of Delaware at Newark.

Respectfully submitted,

Anton Baudoin, Secretary/Treasurer, Potomac Division, APS