American Phytopathological Society Potomac Division
The 2002 meeting of the Potomac Division was held jointly with the Eastern Regional Conference on the Ecology of Root-Infecting Microorganisms (ERCERIM) on March 4-6 at the Fort Magruder Radisson in Williamsburg, Virginia. Fred Shokes served as the local arrangements chair. Attendance was estimated at 60-70, including at least 10 students.
The scientific programs started Monday morning with a Welcome by Fred Shokes, followed by an ERCERIM symposium on: "Sclerotinia: Biology and epidemiology in field crops" chaired by Pat Phipps included presentations on genetics, and disease forecasting. A second symposium on: "Disease management: Cultural, biological, chemical, and molecular" was chaired by Chuck Johnson and discussed use of weather forecasting for spray advisories, biological control methods, and systemic resistance. An afternoon symposium, "Conventional versus Organic Agriculture" was chaired by Richard Baird and described microbial communities and biological control. The afternoon concluded with a symposium on "New techniques for identification of soil microbes" chaired by Don Huber. It reviewed advances in use of aminopeptidase profiling, PCR and AFLP methods, and Fatty Acid-Methyl Esterase techniques.
Tuesday morning opened with a Keynote address by Marc Cubeta entitled: "Recent advances in understanding the population dynamics of the hidden enemy, Rhizoctonia solani". Eight contributed papers were presented during the remainder of the morning in an extended session chaired by S. A. Alexander. A tour of Colonial Williamsburg included discussions of grounds maintenance in that historic setting. It was followed by an Industry/Extension Update session chaired by Erik Stromberg and Arv Grybauskas which included discussions of various new products, pathogen occurrence, and disease management methods throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.
A poster session was held Tuesday evening. Nine posters were presented. A pre-banquet social included the piano talents and harmonizing of Jay Stipes. At the banquet, the Best Student Paper Award was presented to Josh Marvel of Virginia Tech for his paper (co-authored with Sam Alexander): "Evaluation of selected fungicides for control of anthracnose on bell pepper".
The scientific program concluded Wednesday morning with three contributed papers and a session of invited papers on Updates in Plant Pathology, chaired by Anton Baudoin. These included discussions of plant activators, fungicide resistance in strobilurins, Xanthomonas taxonomy, and an update on Plum Pox virus.
Potomac Division Business Meeting, March 5
The 58th annual Business meeting of the Potomac Divisions was called to order by President Anton Baudoin at 12:50 PM on Tuesday, March 5. A moment of silence was held in memory of Hoyt Wilson who passed away this year.
APS staff member John Meyers gave a brief report from Headquarters and described the new electronic journal "Crop health Management" as well as efforts to expand the APS Press Books program. He also encouraged attendance at the APS Annual meeting in Milwaukee.
The APS Councilor's report was presented by Arv Grybauskas. He indicated that new student memberships would receive a 2-years subscription to a journal for the price of one membership, and offer being subsidized by the APS Foundation. The "Governance issue" continues to be addressed by APS Council and several options will be discussed at the annual meeting.
The Minutes of the 2001 meeting and the 2001 Treasurer's report were circulated by James Kotcon and approved. An audit committee report was offered by Clarissa Balbalian and William Macdonald. They recommended that ledgers be updated to detail each transaction individually and that accounting of mingled funds in the Memorial Fund and the Operating Fund should be revised to account for each separately. Tom Evans moved, Arv Grybauskas seconded that the audit committee report be approved. Motion carried.
On behalf of the local arrangements committee, Fred Shokes indicated that the meeting was running smoothly.
The nominations committee reported that Bill Bruckart had been elected Vice-President.
No report of the Industry Relations committee was available and no student applied for the Graduate Student Travel Award. Tom Evans moved that two awards be offered next year. Arv Grybauskas seconded, motion carried.
Dave Clement reported that no award was made for the graduate student competition.
Jim Locke reported on behalf of an ad hoc committee regarding surplus funds of the Division. He is soliciting ideas on how to use these funds and indicated that recommendations would be presented at the next meeting.
Tom Evans moved, Bill Macdonald seconded, that the Division allocate up to $600 for a Division social at the 2002 Annual APS meeting. Motion carried.
Anton Baudoin moved, Tom Evans seconded, that the Student Travel award and Best Student Paper awards be increased by $100 each. The Student Travel award would be $500, First place in the Best Student Paper would be $350 and second place would be $200. Motion carried.
Erik Stromberg encouraged students to attend the national meeting and participate in the de Bary Bowl competition.
Dave Clement announced that the next meeting would be held jointly with the Eastern Branch of the Entomological society of America at the Harrisburg Hilton in Harrisburg, PA.
Vern Damsteegt suggested that the 2004 meeting could be held at either the USDA in Fort Detrick, MD or at West Virginia University. A decision would be made at the next meting.
The meeting adjourned at 1:27 PM.
Respectfully submitted by:
James Kotcon, Secretary/Treasurer