OARDC Announces Junior, Senior, Krauss Research Awards

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Research awards went to animal scientist Joy Pate, weed ecologist John Cardina and Maxim Teplitski, a doctoral graduate of the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, when the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) held its 2003 annual research conference April 24 in Columbus. Pate, associate chair of and a professor in the Department of Animal Sciences, received the 2003 Senior Faculty Research Award. She specializes in bovine research -- specifically, the regulation of steroidogenesis in bovine corpus luteum and the involvement of immune cells in the destruction of corpus luteum. She has received about $2 million in extramural funding and has received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 1986. She has been invited to present her research to 25 national and international groups, has served on the editorial boards of three journals, and is an ad-hoc reviewer for 12 journals. She received the Gamma Sigma Delta Award of Merit in 1999, the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences' Outstanding Young Teacher Award in 1989, and the Pomerene Teaching Enhancement Award in 1988. She joined OARDC, which is part of Ohio State University, in 1983. Cardina, an associate professor in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, received the 2003 Junior Faculty Research Award. His research focus is on weed ecology and management. He works to reduce the effects of weeds and other invasive plants on the economy, the environment and human health. He has published 53 widely cited journal articles, has generated more than $3 million in funding, and is recognized nationally and internationally for his research on weed seed banks and weed spatial distribution. He has been an associate editor of Weed Technology and the Journal of Environmental Quality, a manuscript reviewer for seven journals, a member of four USDA review panels, and a reviewer of 100 research proposals. He trains and advises graduate students and post-doctoral researchers and frequently teaches on Ohio State's Columbus campus and at the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute. He joined OARDC in 1988. Pate and Cardina each received $1,000, a plaque and a one-time funding supplement to their research programs. Teplitski was honored with the William E. Krauss Director's Award for Excellence in Research for his doctoral dissertation, "Quorum-sensing in Sinohizobium meliloti and Effect of Plant Signals on Bacterial Quorum Sensing." Dietz Bauer, professor in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, was his advisor. The award, named for the center's first associate director, provides a $1,000 honorium plus travel expenses to present the study at the conference. Members of the selection committee were OARDC scientists Mark Morrison, Mario Miranda, Michelle Jones, Mark Failla and Ron Hammond. The research conference -- titled "Carbon Sequestration and Global Climate Change: Environmental, Social and Economic Issues" and featuring a range of scientists, farmers and other speakers -- was held at Ohio State's Wexner Center for the Arts. - 30 - Editor: Photographs of Joy Pate, John Cardina and Maxim Teplitski are available from OARDC photographer Ken Chamberlain, (330) 263-3779, chamberlain.1@osu.edu.