FORT COLLINS, COLORADO - Plant Session Instructors
Dann Adair
Mr. Dann Adair received a Bachelor of Science in Integrated Pest Management from the University of Minnesota in 1991 where he worked as a plant growth facility manager for 21 years. Prior to that, he managed Plant Pathology greenhouses at the University of Illinois. He is currently a Greenhouse Application Specialist with Controlled Environments Inc. (Conviron). While at the University of Minnesota, Dann chaired the safety committee for the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota which responded to ELF/ALF attacks, student animal rights groups, and 911 issues. Co–authoring A Practical Guide to Containment: Greenhouse Research with Transgenic Plants and Microbes in 2001 also gave Dann the opportunity to research issues related to this subject and speak publicly at several meetings in North America and the UK. Dann was also a primary driver of the University of Minnesota's recently completed $25M Plant Growth Facilities project which includes an insect quarantine facility. Dann left the University in March 2003 to help create the Aurora Research Greenhouse for Conviron, a product built to address research needs which include containment capability. He is an active member of the Association of Education and Research Greenhouse Curators, attends professional meetings as a representative for Conviron, and travels extensively to public and private plant growth facilities across North America.
Ed Canfield
Mr. Ed Canfield is a Graduate of Eastern Michigan Univ, BS, and is a member of ABSA; IEST (Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology); ISPE (International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering). Ed is an NSF Accredited biological safety cabinet certifier. He has over 25 years experience in certification and service of all types of biological safety cabinets and HEPA filtered devices. ED has certified cabinets and HEPA filters in research facilities, BSL3 laboratories, biotech firms, universities, pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, animal facilities, hospitals, and many other environments. Ed is currently based in Littleton, CO, and is the Regional Service Manager and Field Service Specialist for Technical Safety Services, Inc., servicing Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico. Technical Safety Services, headquartered in Berkeley, CA, specializes in the certification and service of biological safety cabinets and HEPA filters.
Jan E. Leach
Dr. Jan E. Leach earned her MS in 1977 (Microbiology) at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and her PhD (Plant Pathology) in 1981 from the Univeraity of Wisconsin, Madison. She was a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at Kansas State University from 1998–2004. Jan is currently Professor and a plant pathologist in the Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management Department at Colorado State University. Jan is an authority on the molecular biology of plant–pathogen interactions. Using rice and a bacterial disease as a model system, she studies how plants defend themselves from pathogens. The bacterial pathogen that she has studied for over 20 years causes major crop losses in Asia, and is considered a quarantine pathogen in the USA. Jan is the current Vice President of the American Phytopathological Society (APS), and she serves on the Public Policy Board for that society. As a member of the Public Policy Board, Jan has been involved in a recent survey of members of several scientific societies to provide insight into the impacts of current regulations on pathogen movement and containment on research, extension, and education.
June I. Medford
Dr. June I. Medford earned her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1986 in Biology, with expertise in plant molecular biology. Dr. Medford subsequently spent 3 years as a post-doctoral associate with the plant molecular biology group at Monsanto conducting plant genetic engineering experiments and producing some of the world's first transgenic plants. Dr. Medford moved to her own research laboratory at The Pennsylvania State University where she was one of the first researchers in Pennsylvania to work on transgenic plants. In 1996 she moved to Colorado State University and has served on and as the chair of the Institutional Biosafety Committee. In addition, Dr. Medford also serves on the IBC committee at the National Renewal Energy laboratory in Golden Colorado.
Howard F. Schwartz
Dr. Howard Schwartz is a Professor of Plant Pathology & Associate Department Head of the Dept. of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management at Colorado State University. Howard earned his MS in Plant Pathology (Plant Breeding Minor) in 1975 from the University of Minnesota – St. Paul, and his PhD in Life Sciences (Plant Pathology) in 1977 from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Howard was the Senior Staff Scientist – Plant Pathologist CIAT Bean Program, Cali, Colombia from1976–1980. He joined the faculty at Colorado State University in 1980, and has been Professor of Plant Pathology since 1991, and is Co–director of the Center for Crop BioSecurity at Colorado State University, and a member of the Rocky Mountain Institute for BioSecurity Research. Howard's Research/Extension interests include: Integrated Pest Management (common rust and white mold of dry bean; bacterial diseases and the thrips–transmitted Iris Yellow Spot Virus of onion) with emphasis upon management by disease survey and reporting network supported by GPS/GIS technology, disease resistance, cultural practices, and timely applications of pesticides in response to environmental monitoring (COAGMET) and crop/pest modeling. Delivery of time–sensitive information via traditional extension formats, in addition to the internet (VegNet, CSUAG.COM).
Ned Tisserat
Dr. Ned Tisserat is a native of Colorado and received his B.S. in Plant Pathology from Colorado State University. He received a M.S from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Plant Pathology. Ned was employed by Kansas State University as extension specialist and researcher from 1984–2004. In 2004 he joined the department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management at CSU. He is currently the IPM coordinator at CSU and is the associate director of the Great Plains Diagnostic Network, created in 2002 as part of Homeland Security to protect agriculture in the nation’s heartland.
Steven Ziegenfuss
Mr. Steven Ziegenfuss is a Biological Safety Specialist at Iowa State University with 10 plus years experience with United States Department of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention permitting. Steve received a BS in Environmental Science from Clarke College in Dubuque, IA in 1986. Steve joined Kemin Industries in Des Moines, IA in 1991 and served in a variety of research and regulatory positions including Manager of Regulatory Affairs. Steve’s work has involved him in U.S. Food and Drug Administration food additive petitions, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pesticide permit applications, and Department of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention infectious agent permits as well as original research resulting in three patents. Steve joined Iowa State University in 2005 and currently oversees the permitting process for Department of Agriculture Veterinary Services, Plant Protection and Quarantine and Biotechnology Regulatory Services permitting as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention permit application and renewal process for faculty and researchers. In addition to his involvement in permitting at Iowa State, Steve also has significant involvement in hazardous materials shipping; biosafety oversight of infectious agents affecting plants, animals and humans, genetically engineered organisms, BSL–1, BSL–2 and BSL–3 laboratories; the Select Agent Program, and the Iowa State University Laboratory Safety Program.