Plant
Session Instructors
BIOSAFETY and BIOSECURITY TRAINING COURSE - 2008
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.