Class Secretary: Tina Psalidas Lamson, 1 Intervale Way, Ipswich MA 01938, lamson@attbi.com

Class President: Donald McDade, 838 Brighton Ave., Portland ME 04102, dmcdade@llbean.com

Brian Staskawicz received the Noel T. Keen Award for Research Excellence in Molecular Plant Pathology from the American Phytopathological Society. A press release on the award noted that Brian has “been in the forefront of research on plant resistance genes,” adding that his research could have a “major impact on future plant breeding practices….. Not only can we expect a clearer understanding of the molecular basis of gene-for-gene disease resistance, but in the near future this work should contribute to practical efforts to improve disease control by engineering broad-spectrum resistance into important crop plants.” Brian is the Maxine J. Elliot Professor and chair of the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the Univ. of California-Berkeley.