Bridges

G. Allen Bridges has joined the department as the Extension specialist in reproductive physiology. A native of Missouri, Bridges earned his PhD from The Ohio State University and is conducting research on factors that affect fertility in livestock species.

Daniel Egel, a Purdue Extension plant pathologist based at the Southwest Purdue Ag Center near Vincennes, is the 2007 Eric G. Sharvelle Distinguished Extension Specialist Award winner. Egel was honored for his research in melon diseases and his outreach with the Melon Disease Forecaster, or Melcast, a weather-based system that forecasts foliar diseases in muskmelon and watermelon. This system has helped growers eliminate two to three annual fungicide applications, saving more than 12,187 pounds of fungicide over a two-year period, which totaled a savings of $60,303 for muskmelon and watermelon growers. The Sharvelle Award honors Eric Sharvelle, a former Purdue professor of botany and plant pathology.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has established the Dr. Philip E. Nelson Innovation Prize to recognize outstanding Hoosier scientists for their unique discoveries, research and inventions. The prize honors Phil Nelson, BS ’56, PhD ’67, the Scholle Chair Professor in Food Processing, who was awarded the 2007 World Food Prize in October for his revolutionary achievements in the field of aseptic food processing. The $5,000 Nelson Innovation Prize will recognize a Hoosier scientist whose work goes beyond pure scientific research and leads to the creation of products or processes that revolutionize industry, inspire further scientific inquiry, and improve the quality of life.

Tamara Benjamin, MS ’96, PhD ’00, a Purdue research scientist who lives in Costa Rica, was one of seven delegates selected from Costa Rica to participate in a meeting with representatives from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture to help Central American countries better prepare for the Central America Free Trade Agreement.

Rick Meilan, a faculty member since 2003, has been inducted into the Purdue Agriculture Millionaire’s Club for recognition of his involvement in projects that have received grants in excess of $1 million.

Neil Knobloch is one of two faculty members recognized nationally as the best new university teachers. The award is jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. The award honors Knobloch’s “exemplary teaching and university service, coupled with sound scholarship (to) provide a great example of how university faculty members can effectively serve both the educational and professional needs of their institutions and the broader society.” Knobloch, who joined the faculty in 2007, received the award at the 120th annual NASULGC meeting in New York in November.

Christy Penner, Ashley Bechman and David Mohler, all students from agricultural education and agricultural communication, won the Nov. 8 Townsend Outstanding Communicator in Agriculture Debate Competition at Purdue. The debate topic was whether the future of Indiana’s rural economy depends on agriculture. The competition was open to student teams in the College of Agriculture. Second place went to Team JCD, composed of Jessica Cummins, who is majoring in animal sciences, and Cullen Deady, who is majoring in forestry and natural resources.