Directory

Mike Boehm, Professor and Chair
boehm.1@osu.edu

Joe Rimelspach, Extension Research Associate
rimelspach.1@osu.edu

Mike Boehm I am a native of Ohio. I grew up in Sheffield Lake in Lorain County and graduated from Heidelberg College where I majored in Biology. I completed my MS and PhD in Plant Pathology at Ohio State with Dr. Harry Hoitink in the area of biological control of Pythium root rot of poinsettia.

Upon completion of my PhD, I joined Dr. Joyce Loper's lab in the USDA ARS Horticultural Crops Research Unit on the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis, where I worked on the role siderophore-mediated iron competition played in suppression of soft rot of potato.  After Corvallis, I was an Assistant Professor at Monmouth College in Illinois, where I advised students and taught several courses.  Soon thereafter, I received word that a faculty position at Ohio State was open. I applied and the rest is history. I never imagined that I'd be on the faculty in the very department from which I received my graduate degrees, but am honored to have this opportunity.  My wife and I live in Worthington and have been blessed with two fantastic kids - Kirby and Karly.  On a final note, I was a member of the U.S. Naval Reserves where I served as a biowarfare (BW) threat agent testing specialist.  I was recalled to active duty following the intentional release of anthrax in the Hart Senate Office building and spent 14 months on active duty.  I assumed the role of Department Chair in 2007.

Joe Rimelspach Extension Research Associate

Todd Hicks Program Coordinator

Dr. Venu Reddyvari Channarayappa

John Koenig MS Student Hometown: Miller City, Ohio BS, Turfgrass Science, Ohio State

MS Research: Controlling dollar spot with fungicide applications on asymptomatic turfgrass in the fall and spring to correlate fungicide efficiency to climatic conditions.  Using digital imagery analyses to rate disease severity based on the percent area of symptoms observed.

Sarah D. Ellis MS Graduate, 2009 Hometown: Wilmington, Ohio BS, Landscape horticulture, Ohio State MS project: Development of plant pathology educational resources: online tools; educational and outreach materials; teaching.

Sarah is developing educational materials designed to encourage youth investigations in plant pathology such as "Idea Starters" for 4-H and the American Phytopathological Society (APS) Education Center and plant pathology Extension Fact Sheets. > More

Spring 2009 Graduation Sarah Ellis (accepting her diploma, left) M.S., Plant Pathology (advisor, M. Boehm)

Robbie Beaulieu Comparative Studies major, Honors Program, Ohio State Undergraduate Honors Thesis research:  Dollar spot disease on turfgrass; investigations into oxalic acid production in Sclerotinia homoeocarpa, the causal agent of dollar spot.

Robbie was honored as one of Ohio State's top scholars as the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship.  Robbie is currently studying with Jose Pascual, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicasa del Segura, Murcia, Spain.

Fall 2008 - Papa Diedhiou (Universite de Theis, Senegal), Mike Boehm, Sarah Ellis, and Kenneth Shenge (Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria).

Fall 2007 - Visiting scientists Joseph Honger (second from left) and Eric Cornelius (second from right) from the University of Ghana, and Boane Kwerepe, University of Botswana (far right).