View our first place entry in the 2008 APS "Dirty Jobs in Plant Pathology" video contest.

Near left, graduate student Sarah Ellis accepts a plaque and $500 cash award from Martin Draper (center), APS member of the Office of Public Relations and Outreach. The award was presented during the 2008 APS Centennial Meeting at the Grad Student Social on July 28. The contest sought entertaining and educational videos along the lines of the Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs.

Earlier this year, the American Phytopathological Society announced a "Dirty Jobs" video contest in conjunction with the 2008 Centennial Meeting. With a goal of involving as many students as possible, we developed a script idea around rotting potatoes and plant disease diagnosis. The diseased potatoes helped us tie our story to potato late blight and the Irish potato famine. This has great historical significance and is associated with the beginning of plant pathology as a discipline. The idea was helped along by our undergrad club, PHARM. PHARM developed an activity that incorporated lessons from the Irish potato famine for an elementary school event, Scarlet and Gray Ag Day, that also coincidentally had an historical theme.

The scenes depicted in the video, including the tragic diagnosis for Clara's hosta plant, are (very loosely) based on true events. - ML

CREDITS - In order of appearance

OH-IO introduction, left to right . . . Amber Hoffstetter, Jessica Schafer, Kate Gearhart, Erica Stone, Nick Weidenbenner, Bridget Meiring, Laura Bruner, Amanda Hayes and Kara Riggs
Host at the table (in purple vest) . . .Soledad Benitez
Plant pathologists at the table . . . Nagendra Subedi (screen right) and Kirk Broders (screen left)
Students examining potato specimens in lab . . . Jessica Schafer; Patrick Sherwood; Ashley Sommers

Hosts at the diagnostic clinic . . . Sarah Ellis (white shirt) and Katie Ellis (blue shirt)
Disease clinic diagnostician . . . Bridget Meiring
Woman with hosta plant . . . Clara Zumpetta
Scientist mixing media . . . John Koenig
Scientist at autoclave and lab bench . . . Hehe Wang
Scientist with scary specimen . . . Maria Andrea Ortega

Narrator . . .Sarah Ellis
Script and production . . . Sarah Ellis and Monica Lewandowski

Special thanks to Bridget Meiring, Mike Boehm, Nancy Taylor, Sawsan Elateek, Rosa Raudales, Carola De La Torre Cuba, Matt Wallhead, Fulya Baysal Gurel and Lanny Rhodes -

and for great IT expertise from Brian Weaver, Brian Mowery, Tim Nunn, CommTech and the Digital Union.