CFAES Give Today
Plant Pathology

Department of Plant Pathology

CFAES

Janson Stover Scholarship

Blair F. Janson and Wilmer G. Stover Scholarship

Blair Janson and Wilmer StoverBlair Janson was a faculty member in the Department of Plant Pathology for over 25 years, and Wilmer G. Stover was on the faculty from 1910-1952. Dr. Stover was an advisor and teacher to numerous students, ncluding Dr. Janson.  In 2008, Dr. Janson established the Blair F. Janson and Wilmer G. Stover Scholarship Fund to support travel grants for undergraduate and graduate students.  This award thus honors two people whose contributions  in Research, Teaching and Extension helped establish the foundation of this department.

Taylor Klass - International graduate study travel to Guatemala

Godwill Chewachong - Katherine Gambone

2016 - Dominique Tate and Anna Testen

Janson Stover Awards2015 - David Showalter and Ellie Walsh

David Showalter, Ph.D. student, was awarded a 2015 Blair F. Janson and Wilmer G. Stover Travel Scholarship by the Department of Plant Pathology.  Showalter is investigating mechanisms of ash tree resistance to emerald ash borer.  His advisor is Pierluigi (Enrico) Bonello. Showalter received the 2015 Charles E. Thorne Memorial Associateship by the Ohio State's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, which honors one outstanding graduate student each year.  Showalter and Michael Falk, an entomology graduate student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, were also recognized by the Entomological Society of America with a first place award for their outreach video, Can We Save Ash Trees from the Emerald Ash Borer?  The video was part of a successful crowdfunding campaign on experiment.com to raise research funds.

Ellie Walsh, PhD. student, was also awarded a 2015 Blair F. Janson and Wilmer G. Stover Travel Scholarship by the Department of Plant Pathology.  Walsh's research centers on root know nematode, one of the most economically damaging plant parasitic nematodes of plants worldwide.  Her research focuses on mechanisms of parasitism, and molecular interactions between the root knot nematode parasite and the host plant.  Walsh was awarded an OARDC SEEDS grant for this project and has presented her research at numerous professional society meetings.  She served as president of Plant Pathology Graduate Students Association and is active in department activities.  On a national level, Walsh serves on the American Phytopathological Society (APS) Press Publications Board, and is the 2015-2016 chair of the APS Nematology Committee.


2011 - Melanie L. Lewis Ivey

Melanie L. Lewis Ivey, PhD candidate in plant pathology, was awarded a Blair F. Janson and Wilmer G. Stover travel award to present her research at the 2011 American Phytopathological Society Annual Meeting in Honolulu, August 6-10.  Ivey's advisor is Sally A. Miller.  Ivey is also employed as a research associate and will be the department's first student to earn a doctorate while working full-time.

Ivey's work in research, teaching and Extension centers on vegetable production practices and food safety, detection of phytopathogen and human pathogens in plant ecosystems, disease diagnostics, and molecular approaches to studying taxonomic relationships among plant pathogens.

Ivey received an OARDC SEEDS graduate research grant for studies on Escherichia coli O157:H7 on lettuce, and an OARDC SEEDS Small Industry Matching Grant for work on angular leaf spot in cucurbits.  She is a senior or co-author on 11 publications and two book chapters from her work in Ohio, and is first author on three OSU Extension Fact Sheets.  Ivey is currently an APS Public Policy Board intern and very active in APS endeavors.

A novel aspect of Ivey's dissertation involves incorporating principles from the social sciences to understand how vegetable producers obtain and process agricultural and food safety information to improve the development and delivery of Extension resources.  Ivey earned a B.Sc. from the University of Guelph and an M.Sc. from the University of Western Ontario.  She has been employed at OARDC since 1999 and is active in OARDC and department programs.


2011 - Amber L. Hoffstetter

Amber L. Hoffstetter received a Blair F. Janson and Wilmer G. Stover travel award to present her undergraduate research, "Managing Gray Mold on Geraniums with Biological Fungicides," at the APS North Central Division meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, June 15-17.  Her research, which was part of her honors thesis, was conducted with undergraduate advisors Dennis J. Lewandowski and Thomas K. Mitchell

Hoffstetter graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.S. in Agriculture-Plant Health Management, magna cum laude with Honors Research Distinction.

Hoffstetter, from Kinsman, Ohio, was named of the 20 Outstanding Seniors in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).  She was awarded second place in the CFAES Undergraduate Research Forum - Environmental and Plant Sciences Division for her honors thesis project.

During her undergraduate career, Hoffstetter served as president of plant pathology's undergraduate student organization and completed summer internships with Willoway Nurseries, Inc. in Avon, Ohio and AgReliant Genetics in Lebanon, Indiana.  After graduation, Hoffstetter entered the MS program in Ohio State's Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, where she will study wheat breeding with Clay Sneller at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster.


Ellis and Kriss2010 - Margaret Ellis (far right) and Alissa Kriss, Ph.D. students in plant pathology, were the first recipients of travel awards from the university's Blair F. Janson and Wilmer G. Stover Scholarship.

The scholarship was established by Janson, professor emeritus in Ohio State's Department of Plant Pathology, to support undergraduate and graduate student education.

 Janson served the department from 1950-1976 and was the first plant pathology Extension specialist in Ohio.  Stover was a faculty member from 1910-1952 and taught nearly all the department's plant pathology and mycology courses during this time.  Stover advised numerous graduate students, including Janson.

The travel awards to Ellis and Kriss helped fund their participation in Atatrk University's international summer school program in July 2009.

During their three-week visit, Ellis and Kriss also met with plant pathologist Recep Kotan and other faculty and students in the Department of Plant Protection.  They also visited Yeditepe University in Istanbul as guests of Ohio State alum Fikrettin Sahin, professor and chair of the Department of Genetics and Bioengineering.

Ellis is working on the characterization and management of soybean seedling diseases with faculty advisor Anne Dorrance, and Kriss is investigating the epidemiology of Fusarium head blight with faculty advisor Larry Madden.