Test post in Agriculture – News blog.

Source(s):
Mike Martin mvm@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu, (352) 392-1971
Bill Zettler fwz@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu, (352) 392-7245

GAINESVILLE, Fla.—Gail Wisler, lead scientist and research plant pathologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Salinas, Calif., has been named chair of the Department of Plant Pathology in the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

She replaces George Agrios, who has served as chair of the department since 1988. Agrios will direct the new Doctor of Plant Medicine program in the UF’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

In announcing Wisler’s appointment today (10/10), Mike Martin, UF vice president for agriculture and natural resources, welcomed the 1992 UF graduate back to Gainesville.

“It’s a real pleasure to have Gail back at the UF,” Martin said. “Clearly, her success with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in California reflects well on the UF plant pathology department’s graduate program, and we look forward to a bright future as she assumes her new post this week,” Martin said.

Born in Indianapolis, Wisler received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. After graduating in 1976, she was a biological scientist at the Division of Plant Industry in Gainesville. During her 11-year tenure there, she also completed her master’s degree in plant pathology at UF in 1981.

In 1986, while still working full time at DPI, she received a National Science Foundation grant to study plant viruses. In 1988, she accepted an assistantship in the UF plant pathology department and began working toward her doctorate.

Upon graduation in 1992, Wisler became a postdoctoral associate at the USDA in Salinas. She received the USDA Certificate of Merit Award for 1997-1999 for her work on plant viruses, and she recently completed a sabbatical program at the Broom’s Sugar Beet Experiment Station in Bury, St. Edmund’s, England.

The author of numerous publications, Wisler is currently president of the International Working Group for Plant Viruses with Fungal Vectors, secretary for the International Vegetable Virus Working Group and a member of American Society for Sugar Beet Technology.

-30-

0

Avatar photo
Posted: October 10, 2000


Category: Agriculture



Subscribe For More Great Content

IFAS Blogs Categories