PEOPLE

Keeping up with IRRI staff Principal scientist retires after 29 years at rice institute

lenn Gregorio, former IRRI international research fellow in Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biochemistry (PBGB), was named by the Philippine National Academy of Science and Technology as this years Outstanding Young Scientist in the eld of genetics. The award recognizes Filipino scientists up to the age of 40 who have made signicant contributions to science and technology. M.S. Swaminathan, 1987 World Food Prize laureate and former IRRI director general (1982-88), has been appointed chair of Indias National Commission on Farmers. The commission was created in February to look into ways of improving farmers livelihoods (see Rice in the News on page 11). Hubert G. Zandstra, director general of the Peru-based International Potato Center and former IRRI deputy director general for research (1989-91), was honored in May with Perus Great Cross for Distinguished Service. Dr. Zandstra was recognized for his contribution to research on the potato, sweet potato, and lesser known Andean roots and tubers. Shaobing Peng, crop physiologist in Crop, Soil and Water Sciences (CSWS), was elected in June as a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy. J.K. Ladha, a soil scientist in CSWS, was elected as a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America. Both will receive their honors at combined annual meetings in early November in Seattle. Hung-Goo Hwang recently joined PBGB as a senior scientist. Dr. Hwang studies germplasm utilization for value addition, supervises the off-season Korean Seed Multiplication project, and acts as a liaison between IRRI and South Koreas Rural Development Administration. Thomas Metz recently joined the Biometrics and Bioinformatics Unit as an international research fellow. Dr. Metz, formerly a senior scientist at the International Plant Genetics Resources Institute, is integrating all sources of germplasm information into a single International Rice Information System. Naga Chirravuri recently joined PBGB as a postdoctoral fellow to do marker-assisted selection for submergence tolerance. Ramaiah Venuprasad recently joined PBGB as a postdoctoral fellow to detect alleles conferring reproductive-stage drought tolerance. Stephen Zolvinski, who recently joined the Social Sciences Division (SSD) as a postdoctoral fellow, is the assistant network coordinator for the Consortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments.

om Mew, former IRRI principal scientist and Entomology and Plant Pathology Division (EPPD) head, retired on 5 August after 29 years at the institute. EPPD honored Dr. Mew with a symposium on sustainable crop and disease management, which presented highlights of his research on seed health, bacterial blight, exploiting biodiversity for disease management, and biological control of rice diseases. Speakers discussed how Dr. Mews research has improved the well-being of millions of poor rice farmers and consumers. IRRI consultant Gelia Castillo, who presented the keynote address, described Dr. Mew as a dreamer and positive thinker (see The Tao of Tom, in Rice Takuhito Nozoe, an agronomist in CSWS, is leaving IRRI after 5 years service. Dr. Nozoe identied important soil-related factors that suppress the growth of rice in irrigated soil, as well as the physiological activities of roots in relation to iron tolerance. Yoshimichi Fukuta, a breeder in PBGB who researched the genetic basis of resistance to blast disease and performed pioneering studies of quantitative trait loci in rice, is leaving IRRI after 6 years service. Seiji Yanagihara, a breeder in PBGB for ood-prone environments and improved levels of tolerance for abiotic stresses, is leaving IRRI after 5 years service. Guy F. Trbuil and Francois Bousquet, French Agricultural Research Center for International Development scientists, completed in June their 3-year secondment to SSD. Based in Thailand, Dr. Trbuil, an agricultural systems agronomist, and Dr. Bousquet, a modeler-ecologist-economist, developed participatory approaches to natural resources management. James Mullaney, former acting director for administration (1991) and consultant/adviser in the director generals ofce (1991-92), passed away in July.
Rice Today October-December 2004

Today Vol. 3, No.2, pages 16-21). At a 30 May ceremony in Dhaka, the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) recognized Dr. Mews outstanding contributions to improving rice farmers seed-health practices for pest management and crop production in Bangladesh. BRRI also lauded his instrumental role in establishing its Seed Pathology and Molecular Laboratory and strengthening institute partnerships with government institutions, nongovernmental organizations and farming communities by promoting clean-seed technology in the country. Dr. Mew will continue at IRRI as a consultant.

Partners in progress

uben G. Echeverra has been named the new executive director of the Science Council of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Jacques Diouf, director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, announced the Uruguayans appointment, which was due to begin on 1 September. Yuan Longping, winner of this years World Food Prize, received the Wolf Prize in Agriculture in Jerusalem on 9 May. Prof. Yuan, director of the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center and considered the father of hybrid rice, is one of the scientic giants in the history of modern agricultural research, according to the Wolf Prize jury. He shared the prize with Cornell Universitys Steven Tanksley, who was recognized for his innovative development of hybrid rice and discovery of the genetic basis of heterosis in this food staple. Cao Duc Phat became on 25 June acting minister of the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

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AILEEN DEL ROSARIO-RONDILLA