12/17/1991

Director's Research Awards Presented

AUBURN, Ala.—Two researchers working in the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station (AAES) at Auburn University were honored recently for their outstanding research accomplishments, and seven other faculty and staff were recognized for completing 25 years of service to the AAES.

Paul Backman, a professor of plant pathology, and David Stringfellow, an associate professor of pathobiology, received the Director's Research Award, the highest honor bestowed by the AAES. The award, which consists of a plaque and a $10,000 unrestricted grant for use in the winner's research program, was presented by AAES Director Lowell Frobish at the Experiment Station's annual awards ceremony.

The awards were initiated by the Experiment Station in 1981 to recognize special career achievements of scientists working in the Experiment Station through the colleges of Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine and Sciences and Mathematics and the schools of Forestry and Human Sciences. Researchers who exhibit an overall outstanding program of research are nominated by their peers and winners are selected by a committee of their peers.

Backman, who received the Senior Research Award, which is given to scientists at the professor rank, was cited for his work with plant diseases. Stringfellow, who won the Associate Research award, which is given to assistant and associate professor level scientists, was honored for his work with embryo disease control in cattle.

Frobish bestowed the awards during an annual Experiment Station meeting held Dec. 11. He noted that the awards are not given for individual research projects, but to the individuals who contribute to the overall research program of the Experiment Station.

The seven employees who were honored for completing 25 years of service with the Experiment Station were: Dr. Dwayne Beckett, College of Veterinary Medicine; John Eason, Sand Mountain Substation in Crossville; Emmett Carden, Gulf Coast Substation in Fairhope; Helen Harvey, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences; Dr. Paul Estes, Department of Entomology; Dr. Ken Sanderson, Department of Horticulture; and Charles Benton, Upper Coastal Plain Substation in Winfield.

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By:
Katie Smith