Upsilon
Chapter, Epsilon Sigma Phi
2006 EPSILON SIGMA PHI - RECOGNITION FORM
EPSILON SIGMA PHI ‑ RECOGNITION FORM
Nomination Form for: Early Career Award
1. Candidate's Name: Janet Knodel
I am pleased to recommend Janet Knodel for
the Assistant Professor�Extension Entomology position in the Department of
Entomology at North Dakota State University.
Jan is well prepared academically, has excellent experience and is a prolific
and successful grant writer. She will complete her Ph.D. in entomology prior to
the start date and meets all the other qualifications in the position
announcement.
I urge you to thoroughly review her curriculum vitae and her letter of
application for details of her education and work experience. Jan grew up in
North Dakota, received her B.S. degree at NDSU and then left our state to
accomplish much at other distinguished universities such as Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University and Cornell. Her extension experience and
experience in applied entomology are well-documented. Her success in generating
external funding is superb and her expertise in conducting research along with
her extension work is respected by colleagues and producers alike.
I have always been proud to have had the opportunity to hire her back to her
home state.
Jan has been part of our NDSU-North Central Research Extension Center team here
for over seven years. She has simultaneously been part of the NDSU Department of
Entomology team as well. Her ability to identify grower needs, develop research
projects to address those needs, write grants to help fund the work that needs
to be done, hire and direct the staff to get the work done, analyze the data,
and conduct extension education programs to get the results out to those who can
benefit is superb. Jan is a high energy, respected expert in her field in this
area, and I would suggest in all of North Dakota and western Montana. She has
been invited to present in Canada and Denmark on the International scene. Jan
developed the very successful Western Crop Scout School, a hands-on multiple-day
educational event held in Minot, Dickinson and Williston in recent years for
more than 100 growers at each school.
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I am delighted to nominate Janet Knodel for
the Myron and Muriel Johnsrud Excellence in Extension, Early Career Award.
Jan Knodel began her work with the NDSU Extension Service as Extension Crop
Protection Specialist in January, 1998. She is located at the North Central
Research Extension Center near Minot and provides leadership for educational
programs in pest management. In addition, she promotes and teaches Integrated
Pest Management (IPM) for North Dakota assisting Dr. Marcia McMullen.
Jan works diligently on pest problems that have cost North Dakota producers
billions of dollars, namely the orange wheat blossom midge, flea beetle in
canola, sclerotinia in broadleaf crops and scab in wheat, durum and barley.
She cooperates and collaborates with Extension agents in north central and
northwest North Dakota
on applied research, demonstration and field scouting endeavors. Educational
programs are delivered across the region and state. Independent field scouts
cooperate with Jan by sharing observations and they rely heavily on her
expertise which combines to give the growers in this region excellent service
and cutting edge information and recommendations. Industry reps consult her
regularly and cooperate with her in applied research and demonstration projects.
Jan works with other area specialists, extension agents and industry
representatives conducting field clinics on insects, diseases and weed problems.
Producers appreciate the opportunity to learn right in their fields. She is also
in high demand for winter, educational meetings.
Jan has been the leader and primary organizer of "Western Crop Scout Schools"
conducted in Minot and Dickinson the past three years. These 2-day schools are
valued by professional scouts, agribusiness employees, extension agents and
pesticide representatives. Jan has used interactive television technology for
these educational events to enlist more specialists as presenters and save
travel time and dollars at the same time.
Jan has spent countless hours monitoring, mapping and scouting the orange wheat
blossom midge. Her efforts are reported on our Web page, in "Ag Alerts" and
other pest report updates throughout the growing season to help producers
predict outbreak locations and then monitor hot spots during insect
emergence.The North Dakota Wheat Commission has supported her work along with
Dr. Mike Weiss and Dr. Phil Glogoza.
Canola growers benefit from Jan's work on the flea beetle, bertha armyworm and
diamondback moth. Her canola insect trapping network to monitor and report
potentially damaging infestations is accomplished by her employment of student
field scouts which she supervises and funds through grants.
Jan recently contributed insect matrix and insect information to a major project
called the "Crop Sequence Calculator", which is an interactive program on
compact disk developed by the Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory, USDA,
ARS.
Jan has conducted field trials and demonstrations on barley, borage, canola,
corn, dry beans, durum, flax, spring wheat, sunflower, and winter wheat. She is
creative in her approach, experimenting with biological control agents, dormant
seeding, interseeding crops to deter insects, and comparing no-till and
conventional tillage methods. She has used phermones to attract and divert
insects, and used sticky traps, oil traps, blacklight traps and mechanical
trapping devices.
Her interdisciplinary and cooperative approach to her work is evident by her
cooperation with USDA, ARS scientists, NDSU scientists, fellow extension area
specialist, extension agents, industry reps, private field scouts and producers.
Commodity groups and industry are supportive of her work financially and praise
her effectiveness.
As canola acreage began to increase dramatically in western North Dakota, so did
the damage from the flea beetle. Jan worked with researchers, industry,
producers and co-workers studying numerous ways to reduce economic damage from
this insect. Biological control agents were studied with NDSU researcher, Dr.
Denise Olson. Dormant seeding of canola in the late fall was attempted to allow
the canola to emerge and get a jump on the flea beetle emergence. Economic
thresholds were studied, commercially available insecticides were compared along
with new chemistry in pesticides. Seed size and insecticide interactions were
compared and oats was interseeded with the canola in hopes of reducing flea
beetle infestation and therefore damage. All these ideas indicate Jan's creative
attempts to reduce pest damage and increase producers' bottom line.
Jan's work with the North Dakota Wheat Commission on the orange wheat blossom
midge and efforts with industry on insecticide and insecticide-fungicide trials
indicate joint cooperation. Soil cocoon surveys were conducted and pheromone
trapping studies carried out. Extension agents, specialists and researchers have
all cooperated with producers and industry on this effort.
In summary, Jan is a very ambitious, high energy, dedicated extension specialist
who works well with co-workers and others to accomplish significant results for
the North Dakota producer. I encourage your thoughtful review of her work for
this early career extension award.
Submitted by: Jay Fisher Email: jfisher@ndsuext.nodak.edu
