Presenter Bio's for the 2008 Annual Workshop
Bowman, Jr., Thomas, C.
Tom Bowman is a Pesticide Inspector with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. His primary responsibilities are inspections and investigation work concerning commercial pesticide applicators, dealers and market places for compliance to state and federal laws in 11 counties. Tom graduated from North Carolina State University in 1977 with a B.S. in Natural Resources and completed his masters' degree in Agricultural Education in 1985. Prior to joining the Pesticide Section he taught High School Agriculture Education from 1977 through 1998. Tom is married to the former Pam Angline and they reside in Lenoir, NC with their two four-legged English Setter "children" (birddogs), Bracken and Boswell.
Day, Rick
Rick Day is Assoc. Professor of Soil Science and Environmental Information Systems in the Crop and Soil Sciences Department at Penn State and is Director of the Geospatial Technology Program. His activities include teaching, research, and extension in uses of geospatial technologies for environmental assessment, agriculture, land use, and planning. He has been at Penn State for over 26 years. Rick is a native of Franklin, WV and has lived in Stormstown, PA for the past 21 years with his wife and 4 children.
Ewing, Dr. John
John Ewing is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education, College of Agricultural Sciences, Penn State University. He earned his Ph.D. in 2006 from the Department of Human and Community Resource Development at The Ohio State University with a focus in Teacher Education. John's academic responsibilities at Penn State include instructing students in the art and practice of teaching. His research program focuses on experiential learning in teacher education.
John earned his B.S. degree in Agricultural and Extension Education from Penn State in 2000. Following graduation, he taught Agricultural Education at the high school level for three years at Octorara Area High School in Chester County, Pennsylvania. John resides near Warriors Mark with his wife Joy and daughter Catherine.
Fry, Kevin
Kevin Fry is a Penn State Extension Agronomy Educator based in Armstrong County since 2002. His primary responsibilities are agronomic educational programming and pesticide recertification trainings in western PA. Prior to his Extension employment, Kevin worked on the family dairy farm in north central PA, where his father and brother continue to operate. Kevin's western PA influence comes from his wife, Kelley whom he met while obtaining his B.S. in Agronomy at Penn State. They live near Greensburg on Kelley's family dairy, where she is employed as the herd manager of the 250 cow dairy. Kevin and Kelley have two children, their son Jordan is 3 and daughter Nora is 1.
Gatton, Steve
Steve Gatton is a Pesticide Inspector with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. His primary responsibilities are inspecting private pesticide applicators and producer establishments for compliance to state and federal laws and investigating EPA referrals in 12 counties. Steve graduated from North Carolina State University in 1979 with a B.S. in Agronomy and Animal Science. Prior to joining the Pesticide Section he worked for the Extension Service, worked on a farm, owned a lawn care business and worked as a livestock inspector. Steve is married to Brenda and they reside in Statesville, NC.
Gripp, Sharon
Sharon is the database administrator/webmaster for the Penn State Pesticide Education Program. She provides writing support such as editing of the joint pesticide newsletter with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, maintains the content on the web site, and manages the Regional Pesticide Education Proposal program. Sharon also has also become the program's West Nile Virus contact person.
Hipkins, Pat
Pat Hipkins is a senior research associate at Virginia Tech in the Department of Entomology. She has a 100% Extension appointment, and has been the Assistant Pesticide Coordinator of Virginia Tech Pesticide Programs since 1989. Her primary responsibilities are to:
- Support the VA Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP) and the Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) agents and specialists who participate in it, and
- Provide accurate information about pesticides and pesticide management to VCE agents, specialists, and the public.
Before coming to Virginia Tech, Pat worked as a teacher at many levels...she's taught science courses (mostly in the biological sciences) to students from 6th grade through graduate level courses.
Pat is originally from Oil City, Pennsylvania. Her parents and several other family members reside there, and she has relatives who live in the Pittsburgh area. Pat now lives in the small town of Newport, Virginia, which is west of Blacksburg, where VA Tech is located. She and her husband have two sons, ages 23 and 36.
Krenzelok, Dr. Edward P., Pharm.D., FAACT, DABAT
Dr. Krenzelok is Director of the Pittsburgh Poison Center and the Drug Information Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and a Professor of Pharmacy and Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Wisconsin in 1971 and his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Minnesota in 1974. Dr. Krenzelok is active in numerous professional toxicology and medically related societies and associations and is a Past-President of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology. He is board-certified in clinical toxicology by the American Board of Applied Toxicology and has been awarded the distinction of being a Fellow in the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology. Dr. Krenzelok is on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Poison Control Centers. He is a former Chair of the United States Pharmacopeia Clinical Toxicology and Substance Abuse Committee, a former member of the Food and Drug Administration Nonprescription Drug Advisory Committee, on the editorial boards and review panels of numerous medical and toxicology journals and is the author of several hundred scientific publications and book chapters and the editor of three books.
Landers, Dr. Andrew
Dr. Andrew Landers studied and taught agricultural engineering in England. He obtained his masters degree at Cranfield University and his Ph.D at the University of Bath. His thesis work involved the development of a direct injection crop sprayer, leading to variable rate application in precision farming. He taught agricultural students at the Royal Agricultural College before becoming head of the engineering dept at Harper Adams University. He joined the faculty at Cornell University in 1998, and is based at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva. He directs the application technology program and his teaching/extension/research appointment involves the use of engineering solutions to provide safer spraying. His group works with application systems in grapes, apples, vegetables and turfgrass and he believes in a multi-disciplinary approach to pesticide application, working with biologists to ensure engineering techniques are biologically effective. Andrew Landers is author of the classic text book, Farm Machinery: Selection, investment and management.
Neiderer, Bob
Bob Neiderer is an Extension Associate within the Geospatial Technology Program at Penn State and provides outreach coordination and technical support on various projects using geospatial technologies. Bob is a native of McSherrystown, PA and has resided in State College for the past 28 years with his wife and two sons.
Richards, Dr. Kerry
Kerry Richards is the of Manager of the Pest Management Information Center. Her responsibilities now include promoting informed pesticide regulatory decisions by the federal government and keeping Pennsylvania stakeholders abreast of regulatory changes. Kerry works with USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service to survey PA farm managers on pest management techniques and pesticide use. She then reports the economic impact of the pesticide use to the USDA and EPA as necessary. Kerry will continue her youth education work by developing IPM and pesticide safety curriculums for high school science and agriculture programs. In 2004 Kerry's responsibilities expanded to include outreach education for the Worker Protection Standards.