Congratulations to the following newsmakers and award winners from NC State’s Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology:

• William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Jean Ristaino, who led research that was recently featured in the Washington Post. The article, “Genetics say the origins of the Irish potato blight were South American,” reports on a PLOS One paper by Ristaino and her colleagues at NC State and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology Museum.
• William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Rick Brandenburg, who received NC State University’s Jackson Rigney International Service Award. This annual award recognizes a faculty or staff member who has made significant contributions in international service to NC State or the community over the course of his or her career.
• Jean Marcel Deguenon, who won first place in the Entomological Society of America’s Graduate Student Oral Competition for a presentation on livestock pests and decomposers.
• Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Alamgir Rahman and graduate student Camilo Parada, who received travel awards to attend the Oomycete Molecular Genetics Network Annual Meeting in Pacific Grove, California, in March.
• Students Emily A. Meyers, Camilo H. Parada Rojas and Nathan Miller, who each won $500 travel awards to support their participation in an upcoming American Phytopathological Society conference. To apply for the award, the students submitted “hot topic” proposals for the APS conference symposium.
• Student Alyssa Koehler, who won the 2-17 Martin Stoner Memorial Student Travel Scholarship and the 2016 Storkan-Hanes-McCaslin Foundation Award.