I am delighted to announce the appointment of Jennifer Grant as director of the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program (NYS IPM) at Cornell University. Jennifer has previously served as an Ornamentals and Community IPM Educator, Community IPM Coordinator, Assistant Director, and until now as Co-Director of the program with Curtis Petzoldt. In this role, Jennifer and Curtis have excelled in managing the NY IPM program which affects every area of the state. While maintaining excellent research and extension capabilities in agriculture, the program has expanded to address new challenges in community IPM. I am confident that Jennifer will continue to grow this critically important program that connects campus and statewide research and extension to individuals and communities around New York State.
Jennifer joined NYS IPM in 1989 after receiving BS and MS degrees in entomology from the University of Vermont, and later earned her Ph.D. in entomology at Cornell University. While at Cornell, Jennifer has worked extensively in many areas of IPM including turf grass, schools, and IPM on recreational lands. In her current and previous roles she has developed expertise in all areas of agricultural IPM. Jennifer has nearly 170 extension, technical, research, educational and media publications to her credit and is widely recognized in the IPM field nationally and internationally. She received the Entomological Society of America’s Eastern Branch Award for Excellence in Integrated Pest Management in 2011. Her golf course IPM research and demonstration work conducted at Bethpage State Park over the last 13 years has helped influence golf course managers to minimize the use of pesticides on many golf courses in New York and the US.