DiTommaso Wins Award for His Way with Weeds — and People

DiTommaso talks about herbicide-resistant weeds at the 2015 Musgrave Research Farm Field Day.
DiTommaso talks about herbicide-resistant weeds at the 2015 Musgrave Research Farm Field Day.

From Mary Woodson, New York State Integrated Pest Management Program (NYS IPM).

ITHACA, NY: If two words could sum up Toni DiTommaso’s qualities as professor of weed science at Cornell University, “unbridled enthusiasm” — words from a nomination letter — fit the bill. Yet it’s not just his innovative Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approaches to dealing with weeds that clinched DiTommaso’s Excellence in IPM award, which he received on July 14, 2016.

Colleagues and former students alike repeatedly cite the impact DiTommaso’s contagious love of learning has on their lives — and often their livelihoods. For many, the roots lie in Cornell’s IPM course that DiTommaso resurrected in 2002 and has taught since then with professor of entomology John Losey.

“To say that Toni has ‘educated others about IPM’ and ‘promoted IPM and bolstered the adoption of IPM practices,’ two criteria for earning the award, would be a vast understatement,” says crop-science professor William Cox, a longtime colleague. “I can’t emphasize enough the enormous impact that Toni has had on Cornell students who are now growers or consultants.”

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