Program
Business Meetings Program (Monday)
| Time | Meeting | Room |
| 8:00 am – 12:00 pm | Leadership Business Meeting | Rhines A |
| Committee Meetings Session A | ||
| 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm | Proficiency Committee | Sarah Orne |
| Protocols and Validation Committee | Longfellow | |
| Accreditation Committee | Rhines A | |
| 2:30 pm – 2:45 pm | Refreshment and Networking Break | Pre-Function Space |
| Committee Meetings Session B | ||
| 2:45 pm – 4:15 pm | Communications Committee | Sarah Orne |
| Regulatory Relations Committee | Longfellow | |
| Professional Development Committee and DEIA Working Group | Rhines A | |
| Regional Meetings | ||
| 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm | GPDN | Sarah Orne |
| NCPDN | Rhines A | |
| NEPDN | Meet in Westin Lobby | |
| SPDN | Winslow Homer | |
| WPDN | Longfellow | |
General Sessions Program (Tuesday and Wednesday)
LOCATION: All general sessions and meals will be held in the Eastland Grand Ballroom
| Tuesday September 10th General Sessions | ||
| 7:00 – 7:45 am | BREAK | Breakfast, included |
| 8:00 – 8:10 am | Welcome | Dr. Hannah Carter: Welcome to Maine |
| 8:10 – 8:25 am | Inclusion | Dr. Neil McRoberts: Welcome to the 7th National NPDN Meeting |
| 8:25 – 9:00 am | Inclusion | NPDN DEIA Working Group: Cultivating Inclusivity: A DEIA Conversation for the NPDN (Ansuya Jogi, Jenny Glass, Todd Steinlage, Dr. Chelsea Harbach, Dr. Stephanie Shea, Dr. Safira Sutton) |
| 9:00 – 9:15 am | Support | Dr. Amer Fayad: An Overview of NIFA Strategic Goals and Funding Opportunities |
| 9:15 – 9:30 am | Support | Piera Siegert: Strengthening the Relationship between the NPDN and the National Plant Board |
| 9:30 – 10:00 am | BREAK | Poster and exhibitor space open with refreshments |
| 10:00 – 10:15 am | Support | Joe LaForest: IPM Center Resources that Fit NPDN |
| 10:15 – 10:45 am | Support | Dr. Vessela Mavrodieva: APHIS PPDCP and NPDN: Partners in Regulatory Plant Diagnostics |
| 10:45 am –12:00 pm | Diagnostic Tools | Mike Hill NPDN, Angel Saavedra USFS, and Dr. Robin Choudhury UT RGV: Adapting data tools to serve NPDN diagnosticians and stakeholders |
| 12:00 – 1:30 pm | BREAK | Lunch, included: Meeting buddies event and poster and exhibitor space open |
| 1:30 – 3:00 pm | Diagnostic Tools | Panel: Evolving Technology: From Legacy to Cutting-Edge (Cassandra Bates, Dr. Cheryl Blomquist, Dr. Tom Creswell, Jenny Glass, Laura Miles and Dr. Stefanie Rhodes) |
| 3:00 – 3:30 pm | Diagnostic Tools | Dr. Carrie Harmon: NPDN and DAVN: Focusing on the future |
| 3:30 – 5:30 pm | Poster Session | Poster and exhibitor space open, 5-minute Lightning Round talks (refreshments provided) |
| 5:30 – 7:30 pm | Banquet | Awards and recognitions (dinner included) |
| Wednesday September 11th General Sessions | ||
| 7:00 – 7:45 am | BREAK | Breakfast, included |
| 8:00 – 8:45 am | Impact | Dr. Alicyn Smart and Dr. Jan Byrne: Success stories, stakeholders, and 20 years of NPDN impacts |
| 8:45 – 9:30 am | Impact | Michelle Vázquez Jacobus: Let’s Talk Roots: Communicating about plants with their people |
| 9:30 – 10:00 am | BREAK | Networking, posters, and exhibitor booths (refreshments provided) |
| 10:00 – 11:00 am | Impact | Dr. Tania Brenes-Arguedas and Dr. Carrie Harmon: I've uploaded all this data to the NPDN National Data Repository. So what? |
| 11:00 am – 12:30 pm | BREAK | Lunch, included: Rotten Tuber awards, then networking at posters and exhibitor booths |
| 12:30 – 1:00 pm | Focus on the future | Dr. Peter DiGennaro: Plant Parasitic Nematode Identification with Machine Learning |
| 1:00 – 2:00 pm | Focus on the future | Panel: Feeding the Professional Pipeline: Building Future Diagnosticians in a Changing World (Dr. Carrie Harmon, Dr. Sladana Bec, Dr. Nick Goltz, Dr. Chelsea Harbach, and Dr. Peng Tian) |
| 2:00 – 2:30 pm | BREAK | Fill out map (refreshments provided) |
| 2:30 – 4:00 pm | Focus on the future | New pests and old problems: detection and diagnosis of Vascular Streak Disease (Dr. John Bonkowski, Dr. Fulya Baysal-Gurel and Dr. Roger Magarey) and Bacterial Wilt (Elizabeth Dorman and Aimee Hyten) |
| 4:00 – 4:30 pm | Focus on the future | Dr. Tania Brenes-Arguedas and Dr. Stephanie Shea: NPDN Annual Lab Capacity and Impact Evaluation History and Results |
| 4:30 – 4:45 pm | Closing | Dr. Neil McRoberts and Dr. Alicyn Smart: Passing the gavel and closing comments |
Workshops & Field Trip Program (Thursday and Friday)
LOCATION: All workshops will be held in Winslow Homer
| Thursday September 12th Workshops & Tour | ||
| 7:00 – 7:45 am | Breakfast (provided for tour and Bacterial Basics workshop participants) LOCATION: Longfellow | |
| 8:00 – 10:00 am | Bacterial Basics | Dr. John Bonkowski, Purdue University Dr. Nick Goltz, University of Connecticut Dr. Alicyn Smart, University of Maine |
| 10:00 – 10:15 am | Break | |
| 10:15 am – 12:15 pm | Fungal Basics | Dr. Megan Romberg, MRP-APHIS |
| 12:15 – 1:15 pm | Lunch (on your own) | |
| 1:15 – 3:00 pm | Micro Lepidoptera Specimen Preparation Techniques and Identification | Dr. Jason J. Dombroskie, Cornell University |
| 3:00 – 3:15 pm | Break | |
| 3:15 – 5:00 pm | Sampling and Identifying Eriophyid Mites | Dr. Matt Bertone, North Carolina State University |
| Tour: Meet for 6:30am departure time in the Westin Portland Harborview parking lot (boxed breakfast and lunch provided) | ||
| 6:30 am – 5:30 pm | Acadia National Park Tour | Aaron Bergdahl, Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry |
| Friday September 13th Workshops & Tour | ||
| 7:00 – 7:45 am | Breakfast (provided for tour and Fusarium workshop participants) | LOCATION: Longfellow |
| 8:00 – 10:00 am | Fusarium for Busy People | Dr. David Geiser, Penn State University |
| 10:00 – 10:15 am | Break (refreshments provided for Fusarium workshop participants) | LOCATION: Longfellow |
| 10:15 am – 12:00 pm | Fusarium for Busy People (cont.) | Dr. David Geiser, Penn State University |
| 12:00 – 1:00 pm | Lunch (on your own) | |
| 1:00 – 3:00 pm | Emerging Insect Pests from Each Region | Gary Fish, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Cheryl Copeland, MRP-APHIS |
| 3:00 – 3:15 pm | Break | |
| 3:15 – 5:15 pm | Comparison of Phytopythium with Phytophthora and Pythium | Dr. Alejandro Rojas and Austin Mccoy, Michigan State University |
| Tour: Meet for 8:00am departure time in the Westin Portland Harborview parking lot (boxed breakfast and lunch provided) | ||
| 8:00 am – 5:00 pm | Wild Blueberry Tour | Dr. Lily Calderwood and Dr. Seanna Annis, University of Maine |
Program updated 08-30-2024; pdf and location map available here
