Karen Snover-Clift and Barb Riker, Cornell University - NEPDN; Dr. Megan Romberg and Dr. John McKemy, USDA-APHIS-PPQ, National Mycologists; Dr. Karen Rane, University of Maryland - NEPDN
The Communicator: Volume 5, Issue 6, June 2024
The first offerings of a new professional development course, Morphological Fungal Identification Techniques (MFIT) Workshop were hosted by Megan Romberg and John McKemy, USDA-APHIS-PPQ National Mycologists, February 27-29 and April 9-11, 2024. The workshops were the brainchild of the USDA mycologists after providing one-day fungal identification workshops at several NPDN national meetings. Finding funds to cover travel expenses and workshop materials can be a challenge for NPDN members and USDA instructors, so the instructors and workshop coordinators requested and received support through USDA’s Plant Protection Act, Section 7721 program.
The announcement of this workshop topic produced an incredible response! Eight spaces were available in each workshop, and all 16 were filled within 30 minutes of the registration announcement. The coordinators collected 41 additional names of those asking to be placed on a waiting list. This remarkable response demonstrates the importance and need for diagnostician professional development training and also provided a clear answer to the question, should we do this again next year? A second round of funding was requested and approved, so be on the lookout for an announcement about MFIT-2025. The incredible response also made us take a hard look at how we assign workshop spaces. The NPDN Professional Development Committee members are in the process of establishing registration guidelines, a registration request form, and a process for establishing a priority participant listing that will be used with future workshops.
Romberg and McKemy wanted to build a course that would expand on those one-day sessions held at the NPDN national meetings. Karen Rane, University of Maryland diagnostic lab director, assisted by providing fungal isolates from her diagnostic laboratory and instructional assistance drawn from her wealth of knowledge and experience. Together they created a 3-day workshop that covered several groups of fungi, provided fungal identification techniques, and the opportunity for hands-on practice within a small group setting. View the MFIT Workshop Agenda on the Workshops page in the NPDN portal.
The participants had great things to say about the workshops. One said, “WOW…it was absolutely incredible. I learned more this week than I've learned in some entire semester long courses.” Another commented on the instructors, saying, “Megan, John and Karen Rane were so great to work with and learn from”. Another reflected on their current and gained skills saying, “It helped to learn I was doing several things the right way so far, but the new skills and knowledge I have gained in just a few days will change how I work in the lab.” Another said, “I appreciated…spending time with the microscopes and samples, studying notes, talking to Megan and John, (the) exercises, etc”.
A challenge arose a few days before the April workshop. The USDA conference room used as the teaching space for the workshop was invaded by squirrels. Apparently, the squirrels decided to throw a wild party and they trashed the room. The damage was so severe that the room was deemed uninhabitable until the squirrels could be evicted, and the room decontaminated. We did not want to cancel this workshop! Instead, the team sprang into action. McKemy and Romberg found an alternate site for the workshop, but it lacked presentation equipment. Being able to order online and request curbside pick-up saved the day. With the first day of the workshop quickly approaching, the team purchased a projector and screen, made a new site map, and informed the participants of the location change. Thanks to this team effort, the show went on and the April workshop was delivered as planned.
Details about the 2025 MFIT Workshops will be released in late summer. Check the Workshops page on the NPDN portal for more information and planning process updates.
Pictured (left to right): Zach Parker (Bartlett Tree Research), Peng Tian (University of Missouri), Cassandra Bates (Washington State University), Colette Gabriel (Ohio Dept. of Agriculture), Instructor: Karen Rane (University of Maryland), Instructor: Megan Romberg (USDA-APHIS-PPQ), Christian Cumagun (University of Idaho), Felicia Millett (Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station), Elly Voigt (Wisconsin Department of Agriculture), Stephanie Shea (University of Maine), Instructor: John McKemy (USDA-APHIS-PPQ).
MFIT Workshop Participants, April 9-11, 2024
Pictured (left to right): Danielle Martin (US Forest Service), Keiddy Urrea-Morawicki (University of Rhode Island), Aimee Thapa (North Dakota State University), Hannah Ayala (Texas A&M University), Tatsiana Shymanovich (Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture). Second row: Alex Hu (University of Arizona), John McKemy (Instructor; USDA-APHIS-PPQ), Karen Rane (Instructor: University of Maryland), Jen Olson (Oklahoma State University) and Megan Romberg (Instructor: USDA-APHIS-PPQ).
