Noble Foundation scientist earns elite fellowship honor

NEWS RELEASE
Issued - July 31, 2009

ARDMORE, Okla. — A scientist with The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation's Plant Biology Division has received special recognition for his contribution to the national scientific community.

Rick Nelson, Ph.D., has been selected as a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society (APS), an elite honor among plant scientists. Nelson, a virologist with the Noble Foundation for almost 20 years, will be inducted during an awards ceremony at the society's national meeting next week in Portland, Ore.

"I'm honored to become a Fellow of the APS. This is the fulfillment of a personal goal," Nelson said. "To have my peers recognize the value of my laboratory's research and my professional and public service is truly a high point for me."

To be selected as a APS Fellow, candidates are anonymously nominated and then can spend up to three years in the review process. Only a handful are selected each year from the APS's membership which includes more than two thousand scientists from more than 100 countries.

Dr. Neal Van Alfen, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California-Davis, nominated Nelson, who researches how plant RNA viruses move and accumulate within their hosts. Nelson was completely unaware of his nomination until the Fellows were announced in the spring. The honor came as no surprise to Nelson's long-time colleague, Rick Dixon, Senior Vice President and Plant Biology Division Director.

"Rick Nelson has played a key role in building and shaping the Noble Foundation's scientific research for two decades," Dixon said. "He deserves this honor for the quality and impact of his research on the scientific community as a whole."

Nelson came to the Noble Foundation in 1989, less than a year after the organization began its Plant Biology Division. While potentially a risky endeavor to come to an organization just entering the plant science research arena, Nelson credits the Noble Foundation's commitment to excellence for his success.

"This would have been much more difficult to achieve if I had been anywhere else," Nelson said. "The Noble Foundation's support of the science allows us to advance our research and achieve more results, so the recognition really goes to the organization and the people from within my laboratory and our support staff across divisions, who have helped me throughout my career."

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Photo:: Dr. Rick Nelson

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For media inquiries concerning the Noble Foundation, please contact:

J. Adam Calaway

jacalaway@noble.org

The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Inc. (www.noble.org), headquartered in Ardmore, Okla., is a nonprofit organization conducting agricultural, forage improvement and plant biology research; assisting farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative agricultural programs; and providing grants to nonprofit charitable, educational and health organizations.