Michigan State Professor Receives 2004 Alex Laurie Award

The Society of American Florists (SAF) recently presented the Alex Laurie Award to Mary Hausbeck, Ph.D. during SAF Maui 2004, the Society of American Florists’ 120th Annual Convention in Kapalua, Hawaii. Hausbeck, a leader in floral research, is a professor in the Michigan State University Department of Plant Pathology and Center for Integrated Plant Studies and a regular contributor to GPN .

The Alex Laurie Award, established in 1948, is presented annually to an individual who has made broad-scope, long lasting contributions to research or education in the floriculture industry. The award is named for Alex Laurie who, throughout a career that spanned more than 60 years, laid the groundwork for research that revolutionized the floriculture industry and who left a lineage of students, teachers and researchers who continue to provide the information necessary to ensure the industry’s future.

Hausbeck’s research has enabled growers to manage foliar and soil-borne plant diseases.

She was the first to determine the environmental cues that regulate powdery mildew on poinsettias, and her investigations allowed growers to control the then-new disease. She pioneered work on downy mildews in floral crops, tracking the disease in Southern field-grown snapdragons to learn that spores are produced at specific times, thus enabling growers to time treatments for maximum effectiveness. She continues work on a project that is making groundbreaking discoveries about poinsettia scab.

Hausbeck also has contributed greatly to vegetable disease research and has brought her expertise on Phytophthora in vegetable crops to improve its management on floral greenhouse crops. While making these and other major research contributions, Hausbeck has also maintained significant Extension and teaching responsibilities and has been instrumental in training new researchers in the field of plant pathology.

Congratulations Mary and thank you for all of your hard work.