9/24/99

Contacts:
Candice Gardner, North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station, (515) 294-3255
Ed Adcock, Agriculture Information, (515) 294-2314

NEW RESEARCH LEADER BEGINS AT PLANT INTRODUCTION STATION

AMES -- Candice A.C. Gardner has been named the new research leader at the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station. She began her duties in August.

She replaces Mark Widrlechner, who has served as interim research leader since April 1998. The former research leader, Peter Bretting, left to become a USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) national program leader in Beltsville, Md. Widrlechner will return to his duties as an assistant professor in agronomy and horticulture and USDA-ARS collaborator.

Gardner earned a bachelor's degree at ISU in bacteriology in 1975, and a master's in plant pathology and a doctorate in plant breeding and genetics from the University of Missouri. She previously worked at AgrEvo USA Co. as a field development representative-biotechnology, and was a corn breeder and research manager for Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. in Missouri.

The Plant Introduction Station, one of four in the nation, is a joint venture of the USDA-ARS, the agricultural experiment stations of the 12 north-central states and ISU. It contains one of the largest seed collections in the United States, providing researchers around the world with germplasm representing about 1,300 species of plants. The station employs about 30 full-time USDA-ARS and ISU staff and 20 to 65 part-time seasonal employees.

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