President Pat Clay Pat Clay is the Western Commercial Unit Field Development Manager with Valent U.S.A. LLC. His responsibilities include product development research in Northern CA and supervisory responsibilities for Field Market Development scientists in the Western U.S. Pat received his B.S. in Agronomy from Louisiana Tech University and M.S. in Weed Science from Louisiana State University. Prior to his current position, Pat served as a Field Market Development Specialist with Valent, Associate and Area Extension Agent with the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, and Research Associate (Weed Science) at Louisiana State University. Pat has been an active member of the Western Society of Weed Science since 1999. As a member of WSWS, Pat has served on committees and has presented papers in the Agronomic Crops, Horticultural Crops, Education and Regulatory and What s New In Industry sections at WSWS annual meetings. He has also served on the WSWS Board of Directors as the Education and Regulatory Section Chair and a three year term as the WSWS Representative to the Weed Science Society of America Board. In 2008, Pat was honored with the WSWS Outstanding Weed Scientist (Early Career) Award. Curtis Rainbolt Curtis Rainbolt is a Technical Service Representative with the BASF Corporation covering Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and part of Washington and Oregon. He received his B.S. in Agronomy from Texas Tech University; and M.S and PhD in Plant Science from the University of Idaho. Prior to his current position, he was a Regional Extension Agent at the University of Florida, Assistant Professor of Weed Science at the University of Florida, a Tech Service Rep with BASF in California, and BASF Research Station Manager in California. Since moving back to the west in 2008, he has been an active member of the Western Society of Weed Science. He has served the WSWS as Secretary 2014-2016, a member of the Sustaining Membership Committee 2011-2013, and as a student paper contest judge.
Secretary Daniel Chad Cummings Daniel Chad Cummings Biography, 2017 Chad completed his collegiate education with degrees in Crop Production (B.S.), Forage Weed Science (M.S.), and Conservation Science Invasive Species Ecology/Fire Ecology (Ph.D.) at Oklahoma State University. He graduated from OSU in 2007, and accepted a career with Dow AgroSciences LLC as a Field Scientist in the OK region (covering AR, LA, MS, NM, OK, and TX). Chad works in research and development with Range and Pasture, Industrial Vegetation Management, and Cereals agricultural chemical products in the region, cooperating with university researchers and assisting sales personnel in these markets. Chad currently resides outside of Bonham, TX, in the north central part of the state. Chad serves as the Secretary of the Western Society of Weed Science (WSWS). He also served as WSWS Weeds of Range and Natural Areas Project Chair in 2013. He also serves on behalf of Dow AgroSciences with both WSWS and the Society of Range Management (SRM), ensuring continuity between weed science and range management objectives, goals, and product stewardship. Chad served as Chair of the SRM Rangeland Invasive Species Committee (RISC) in 2011. Locally, Chad was a Board Member for the Oklahoma Invasive Plant Council (2013-2015), and serves on the graduate faculty at Oklahoma State University. Within his young career as a professional weed scientist, Chad has made over 30 major presentations at regional and national agricultural meetings, completed 7 peer-reviewed publications, and presented numerous Dow AgroSciences and industry-wide training presentations.
Carl Coburn Carl Coburn started with Monsanto as a Weed Management Technology Development Representative in May of 2017 in Gothenburg, Nebraska. Carl s responsibilities at Monsanto include weed management field research in corn and soybean, technical product support, and troubleshooting. He holds a Ph.D. in Plant Science with a minor in Statistics from the University of Wyoming, a M.S. in Agronomy with a minor in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wyoming, and B.A. in Biology from Wittenberg University in Ohio. As a graduate student, Carl served as the Student Liaison to the WSWS for two years. His areas of interest include sustainable herbicide-resistance management, statistics for herbicideresistance characterization, environmental impacts of herbicide use, and development of effective weed management programs for growers in Nebraska. Having been a student member of the WSWS for 6 years, Carl looks forward to the opportunity for continued involvement in the society as he begins his career in industry.
Research Section Chairperson Harlene Hatterman-Valenti Harlene Hatterman-Valenti is a Professor, Assistant Head, and High-value Crops Specialist in the Plant Sciences Department at North Dakota State University. She has state-wide weed research responsibilities in fruit and vegetables. Harlene earned her M.S. in Horticulture from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1985) and Ph.D. from Iowa State University in Agronomy and Horticulture (1993). Prior to accepting her current position at NDSU, she was a Research Biologist with FMC at the Princeton, NJ facility, responsible for primary and pre-secondary herbicide evaluations in the Herbicide Discovery project. Harlene has been at North Dakota State University since 2000, and teaches two horticultural courses and coordinates the field experience courses throughout the year for crop and weed science students as well as horticulture students. Harlene has trained two PhD, 18 MS students and currently has one Post-doc, two PhD and six MS students in her program. She advises approximately 10 undergraduate students each semester and has served as a faculty mentor for new faculty in the department as well as the university for the past eight years. To date, Harlene has published 46 peer-reviewed manuscripts, authored or co-authored three book chapters, published 127 scientific abstracts or proceedings, authored or co-authored 20 extension publications, and published 193 research reports. Since joining NDSU, she has given 64 professional meeting presentations and 201 extension presentations. Harlene has been a member of the NCWSS (Fellow) and WSSA for many years, but has only recently become a member of WSWS due to conflicts with family. With the NCWSS she was a graduate student paper/poster judge for eight years between 2001 and 2016; Career Placement Committee, Vice Chair/Chair/Past Chair, 2000-2002; Sectional Program Vice Chair/Chair/Past Chair, Soybeans and Annual Legumes, 2002 2004; Membership Committee, 2002 2005, Chair/Past Chair 2003/2004; Resolution & Necrology Committee, 2003 2005, Vice Chair/Chair/Past Chair 2004 2006; Electronic Communications Committee, 2004 to present; Sectional Program Vice Chair/Chair/Past Chair, Sugarbeets, Hort. & Orn., 2003 2005, 2009-2011, 2014-2016; Finance, Steering and Policy Committee, 2005 to present; Research and Publications Committee, 2005 2007; Board of Directors, 2005 to 2015; Graduate Students Poster Judge, 2007, 2012; and Newsletter Editor, 2005 to 2015. Now that the last child is out of the house, Harlene wants to become more involved with WSWS as this society has a greater emphasis in the crops she is involved with.
Brian Mealor Brian Mealor is Director of the University of Wyoming s Sheridan Research and Extension Center and an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Rangeland Ecology and Watershed Management at the University of Wyoming and a B.S. in Biology from North Georgia College and State University. Prior to his appointment with UW in 2009, he served as Director of Stewardship for The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming where he was directly responsible for conservation management on multiple properties around the state. His work focuses primarily on restoring rangeland ecosystems negatively impacted by invasive plants. He has served as president of the Wyoming section Society for Range Management (SRM), chaired the international SRM s rangeland invasive species committee, was a member of the WSWS finance committee, and currently serves on the greater sage grouse range-wide fire and invasive species working group. He is the founder of the Wyoming Restoration Challenge, co-developer of the Weed Control Freaks blog, and a founding member of the Northeast Wyoming Invasive Grasses Working Group. He was named outstanding young range professional by SRM in 2013 and outstanding early career weed scientist by the Western Society of Weed Science in 2015. Brian and his wife, Rachel, enjoy being outdoors with their two sons, Bracken and Grady.
Education and Regulatory Section Chair Joel Felix Joel Felix is an Associate Professor of Weed Science at Oregon State University s Malheur Experiment Station, Ontario, OR. He received his BSc. and MSc. degrees from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. He earned his Ph.D. degree from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. Both of his advanced degrees are in Crop Production and Physiology with an emphasis on Weed Science. Joel accepted a postdoctoral position at The Ohio State University on the Wooster campus in 1999 where he conducted research on weed management in vegetable crops. Joel accepted a position as an Assistant Professor at Oregon State University in December 2006, and he is stationed at the Malheur Agricultural Experiment Station in Ontario, OR where he serves as a Weed Scientist. His current research involves development of weed control strategies in the irrigated crops of Eastern Oregon and surrounding areas. He is responsible for conducting educational programs and applied research on weed management in onions, sugar beet, corn, dry beans, wheat, alfalfa, potato, and other specialty crops. Joel is a member of the Weed Science Society of America, the Western Society of Weed Science, the American Society of Agronomy, American Society for Horticultural Science, and the Oregon Society of Weed Science. He has served on numerous committees and leadership positions for both WSSA and WSWS as well as the Oregon Society of Weed Science.
Ryan Rector Ryan grew up in a small town in central KS. His father owned an agricultural retail business for over 30 years so he was exposed to agriculture from a very early age. In addition to helping his father, Ryan also worked on a 200-head dairy farm and helped out with all aspects on the over 2000 acre operation. Ryan attended Kansas State University and received his B.S. degree in Agronomy and M.S. in Weed Science. He then attended the University of Arizona and received his Ph.D in Weed Science with a minor in Plant Science. He joined Monsanto in 2007 as an Agronomic Research Manager at the Monmouth, IL research farm. Ryan has held many positions including Technology Development Representative, Knowledge Transfer Agronomist and Technology Development Manager with Monsanto. Ryan has been the Technology Development Manager/CPEM for Dicamba since July 2017. In this role, he is responsible for technical support, wind tunnel testing for the XtendiMax with VaporGrip website, drift and volatility field testing for Monsanto s XtendiMax herbicide with VaporGrip Technology and Roundup Xtend with VaporGrip Technology and working with the customers and retail partners on the launch and support of dicamba.