Source: John Leslie, 785-532-6176, jfl@k-state.edu
http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/lesliebio.html
News release prepared by: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, 785-532-6415, ebarcomb@k-state.edu

Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009

K-STATE PLANT PATHOLOGY PROFESSOR AWARDED INTERNATIONAL PROFESSORSHIP FOR LATIN AMERICA BY THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY

MANHATTAN -- The American Society for Microbiology has awarded one of its international professorships to John Leslie, professor and head of the plant pathology department at Kansas State University.

The society has awarded Leslie an International Professorship for Latin America. He will be a visiting professor at the Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto in Argentina, where he will present his Fusarium Laboratory Workshop in March 2010.

The workshop helps participants better understand Fusarium and strategies for dealing with the fungus that poses a threat to the food supply, economies and human health. Since 2000, Leslie has organized the international workshop, which takes place at Kansas State University in odd years.

As part of his professorship in Argentina, Leslie also will offer a scientific writing workshop based on material he has presented to nearly 3,000 people in 16 countries.

In addition to Fusarium, Leslie's broader research interests include biochemical, molecular and population genetics of model and plant pathogenic fungi. He has edited or co-authored six books and published more than 130 academic journal articles. He holds a patent for a biological method for the recovery of water used in phosphate strip mining.

His interests in population genetics have led him to travel to more than 40 countries to collect Fusarium and conduct collaborative research.

Leslie was a senior Fulbright Scholar at the University of Sydney. He is a Fellow of the American Society for Phytopathology and an honorary Fellow at St. Paul's College at University of Sydney. He is an adjunct professor at Seoul National University in Korea and a research associate at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney. From 1997 to 2006 he was senior editor for the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.