06/04/2008

PDF / Photos / Audio / Video Roger_N_Williams.jpg (1168 Kb)

OSU Ag Prof Earns President’s Volunteer Service Award; Taught Bug-fighting, Eco-friendly Farming in Himalayas

Writer:

Kurt Knebusch
knebusch.1@osu.edu
330-263-3776

Source:

Roger N. Williams, OARDC, Entomology
williams.14@osu.edu
330-263-3731

WOOSTER, Ohio — Ohio State University entomology professor Roger N. Williams has received a 2008 President’s Volunteer Service Award for teaching environmentally friendly farming practices in the Himalayas of northern India.

Working through Winrock International and the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) John Ogonowski Farmer-to-Farmer Program, Williams, accompanied by his wife, Lupe, traveled to the city of Ranichauri in the mountainous state of Uttarakhand, where he lectured on using integrated pest management (IPM) techniques to achieve sustainable insect control.

The President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation created and issues the award on behalf of President George W. Bush “to thank and honor Americans who, by their demonstrated commitment and example, inspire others to engage in volunteer service.”

Williams is a scientist at the university’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster, where he studies and develops better insect-management practices for Ohio small-fruit growers.

The Farmer-to-Farmer Program, says a USAID Web site, “provides voluntary technical assistance to farmers, farm group and agribusinesses in developing and transitional countries to promote sustainable improvements in food processing, production and marketing.”

It was renamed in 2002 to honor John Ogonowski’s “generous efforts on behalf of farming and particularly for his help with immigrant farmers.”

A pilot and an agricultural activist, Oganowski was flying American Airlines Flight 11, which terrorists hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Winrock international, according to its Web site, “is a nonprofit organization that works with people in the United States and around the world to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources.”

- 30 -

Links: Roger N. Williams, http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/entomology/personnelsingle.asp?strid=765; President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, http://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/; Farmer-to-Farmer Program, http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/agriculture/farmer_to_farmer.htm; Winrock International, http://www.winrock.org/.