DR. WILLIAM (BILL) MEYER
Receives TPI’s Turfgrass Educator Award of Excellence By Jim Novak
Dr. William (Bill) Meyer addresses the audience after accepting his Educator Award of Excellence. Photo by Steve Trusty
During TPI’s 2017 International Education Conference & Field Day, Linda Moyer, chair of the TPI Public Relations Working Group, presented the Turfgrass Educator Award of Excellence to Dr. William Meyer, Professor and Director of Turfgrass Breeding and C. Reed Funk Endowed Professor of Plant Biology and Genetics at Rutgers University.
From time to time the Turfgrass Producers International (TPI)
Public Relations Working Group selects an educator based on nominees submitted by the membership. Te Turfgrass Educator Award of Excellence is awarded to an individual who has demonstrated personal commitment and dedication and has had a positive influence in helping to educate consumers, turfgrass producers and industry professionals throughout the world.
Te recipient of this award is someone who has made themselves available to their community and to TPI and its members to address turfgrass questions and concerns and who has been involved in programs that promote the benefits of turfgrass.
Since April 1996, Dr. Meyer has served as Director of the Turfgrass Breeding Project at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), Rutgers University. Te previous 21 years after graduate school were spent as a commercial turfgrass breeder and corporate president in Oregon.
Rutgers Turfgrass Breeding Project has population improvement projects on nine different open-pollinated cool-season turfgrass species. Tese projects include running cycles of selection in single-plot progeny mowed turf trials where breeding objectives include improving disease, insect, and environmental stress tolerance. Cycles of selection also include selection of superior seed yielding germplasm in spaced-plant nurseries.
Extensive collecting from old turf areas in Europe and America are being carried out each year in all of these species along with their associated endophytes. Many of these endophytes have been shown to enhance disease, insect and stress tolerance. When superior collections are identified, they are integrated into the Rutgers New Jersey adapted populations by using a modified backcrossing technique.
TPI Turf News May/June 2017
Dr. Meyer has released over 400 new and improved turfgrass cultivars that were directly developed or co- developed through his efforts. He has also mentored nine Ph.D. and two M.S. students while at Rutgers University.
He is the recipient of the 2014 National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB) Plant Breeding Impact Award in recognition of significant contributions to mankind through the development of new cultivars of crops and/ or technology development that resulted in a measurable impact on crop production. Te award also recognizes accomplishments in teaching and collaboration.
Of Dr. Meyer, Michelle Williams of Site One Landscape Supply, wrote, “Bill has dedicated his research to developing new varieties of turfgrass. One of his varieties can be found on about any cool-season sod farm in the U.S.”
Dr. Clint Waltz, also a 2017 TPI Turfgrass Educator Award of Excellence recipient, said, “To be recognized at the same meeting as Bill Meyer makes receiving this award even more prestigious.”
In response, Dr. Meyer thanked TPI and its members, noting he was pleased and honored to receive the award. He added that he was very impressed with the collegiality and the enthusiasm of the attendees from across the world who had gathered for the Conference. He shared some special memories of his interaction with turfgrass producers over the years.
Many TPI members are surprised to learn the Dr. Meyer’s first position after completing his doctorate was that of Research Director for Warren’s Turf Nursery in Palos Park, IL, in 1972. Dr. Meyer’s father had been a golf course superintendent and Ben Warren’s company had been his supplier—and Ben Warren, a driving force behind the formation of ASPA/TPI, had become a good friend. Ben Warren contacted Meyer as he was wrapping up his doctoral theses and asked him to join the company. Tat also led to Meyer’s connection with Dr. C. Reed Funk of Rutgers University as he tapped into Dr. Funk’s extensive expertise on innovative Kentucky bluegrass breeding. In addition, Dr. Funk worked with Meyer to start cooperative development projects, a process that has proven beneficial to Dr. Meyer—and the turfgrass industry—throughout his career.
Jim Novak is TPI Communications Manager.
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