Dernoeden receives GCSAA distinguished service award

University of Maryland turfgrass science professor Peter Dernoeden has been selected to receive the 2012 Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) Col. John Morley Distinguished Service Award. Dernoeden will be honored at the 2012 GCSAA Education Conference Feb. 28 in Las Vegas.

“Dr. Dernoeden is most deserving of the Col. John Morley Distinguished Service Award,” said GCSAA President Robert M. Randquist, CGCS. “He has provided vital research, continuing education, and steadfast support for golf course superintendents for more than three decades. His legacy continues to grow as the dozens of graduate students he has mentored include several future leaders in our industry.”

Dernoeden, known for his expertise in plant pathology and weed control, discovered take-all patch and bentgrass deadspot disease, according to the GCSAA. “His work with gray leaf spot in the mid-1990s laid the foundation for managing perennial ryegrass in the transition zone, while his work with herbicides proved selective control of annual bluegrass in ryegrass fairways was possible. Dernoeden also pioneered the use of fine leaf fescues for low-maintenance areas,” the GCSAA stated in its news release.

A reputable researcher of crabgrass, Dernoeden has long focused on cultural controls, degree-day modeling and taxonomy for dollar spot, brown patch and pythium. He is a member of the GCSAA’s Mid-Atlantic and Eastern Shore chapters and a Fellow in the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from Colorado State University in 1970 and in 1976 earned a master’s degree in turfgrass science from Colorado State University. In 1980, he received his doctorate in plant pathology from the University of Rhode Island.

According to the GCSAA release, the award is named for the GCSAA’s founder and first president and bestowed upon those “who have made an outstanding, substantive and enduring contribution to the advancement of the golf course superintendent profession.”