4 minute read
Member Spotlight on Dr. Maria Tomaso-Peterson
“Never underestimate the power of a fungus,” is the closing line, maybeeven the signature, of a recent email from Dr. Maria Tomaso-Peterson,recently retired Professor of Plant Pathology. Whether the phrase is anhomage to the complexity of the organisms she spent her career studyingor a warning of their power, is left to the reader’s imagination.
Advertisement
There aren’t many people on Earth who have a consuming passion for fungi, and maybe the average person can’t understand why anyone should feel so strongly about such organisms. But any turfgrass manger can tell you that when you encounter fungus on the job, that’s exactly who you’re looking for. Since 2004, Dr. Peterson has answered those calls for turfgrass managers in Mississippi.
Her lab has analyzed samples from golf course superintendents far and wide. “It’s like solving a puzzle in pathology, whether it’s turf or other plants. I love the diagnostics, and what really opened a door for me is turf diagnostics and working with golf course superintendents, problem solving,” she says. “When you receive a sample that came from across the country, you’ve got a fourinch cupcutter plug that was taken from maybe a 3,500 square foot green, so it’s this little snapshot of what the superintendent thinks is the worst problematic area, and then it’s my challenge to solve that problem.”
In fact, Dr. Peterson says her favorite part of the work she’s done is finding and characterizing a new disease, ink spot. Not only because she “could sit at the scope for hours and hours and look at turf and what’s growing in that turf,” but also because the disease management application of that knowledge for turfgrass professionals can make a real difference in their work.
Alongside her lab research, Dr. Peterson has been a constant presence in education opportunities for current and future turf professionals across the state. Through her classes, mentoring graduate students, and extension work through conference education sessions and research articles in magazines like this, Dr. Peterson has generously shared her findings with anyone who seeks a deeper understanding of disease management.
Indeed her true legacy may be the number of students continuing the studies they began in Dr. Peterson’s lab and her passion for engaging with working turfgrass professionals. When asked what her greatest career accomplishment was, she answered with no hesitation, “It’s mentoring the grad students that came through my program, and to see where they are today. They’re all in professional fields, several with Ph.D.s, some still in turf, some in industry. I think my greatest accomplishment was mentoring them.”
While Dr. Peterson is retiring from the University, some of her retirement plans may keep her on the periphery of the turfgrass world. “I’m just going to wake up and see what the day brings to me,” she says. “I love working in my yard and maintaining my grass, my lawn. Pruning and doing a lot of I call it yard work, but it’s just maintaining. That’s the old horticulturalist in me.”
She also hints at dusting off her golf clubs and returning to the course in a recreational capacity. Of her time on the course as a researcher, she says, “Throughout my career, Brad Suggs and Bill Coloredo, who used to be at Old Waverly, and Pat Sneed and Mississippi State Golf Course, they opened their courses to me to do research. That was very, very special and nice to be able to be on a working course and do research. So, without those two golf courses, I couldn’t have done a lot of what I did and a lot of the research I was able to successfully do and had grad students working at those golf courses, doing their Masters thesis research. So I just want to say thank you to them for opening up their golf courses as a research laboratory to me. They were very generous in doing that.”
Mississippi Turfgrass Association will certainly feel Dr. Peterson’s absence, as her contributions to the industry, the association, and individual turfgrass managers has been immense. We wish Dr. Peterson a happy and restful retirement and our sincere appreciation for her partnership. •
