NESTMA News

Ebdon Honored with NTEP Distinguished Award

The National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) announced the first recipient of the NTEP Distinguished Award is Dr. Scott Ebdon, Professor of Turfgrass Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Dr. Ebdon received the award at the Crop Science of America annual conference in Baltimore, Maryland in November 2022.

Scott Ebdon receives the NTEP Distinguished Service Award from NTEP Executive Director Kevin Morris (L).

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the turfgrass industry through cooperation with, or support of the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program. Dr. Mike Richardson, University of Arkansas nominated Dr. Ebdon for the award, noting his role as principal investigator and evaluator of twenty-four NTEP trials over his career. Dr. Ebdon has been instrumental in evaluating traffic tolerance on many of those trials, as well as serving on advisory committees for multiple trials. Dr. Ebdon was also a key contributor as an advisory committee member and evaluator for two NTEP water use trials under rainout shelters. Because of his research on water use and drought tolerance in turfgrasses, Dr. Ebdon is a recognized expert on how grasses utilize water and in understanding drought tolerance mechanisms.

NTEP, established in 1980, is a non-profit program that develops and coordinates uniform evaluation trials of turfgrass varieties and promising selections across the United States and Canada. More information can be found at NTEP.org. •

Sports Turf Management Digital Magazine NOVEMBER 22, 2022