Harvey Reissig, Cornell University professor of entomology at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y., has been named director of Cornell's Pesticide Management Education Program (PMEP). He also was named state pesticide coordinator for Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The mission of PMEP is to promote the safe use of pesticides for the user the consumer and the environment. The program, which will occupy 50 percent of Reissig's time, serves as a pesticide information center for college and field extension staff, growers, commercial applicators, pesticide distributors and formulators, environmental and conservation groups, and private citizens.

"I am very pleased to have the opportunity to work with the talented and dedicated staff of Cornell's Pesticide Management Education Program," said Reissig. "This program has a long, distinguished history of providing education about pesticide issues that affect the applicator, the consumer and the environment.

"The PMEP will continue to develop new, innovative educational materials to ensure that all pesticide applicators in the state are adequately trained and to address the general public's concerns about the effects of pesticides on human health, environmental quality and food safety."

Reissig will maintain offices in Comstock Hall on the Ithaca campus and in Barton Lab in Geneva, and he will continue to spend 50 percent of his time on his research program, which focuses on ways to help growers use pesticides more judiciously and efficiently.

Reissig's research expertise is in the biology and ecology of arthropod pests of apples and pears, integrated pest management, insecticide research, sampling and monitoring, and insecticide resistance. He is also involved in extension programs designed to encourage growers to adopt more integrated pest management practices on their farms.

"The Cornell administration made an excellent choice in appointing Harvey as director and coordinator of these programs," said Wendell Roeloffs, chairman of the entomology department at the Geneva Experiment Station. "In his capacity as one of the nation's top tree-fruit entomologists, he has generated decades of knowledge, experiences and contacts that provide the base for him to do an excellent job in this position. I know that he will accept the challenges of the position with enthusiasm."

Reissig received B.S.and M.S. degrees in entomology from Kansas State University in 1969 and 1970, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in entomology in 1973 from Oregon State University. Reissig was named assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at Geneva in 1973, associate professor in 1978 and full professor in 1986. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 papers in refereed journals, many others in nonrefereed research publications, and given numerous presentations at local, national and international levels.

Reissig is a member of the Entomological Society of America, the New York State Horticultural Society, the New York State Agri-Business Society and the American Wine Society.