NEWS Release

For Immediate Release

Contact: Sherrilynn Novack

PR & Communications

732.932.9575 x 4632

Date: September 1, 2006

IR-4 Announces Promotions of Drs. Daniel Kunkel and Van Starner

It is with great pleasure that IR-4 announces the promotions of Dr. Daniel Kunkel, who has been promoted to the position of Associate Director and Dr. Van Starner, who has been promoted to the position of Assistant Director. These changes will be effective September 8, 2006.

Beginning his IR-4 career in 1991, as the Herbicide Project Coordinator, Dan has been instrumental in helping IR-4 provide growers with new crop protection tools throughout his 15 year tenure. In his most recent role, as Assistant Director, Registrations, Dan was responsible for the overall management and supervision of a staff of Research Scientists. Together they assured all projects met the strict federally mandated standards of Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) compliance. As Assistant Director, Registrations, Dan also worked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prioritize IR-4 petitions that would be scheduled in their annual EPA Workplan. This effort helped maximize regulatory efficiencies. Additionally, Dan worked with agri-chemicalindustry leaders to develop regulatory strategies, and with California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation to extend joint work share efficiencies. Plus, Dan has helped build international regulatory cooperation by working with Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency to extend North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) strategies and developing the IR-4 Global Specialty Crop Proposal.

Dan has numerous publications to his credit and currently serves as Legislative Committee Chair and on the Executive Board of the Northeastern Weed Science Society. He also sits on the Editorial Board of the American Vegetable Grower magazine.

-more-

Page 2

In his new role as Associate Director, Dan will continue to manage and oversee IR-4 Research Scientists, while working closely with incoming IR-4 Executive Director, Dr. Jerry Baron.

Along with Dan, Dr. Van Starner has been promoted to Assistant Director.

Before joining IR-4, Vanspent nearly fifteen years in Research and Development within the agri-chemical industry and learned first hand the challenges faced by field researchers through his work at several agricultural research stations and conducting efficacy and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) residue trials with a field contract research

company. In 1999, Van joined IR-4 as an Associate Coordinator in the Interdisciplinary group, and was most recently Coordinator of Entomology and Pathology projects. During this time, Van has been responsible for overseeing dozens of research studies. He is the chair of IR-4 Training Committee, which earlier this year delivered a two and a half-day national education conference for over 170 attendees. Additionally, Van has organized fiveIR-4/EPA field tours, which have been a key resource for EPA staff in receiving a first-hand look at how pest management tools are used and hearing directly from growers about their needs.

In his new role, Van will be responsible for interfacing with agri-chemical industry representatives and organizing annual IR-4/industry meetings, he will also be organizing the annual Food Use Workshop and will become more involved in the Ornamental and Biopesticide programs. He will continue to serve as chair of the IR-4 Training Committee and act as the headquarters liaison for IR-4 Field Research Directors.

Van is the committee chair of the Professors C. C. Compton/G. M. Markle Entomological Fund, which recognizes outstanding achievements by NJ students in the field of entomology. He hasalso served as a guest lecturer for an Entomology Pest Management course offered at RutgersUniversity.

Both Dan and Van are farmers at heart having grown up on farms in Illinois and Pennsylvania, as well they both understand the value of IR-4 to growers. According to Dan, “Growing up on a farm and not having the tools, at times, that you needed to grow your crops was the foundation for my driving interests. When I was a kid, I knew that if you didn’t have control of a pest, you felt it right away. One of the jobs we’d do during the summer was walking through the bean fields and pulling the weeds out. You could tell when the sprayer wasn’t working or the crop protection product wasn’t doing what it was supposed to be doing. My work at IR-4 – keeping the hopper full of products to come down the line – is all about helping the growers with those problems.”Van concurs with Dan's sentiments and adds, "The enthusiasm I feel doing the work of IR-4 is rooted in my early years working on fruit and vegetable farms of relatives, neighbors and friends - picking berries for 10 cents a quart, tart cherries for 35 cents a bucket, apples for 50 cents a bushel, and accompanying my dad as his agrichemical distributor consultant duties found him checking pome and stone fruit orchards for pest control successes, failures and needs. It excites me to know that my work here, helping secure registration of reduced-risk and lower risk pest management tools, is directly benefiting many relatives and childhood friends who continue growing specialty fruit and vegetable crops while maintaining careful stewardship of the land that sustains them."

IR-4 welcomes Dan and Van to their new roles and wishes them continued success.

###

For over forty years, the IR-4 Project has been the major resource for supplying pest management tools for specialty crops by developing research data to support registration clearances. It’s mission is to provide safe and effective pest management tools for specialty crop growers. For more information visit the IR-4 website at ir4.rutgers.edu.