The Lifetime Achievement Award honors an individual who has devoted their career to IPM. Shelton was recognized for significant contributions to enhancing IPM through team building with various stakeholder groups, and addressing issues across pests, commodities, systems and disciplines.
Shelton will receive the award and deliver the closing plenary address at the 10th International IPM Symposium to be held February 28 - March 3, 2022 in Denver, Colorado.
During his more than 40-year career, Shelton has delivered invaluable insights across a variety of crops, pests and tactics. His research has focused on potatoes, crucifers, sweet corn, onions and eggplant in the U.S. and around the world.
“I am honored to receive this award which recognizes the importance of the concept and practices of IPM. As a graduate student at UC Riverside, I knew Vern Stern who, along with his California colleagues, first described the concept of IPM in 1959,” Shelton said.
“It is heartening to know that what was seen then as a radical idea, is now mainstream and contributes greatly to economic and environmental sustainability.”
Steven E. Naranjo, center director and supervisory research entomologist at USDA-ARS, credited Shelton for his domestic and international work and enduring commitment to improving lives.
“As an applied ecologist and IPM specialist within a Land Grant University, Shelton firmly believes he is obligated to work for the public good, both domestically and internationally,” Naranjo said. “It is rare for someone at a university who has many other obligations — research, teaching, administration, and more — to have been able to develop successful domestic and international IPM programs. Shelton has done both with excellence.”
That public good, according to Naranjo, includes improving agriculture by making it more sustainable, more profitable for producers, and with enhanced benefits for consumers and the environment.
