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Program Staff

Dr. Kerry Hoffman-Richards

Photograph of Dr. Kerry Hoffman-Richards      Kerry, the Pesticide Education Program's former coordinator, is now the of Manager of the Pest Management Information Center. Her responsibilities now include promoting informed pesticide regulatory decisions by the federal government and keeping Pennsylvania stakeholders abreast of regulatory changes. Kerry works with USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service to survey PA farm managers on pest management techniques. She then reports the economic impact of these techniques to the USDA and EPA as necessary. Kerry will continue her youth education work by developing IPM and pesticide safety curriculums for high school science and agriculture programs.

Eric Lorenz

Photograph of Eric Lorenz      Eric is the Pesticide Education Program's coordinator. He coordinates the development of test preparation materials, provides pesticide safety training for certification, and develops and presents update training seminars for pesticide applicators. Eric will also organize pesticide safety in-service trainings for technical service employees, faculty, and extension agents.

Sharon Gripp

Photograph of Sharon Gripp      Sharon is the database administrator/webmaster. She provides writing support such as editing of the joint pesticide newsletter with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, maintains the content on the web site, and provides programming and statistical support for the Pest Management Information Center. Sharon also has also become the program's West Nile Virus contact person.

Julie Watson

Photograph of Julie Watson      Julie is the program's Administrative Assistant. She assists with word processing, graphics, updating the web page, maintaining calendars, and other relevant tasks. She also assists Dr. Ayers with the Northeastern Region Integrated Pest Management Competitive Grants Program.

James Gingerich

Photograph of James Gingerich      Jimi is the program's Information Technology Specialist. He designs and develops applications for our web sites and intranet such as the Recertification Meeting Finder, Recertification Credit Information and Pesticide Peril.

Brandi Snook

Photograph of Brandi Snook      Brandi is the Staff Assistant for Pesticide Education and is the main contact for the Program. She is also responsible for helping with budgets, supporting the staff in the office, and managing the office supplies.

Kelly Over

Photograph of Kelly Over      Kelly serves as support staff in Penn State Pesticide Education. Her main focus is as an Education Specialist who assists with various consumer and youth education events. She also does research, administrative work, and other relevant tasks.