Staff and Faculty

Eric Lyons talks to a crowd of people

GTI Staff

Dr. Katerina Jordan GTI Director  
Dr. Sara Stricker GTI Communications and Outreach Coordinator
Peter Purvis Research Station Superintendent 
Erica Gunn Agricultural and Research Assistant
John Watson Research Technician
Rodger Tschanz Trial Garden Manager
Cam Shaw Diploma in Turfgrass Management Program Manager

Research Faculty

Dr. Tom Hsiang School of Environmental Sciences
Dr. Katerina Jordan Department of Plant Agriculture
Dr. Manish Raizada Department of Plant Agriculture
Dr. Francois Tardif Department of Plant Agriculture

Scientists looking at turfgrass samples with a microscope

Staff and Faculty Directory:

Erica Gunn

Erica Gunn, BSc. Agr. 

Agricultural and Research Assistant
Guelph Turfgrass Institute, G. M. Frost Centre
Tim Hsiang

Tom Hsiang, PhD.

U of G Faculty; Phytopathology
University of Guelph, School of Environmental Sciences, E.C. Bovey Building
 
Select Publications:
Hsiang T. 2021. What’s the difference between Fusarium Patch \Microdochium Patch \ Pink Snow Mold or whatever the disease is called? The Dogwood, Summer 2021: 15-19.
 
FY Zhao, SY Liu, SL Stephenson, T Hsiang, B Qi, Z Li, 2021. Morphological and molecular characterization of the new aethaloid species Didymium yulii. Mycologia: 1-12
 
C Li, Z Guo, S Zhou, Q Han, M Zhang, Y Peng, T Hsiang, X Chen. 2021. Evolutionary and genomic comparisons of hybrid uninucleate and nonhybrid Rhizoctonia fungi, Communications biology 4 (1): 1-15.
 
R Gourlie, T Hsiang, 2017. Resistance to dicarboximide fungicides in a Canadian population of Microdochium nivale. International Turfgrass Society Research Journal 13 (1):133-138.
 
Katerina Jordan

Katerina Jordan, PhD.

GTI Director and U of G Faculty; Turfgrass Science, Pathology and Nematology
University of Guelph, Department of Plant Agriculture, E.C. Bovey Building
Email: kjordan@uoguelph.ca
 
Select Publications:
K O'Connor, F Hébert, JE Powers, KS Jordan, EM Lyons. 2018. Leaf morphology explains the disparity between annual bluegrass and creeping bentgrass growth under foliar fertilization. Journal of Plant Nutrition 41 (5): 596-608.
 
CA McCall, KS Jordan, MB Habash, KE Dunfield. 2015 Monitoring Bacteroides spp. markers, nutrients, metals and Escherichia coli in soil and leachate after land application of three types of municipal biosolids. Water Research 70: 255-265.
 

Eric Lyons

Eric Lyons, PhD.

U of G Faculty; Turfgrass Science & Physiology
University of Guelph, Department of Plant Agriculture, E.C. Bovey Building
 
Select Publications:
HR Shehata, EM Lyons, MN Raizada. 2018. Turfgrasses as model assay systems for high-throughput in planta screening of beneficial endophytes isolated from cereal crops. Symbiosis 76: 71–76.

HR Shehata, EM Lyons, KS Jordan, MN Raizada. 2016. Relevance of in vitro agar based screens to characterize the anti-fungal activities of bacterial endophyte communities. National Library of Medicine. BMC microbiology Vol. 16: 8. 
 
Peter Purvis

Peter Purvis, MSc.

Research Station Superintendent
Guelph Turfgrass Institute, G. M. Frost Centre
Email: ppurvis@uoguelph.ca
 
Manish Raizada

Manish Raizada, PhD.

U of G Faculty; Beneficial endophytes
University of Guelph, Department of Plant Agriculture, Crop Science Building
Email: raizada@uoguelph.ca
 
Select Publications:
D Johnston-Monje, DK Castillo-Avila, MN Raizada, LA Becerra Lopez-Lavalle. 2019. Paying the Rent: How Endophytic Microorganisms Help Plant Hosts Obtain Nutrients. Comprehensive Biotechnology, Vol. 4, Moo-Young, M., Ed., Elsevier: Pergamon: 770–788.
Cam Shaw

Cam Shaw, BA.

Manager, Diploma in Turfgrass Management Program 
University of Guelph, Department of Plant Agriculture, E.C. Bovey Building
Sara Stricker

Sara Stricker, PhD.

Guelph Turfgrass Institute Communications and Outreach Coordinator
University of Guelph, Department of Plant Agriculture, G. M. Frost Centre
 
Select Publications:
S Stricker, T Hsiang, A Bertrand. 2017. Reaction of bentgrass cultivars to a resistance activator and elevated CO2 levels when challenged with Microdochium nivale, the cause of Microdochium patch. International Turfgrass Society Research Journal 13 (1): 229-232.

Francois Tardif

Francois Tardif, PhD.

U of G Faculty; Weed Science
University of Guelph, Department of Plant Agriculture, Crop Science Building
Email: ftardif@uoguelph.ca
 
Select Publications:
M Cowbrough, F Tardif. 2017. Integrated Weed Management for Prevention of Herbicide Resistance. Presentation
KL Dodson, F Tardif, KS Jordan, E Lyons. 2012. Maintaining Turfgrass Coverage Under High Traffic Conditions. Sports Turf Manager [STA]. Autumn. 25(3): p. 12-15.
 
Rodger Rschanz

Rodger Tschanz, MSc.

Trial Garden Manager
University of Guelph, Department of Plant Agriculture, E.C. Bovey Building
Email: rtschanz@uoguelph.ca
 
Select Publications:
R Tschanz. 2020. Dramatic looking plants are top picks at Trial Garden Open House. Landscape Ontario Association News: October 2020
 
R Tschanz. 2019. Top picks from 2019 Trial Garden sites. Landscape Ontario Association News: September 2019
 
K O'Hara, R Tschanz. 2019. Training the future generation. Greenhouse Management: July 2012
John Watson

John Watson, MSc.

Research Technician
University of Guelph, Department of Plant Agriculture, G. M. Frost Centre