Professor and geneticist Dr. Linda Bisson of the University of California, Davis, will join a prestigious group of wine and grape industry leaders who have received the American Society for Enology and Viticulture’s (ASEV) Merit Award for outstanding contribution to the Society and the industry. The long-time American Journal of Enology and Viticulture (AJEV) Science Editor will receive the 2014 Merit Award following her presentation, “The Information Landscape Transformation: The Changing Role of Scientific Societies,” on June 26, 2014, at the 65th ASEV National Conference in Austin, Texas.

Dr. Bisson is a trained yeast geneticist and physiologist whose research focuses on sugar catabolism and the understanding of metabolic basis for slow and incomplete fermentations. She is a respected professor and former chair at the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology and has received the prestigious Maynard A. Amerine Endowed Chair funded by Ernest Gallo. Bisson is Chair of the UC Davis Academic Senate and, most recently, was the recipient of the UC Davis’ Charles P. Nash Prize. She currently serves as AJEV Science Editor and has held this position for more than a decade. She is a four-time ASEV Best Enology Paper Award author, the 2000 Honorary Research Lecturer and has more than 25 years of service with ASEV as a Board Director (1988-1990) and volunteer for committees that include program organizing and planning, scholarship, publications and technical projects.

Each year, the ASEV presents the Merit Award to an individual who has significantly contributed in an outstanding manner to the progress and advancement of enology and viticulture in the industry and/or to the Society. The award acknowledges excellence in the fields of education, technology, management, public relations or any discipline related to enology and viticulture.

 “ASEV plays a vital role in the dissemination of scientific and technical information that keeps our grape and wine industries innovative and cutting-edge,” says Bisson. “I am proud that I have been able to serve the society, our authors and our journal readers for over a decade and humbled by this award.”

The ASEV National Conference was established in 1950 as an annual meeting by a committee of industry and academic representatives, comprised of founding leaders such as Maynard Amerine, James Guymon, Joseph Heitz, Louis P. Martini, Harold Olmo, Andre Tchelistcheff, A.W. Webb and A. J. Winkler. The event serves as the wine and grape industry’s platform for progress, offering a unique combination of continued professional education in regard to scientific rigor and fundamental practice. The diverse and comprehensive program includes seminars addressing topics of daily experience in the winery and vineyard as well as reports and updates on original research, and enology and viticulture work in progress. Open to all industry and academic representatives, the National Conference provides an ideal opportunity for networking among members of all U.S. wine and grape regions as well as international experts and professionals. Click here for the latest information about this event.