Update:  For a quick look at some of Dr. Winter’s communication techniques, scroll down to paragraph three and check out his YouTube videos that include a short bio and some live performances. Also check this section that includes animated parodies such as “The Gambler” and “We Are the Microbes.”

News Release: The prestigious 2012 Borlaug CAST Communication Award goes to Dr. Carl Winter, the Director of the FoodSafe Program and Extension Food Toxicologist in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California-Davis. His research and outreach work focus on pesticide residues and naturally occurring toxins in foods, food chemical and microbiological risk assessment, and food safety education using music.

Winter’s noted ability to communicate credible scientific information has made him a respected expert in his field and a popular speaker at agriculture and science events. The author of two books and more than 100 publications in both scientific and lay literature, Winter also serves on a variety of committees, teaches courses on communication skills to graduate students, and knows how to use humor and music to communicate important messages about agriculture. He gives 40-50 news media interviews a year and has frequently been invited to testify before the U.S. Congress on pesticide/food safety issues.

Winter, the “Elvis of E. coli,” has given nearly 200 live performances of his food safety music parodies at a wide variety of conferences, trade shows, and public gatherings in 39 states and Canada over the past several years. He has also distributed more than 30,000 of his audio CDs and animated music DVDs, while his food safety music website (http://foodsafe.ucdavis.edu) and YouTube page (http://www.youtube.com/foodsafetymusic) have attracted a total of nearly one million visitors.

The announcement was made by CAST President Nathaniel Tablante at a World Bank event in Washington, D.C. The previous BCCA winner, Catherine Bertini, addressed the audience about the importance of women in world economies around the world.

An award presentation will occur at a breakfast co-hosted by CropLife Foundation and CAST as a side event at the World Food Prize Symposium on October 17, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. The Borlaug CAST Communication Award honors the legacies of Nobel Prize winner Dr. Norman Borlaug and Dr. Charles A. Black, the first president of CAST.