Robert Dickerson

116 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building University Park, PA 16802 rad2@psu.edu +1-814-865-1141

Education:

1993, Agricultural Sciences, B.S., The Pennsylvania State University

Professional Experience:

2001 – present, Database Administrator/Webmaster: Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
The Pennsylvania State University
Dr. David M. Sylvia, Supervisor; User-centered, standards-compliant, accessible web development. Database-driven, dynamic web sites and applications. RSS/XML news syndication.
1994 – 2001, Research Technician/Webmaster: Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
The Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Daniel P. Knievel & Dr. Steven Fales, Supervisors; Drought research in maize. Laboratory teaching assistant in Crop Physiology. Developed initial web sites in department starting in 1995.
1993 – 1994, Assistant Supervisor: Agricultural Analytical Services Laboratory
College of Agricultural Sciences
The Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Ann M. Wolf, Supervisor; Supervision of soil testing unit employees. Total Nitrogen analysis of plant and soil samples using Kjeldahl and Combustion methodologies.
1986 – 1993, Laboratory Assistant/Group Leader: Agricultural Analytical Services Laboratory
College of Agricultural Sciences
The Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Ann M. Wolf, Supervisor; Soil nutrient analysis. Preparation of analytical reagents and extraction solutions. Sample preparation.
1981 – 1986, Research Technician: Plant Analysis Laboratory
Department of Horticulture
The Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Cyril B. Smith, Supervisor; Plant nutrient analysis. Preparation of plant samples for analysis. Vegetable crop fertility research support. Field research support from planting through harvest.

Honors and Awards:

2005, Outstanding Support Staff Award, Northeastern Branch of American Society of Agronomy - The Soil Science Society of America
1993, Student Marshall, Summer Commencement, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University
1993, Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi
1992, Golden Key National Honor Society

Professional Affiliations:

Web Standards Project: Invited member. The Web Standards Project is a grassroots coalition fighting for standards that ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all.; http://www.webstandards.org/
Web Standards Project, Education Task Force (WaSP EduTF): Co-lead. The Web Standards Project is a grassroots coalition fighting for standards that ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all. The WaSP Education Task Force was created in 2005 to work directly with institutions of higher education to help raise awareness of Web standards and accessibility among instructors, administrators, and Web development teams.; http://www.webstandards.org/action/edutf/
Web Standards Group: Member. The Web Standards Group is an international group for web designers and developers who are interested in web standards (HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, XSLT etc.) and best practices (accessible sites using valid and semantically correct code).; http://webstandardsgroup.org/
Penn State Web Standards Users Group: Founding Member and Cochair. The Penn State WSUG promotes and provides a forum to share knowledge and discuss issues related to Web development at Penn State including current W3C and ECMA standards - XML, XHTML, CSS, DOM, and ECMASCript; usability, accessibility and best practices for user-centered design; and the design standards and policies specific to Penn State.; http://webstandards.psu.edu/
Penn State Web Conference Committee: Session Chair and Program Sub-committee. The conference committee organizes and plans the annual Penn State Web Developers Conference.; http://webconference.psu.edu/
Penn State Web Usability Group: Member. The Web Usability Group was formed in July 2007. Our mission is to provide Web usability information (and resources if possible) and to promote Web usability best practices at Penn State.; http://content.psu.edu/

Service:

2009 – present, Executive Board, Penn State Web Conference, University Park, PA.
2007, Volunteer Corps, HighEdWebDev 2007 Conference, Rochester, NY.
2006 – present, Web Administrator, North Eastern Weed Science Society.
2006 – present, Board of directors, Mid-Atlantic Border Collie Rescue, Chestertown, MD.
2005 – 2006, member, College of Agricultural Sciences Communications & Marketing Technical Sub-Committee. Review technical competance of vendors in regards to the colleges web site.
2003 – present, Web Administrator, Mid-Atlantic Border Collie Rescue, Chestertown, MD.
2000 – 2003, Staff Representative, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University.
2001, Information and Communication Technologies Advisory Committee. College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University.
1999 – present, Founder, Tim and Amy Baughman Oravec Memorial Award. Awarded annually to a deserving undergraduate Agroecology or Animal Science student with outstanding service to a crop or applied animal nutrition laboratory in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State.
1998 – present, Computer Committee, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University.

Articles:

Dickerson, R. A. and A. Siegfried. 2006, September 26. WaSP Interviews Lars Gunther On Web Standards Advocacy in Education. Retrieved November 2, 2006, from The Web Standards Project Web site: http://www.webstandards.org/action/edutf/interviews/gunther-en/.
Dickerson, R. A. 2006, August 28. WaSP Interviews Brent Elshire On Student Experiences in Standards-based Education. Retrieved September 10, 2006, from The Web Standards Project Web site: http://webstandards.org/action/edutf/interviews/elshire/.
Dickerson, R. A. 2006, April 12. WaSP Interviews Steve Smith On His Work With the Notre Dame Web Group. Retrieved April 22, 2006, from The Web Standards Project Web site: http://webstandards.org/action/edutf/interviews/smith/.
Dickerson, R. A. 2006, March 13. WaSP Interviews Tim Hannigan On Queen’s University’s Conversion to Web Standards. Retrieved March 19, 2006, from The Web Standards Project Web site: http://www.webstandards.org/action/edutf/interviews/hannigan/.
Dickerson, R. A. 2005. HighEdWebDev Conference Report. Retrieved November 27, 2005, from The Web Standards Project Web site: http://www.webstandards.org/action/edutf/events/highedwebdev05/.
Dickerson, R. A. 2005, September 6. WaSP Interviews Rose Pruyne On The Role of User Groups and Web Standards in Higher Education. Retrieved September 15, 2005, from The Web Standards Project web site: http://www.webstandards.org/action/edutf/interviews/pruyne/.
Dickerson, R. A. 2005, August 1. WaSP Interviews Daniel Frommelt On Web Standards in Higher Education. Retrieved August 9, 2005, from The Web Standards Project web site: http://www.webstandards.org/action/edutf/interviews/frommelt/.
Dickerson, R. A. 2005, June 1. WaSP Interviews Jonathan Linczak on Hiram College's Move to Web Standards. Retrieved June 5, 2005, from The Web Standards Project web site: http://www.webstandards.org/action/edutf/interviews/linczak/.
Dickerson, R. A. 2005. My Experiences With Web Standards. Retrieved May 17, 2005 from the Penn State Web Standards Users Group web site: http://webstandards.psu.edu/articles/experiences/
Vinten-Johansen, C. and R. A. Dickerson. 2004. Penn State Recommends Users Change to Standard-Compliant Browsers. Retrieved December 19, 2004 from the Penn State Web Standards Users Group web site: http://webstandards.psu.edu/articles/browsers/

Presentations:

R. A. Dickerson. 2008. Best Practices When Creating a Custom 404 Page. Poster session. Penn State Web Conference 2008. University Park, PA.
R. A. Dickerson. 2007. Best Practices for Web Sites. Poster session. HighEdWebDev 2007 Conference. Rochester, NY.
R. A. Dickerson. 2007. Best Practices for Web Sites. Poster session. Penn State Web Conference. University Park, PA.
R. A. Dickerson. 2006. Web Standards Project Education Task Force: Promoting Web Standards in Higher Education. Poster session. HighEdWebDev 2006 Conference. Rochester, NY.
Pruyne, R. T., W. Jones, L. Shala, and R. A. Dickerson. 2006. Usability and Paper Prototyping. A workshop. HighEdWebDev 2006 Conference. Rochester, NY.
R. A. Dickerson. 2006. Microformats: Applications. Penn State Web Standards Users Group. University Park, PA.
R. A. Dickerson. 2006. Zoom Style Sheets. Poster session. Penn State Web Conference. University Park, PA.
Pruyne, R. T., W. Jones, L. Shala, and R. A. Dickerson. 2006. Usability and Paper Prototyping. Poster session. Penn State Web Conference. University Park, PA.
Pruyne, R. T., W. Jones, L. Shala, and R. A. Dickerson. 2006. Usability and Paper Prototyping. A workshop. Penn State Web Conference. University Park, PA.
R. A. Dickerson. 2006. Unobtrusive Javascript and the Document Object Model: An Image Gallery. Penn State Web Standards Users Group. University Park, PA.
Pruyne, R. T., C. Vinten-Johansen, B. Panulla, L. Shala and R. A. Dickerson. 2006. Overcoming Obstacles to Implementing Web Standards—Panel Presentation, Penn State Web Developer’s Luncheon. University Park, PA.
Dickerson, R. A., R. T. Pruyne, and C. H. Maass. 2005. Web Standards Experiences—Panel Presentation, Penn State Web Developer’s Luncheon. University Park, PA.

Publications:

Hall, M.H., W.S. Smiles, and R.A. Dickerson. 2000. Morphological development of alfalfa cultivars selected for higher quality. Agron. J. 92:1077-1080.

Web Sites:

Agroecology: http://agroecology.psu.edu/
The Agronomy Guide: http://agguide.agronomy.psu.edu/
Center for Turfgrass Science: http://turf.cas.psu.edu/
Corn and Soybean Management: http://cornandsoybeans.psu.edu/
Crop Management Extension Group: http://cmeg.psu.edu/
Department of Crop & Soil Sciences: http://cropsoil.psu.edu/
Environmental Soil Science: http://esoils.psu.edu/
Field Crop News: http://fcn.agronomy.psu.edu/
Jason Kaye Lab: http://kayelab.psu.edu/
Mascaro-Steiniger Turf Museum: http://turf.cas.psu.edu/museum.cfm
Mid-Atlantic Border Collie Rescue: http://www.mabcr.org/
NorthEastern Weed Science Society: http://www.newss.org/
PA Crop Management Associations: http://cma.psu.edu/
PA Agronomic Education Society: http://paes.cas.psu.edu/
Penn State On-Farm Research: http://onfarm.cas.psu.edu/
Penn State Soil Characterization Lab: http://soilislife.psu.edu/
Penn State Turfgrass: http://turfgrass.psu.edu/
Penn State Turfgrass Club: http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/turfclub
Penn State's Using Spent Mushroom Substrate for Improving Turf Performance: http://spentmushroomsubstrate.turfgrass.psu.edu/
Penn State Weed Ecology Laboratory: http://weedecology.psu.edu/
Pennsylvania Certified Crop Advisor Program: http://cca.psu.edu/
Small Grains Management: http://smallgrains.psu.edu/
Soil Management: http://soilmanagement.psu.edu/
Sustaining Pennsylvania Agriculture: http://susag.cas.psu.edu/
Turfgrass Management: http://turfgrassmanagement.psu.edu/