The Noel T. Keen award recognizes members of The American Phytopathological Society (APS) for research excellence in molecular plant pathology. Awardees have made outstanding contributions and demonstrated sustained excellence and leadership in research that significantly advances the understanding of molecular aspects of host–pathogen interactions, plant pathogens or plant-associated microbes, or molecular biology of disease development or defense mechanisms.

Baum’s interests led him to pursue a degree in agricultural sciences at the University of Bonn, Germany, which he continued and completed at the Technical University of Munich in 1989 under the supervision of G. M. Hoffman and J.-A. Verreet. Baum then switched to nematology and entered into a Ph.D. program at Clemson University under the guidance of Stephen Lewis, Bruce Fortnum, and Ralph Dean. He graduated in 1993 and continued his education as a post-doctoral scientist in the laboratory of Richard Hussey at the University of Georgia. In 1995, Baum joined the faculty at Iowa State University, where he has been serving as chair of the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology for the last 10 years. Baum has been an internationally recognized leader in research on the molecular basis of plant–nematode interaction for almost two decades.
(Pictured left to right: APS Immediate Past President George Abawi, Thomas Baum, APS President Rick Bennett)