Degree Programs Offered: Master of Science, Doctor of Philosophy
Director of Graduate Program: Professor Bingru Huang, Foran Hall, George H. Cook Campus (848-932-6390)
Website:
http://plantbiograd.rutgers.edu/index.php
Members of the Graduate Faculty
Faith C. Belanger, Associate Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Illinois
Plant molecular biology; endophyte interaction
Joan W. Bennett, Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Chicago
Fungal genetics and genomics;
fungal natural products
Stacy Bonos,
Associate Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology; SEBS; Ph.D.,
Rutgers
Turfgrass breeding; disease resistance; marker-assisted
selection
A.J. Both, Associate Extension Specialist in Environmental Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D., Cornell
Controlled environment agriculture; energy in agriculture
Chee-kok Chin, Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Alberta
Plant breeding; broadening asparagus germplasm via mutation and somatic embryogenesis; bioactive fatty acids
Bruce B.
Clarke, Extension Specialist, Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Director, Center for Turfgrass Science; Ph.D., Rutgers
Turfgrass
pathology; foliar and soilborne diseases; disease forecasting and control;
mycology
Rong Di, Assistant Research Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Iowa State
Detection of plant pathogens; plant biotechnology to improve
disease resistance and stress tolerance; health-promoting natural products.G.
Charles Dismukes, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, SAS/WIM, and of
Biochemistry and Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D., Wisconsin (Madison)
Biological and chemical approaches to renewable fuel production; catalysis
Juan Dong, Assistant Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS/WIM; Ph.D., California (Riverside)
Cell polarity; asymmetric cell division; cell fate determination; plant stem cells
Edward F. Durner, Associate Research
Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., North Carolina State
Flowering of strawberry; goldenberry (Physalis peruviana) production
Matthew Elmore, Assistant Extension Specialist, SEBS; Ph.D., Tennessee
Weed science in turfgrass, ornamental, forages, and pastures
Paul G. Falkowski, Distinguished Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
and Marine and Coastal Sciences, SAS/SEBS; Ph.D., British Columbia (Canada)
Biogeochemical cycles; evolution; astrobiology
Chaim Frenkel, Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Washington State
Postharvest biology (senescence, fruit ripening, stress); vanilla science and technology
Andrea Gallavotti, Assistant Professor of Plant Molecular Biology and Genetics, SEBS/WIM; Ph.D., Milan
Maize developmental genetics and molecular biology
Randy Gaugler, Distinguished Professor of Entomology, SEBS; Ph.D., Wisconsin
Invertebrate pathology; nematology; biological control
Thomas J. Gianfagna, Research Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology,
SEBS; Ph.D., Cornell
Plant growth regulators; physiology of fruit crops
Joseph C. Goffreda, Associate Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology,
SEBS; Director, Rutgers Fruit Research and Extension Center; Ph.D.,
Cornell
Genetics and breeding; pest resistance in
solanaceous crops
Ann B. Gould, Associate Extension Specialist in Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Kentucky
Ornamental plant pathology
Jason Grabosky, Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, SEBS; Ph.D., Cornell
Urban forestry and urban tree establishment
Steven N. Handel, Distinguished Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, SEBS; Ph.D., Cornell
Restoration ecology; plant population ecology; pollination biology
Jean Marie Hartman, Associate Professor of
Landscape Architecture, SEBS; Ph.D., Connecticut
Plant ecology; community
ecology; restoration ecology; land planning
Joseph R. Heckman, Extension Specialist in Soil Fertility, SEBS; Ph.D., North
Carolina State
Plant nutrition; soil fertility; organic agriculture
Bradley I. Hillman, Research Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS;
Director for Research and Senior Associate Director, NJAES; Ph.D., California (Berkeley)
Viral infections of plants and fungi Bingru Huang, Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Texas Tech
Environmental stress physiology; biochemistry; molecular biology; turfgrass
Hector Rodolfo Juliani, Assistant Research Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Córdoba (Spain)
Biology, chemistry, and quality of plants and their natural products
Edward Kirby, Professor of Biological Sciences, FAS-N; Ph.D.,
Florida
Developmental physiology; tissue culture Donald Y. Kobayashi,
Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D.,
California (Riverside)
Plant bacteriology; host-pathogen interaction;
molecular biology
Norman Lalancette, Associate Extension Specialist in Plant
Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Pennsylvania State
Epidemiology; plant disease control; tree
fruit pathology
Eric Lam, Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., California (Berkeley)
Gene regulating mechanisms in plants; development and photomorphogenesis
Michael A. Lawton, Associate Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Oxford
Molecular biology; plant pathogen interactions
Thomas Leustek, Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Rutgers
Metabolism and biochemistry
Desmond Lun, Associate Professor of Computer Science, SAS;
Ph.D., Massachusetts
Institute of
Technology
Synthetic biology; systems biology; signal
processing; network science
Pal Maliga, Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS/WIM; Ph.D., Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Plant molecular biology; plastid genetics; chloroplast biotechnology
Joachim W. Messing, University
Professor of Molecular Biology; Director of the Waksman Institute of
Microbiology; Ph.D., Munich
Functional genomics breeding
William A. Meyer, Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS;
Associate Director, Center for Turfgrass Science; Ph.D., Illinois
Turfgrass breeding; disease resistance; endophytes
Thomas J. Molnar, Associate Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Rutgers
Plant genetic improvement; underutilized nut crops and woody ornamentals
James
Murphy, Extension Specialist in Turfgrass Management, SEBS;
Ph.D., Michigan State
Development of management systems that minimize
stress and improve turf performance
Thomas J. Orton, Extension Specialist in Plant Biology and
Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Michigan State
Developmental genetics of fruit composition
Peter Oudemans, Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS;
Ph.D., California (Riverside)
Fungal plant diseases; population biology
of fungi
Ilya Raskin, Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Michigan State
Phytopharmaceuticals; molecular biochemistry
Mark Robson, Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor and Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Rutgers; M.P.H., UMDNJ
Public health; risk assessment; exposure to pesticides
James E.
Simon, Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D.,
Massachusetts (Amherst)
Natural plant products; new crops, germplasm,
and breeding
Lena Struwe, Associate Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, and Plant
Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Stockholm
Contemporary ethnobotany; systematics of gentians and relatives; urban weeds
Nilgun E. Tumer, Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Purdue
Mechanism of action of bacterial, fungal, and plant toxins;
toxin-ribosome interactions; inhibitors
targeting ricin and Shiga toxins; plant transformation for fungal disease
resistance
Nicholi Vorsa, Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Director,
Marucci Center for Blueberry and Cranberry Research and Extension;
Ph.D., Rutgers
Genetic and cytological studies in blueberries and cranberries
James F. White, Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D.,
Texas
Systematic mycology; studies of endophytes and epibionts
Qing-Li Wu, Assistant Research Professor of Plant Biology and
Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Peking Union Medical College/Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
Plant-based medicines; natural product chemistry
Ning Zhang, Associate Professor of Plant Biology and Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Louisiana State
Fungal biodiversity, evolution, and functions; fungal genomics; molecular detection of fungal pathogens on turfgrass
Associate Members of the Graduate Faculty
Albert Ayeni, Assistant Teaching Professor; Ph.D., Cornell
Adaptation of specialty crops to New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic
conditions
Daniel Giménez, Associate Professor of Environmental
Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D., Minnesota
Soil structure; water movement and solute transport through
soils; soil quality
Josh Honig, Assistant Research Professor; Ph.D., Rutgers
Genetic diversity and population genetics; genetic mapping;
NGS sequencing
James J. Polashock, Research Plant Pathologist, USDA-ARS
Fruit Lab, Marucci Center for Blueberry and Cranberry Research and Extension;
Ph.D., Rutgers
Plant breeding and genetic improvement; plant pathology;
blueberry and strawberry improvement
Dana Price, Associate Research Professor; Ph.D., Rutgers
Functional genomics of microbial eukaryotes; bioinformatics;
phylogenomies
Adjunct Member of the Graduate Faculty
JoAnne Crouch, Research Associate of Plant Biology and
Pathology, SEBS; Ph.D., Rutgers
Genome evolution and population biology of plant pathogenic
fungi
Programs, Faculty, and Courses 
