The mission of the Plant Pathology Department is to increase the collective understanding of plant disease in terms of biology, agriculture, and the environment; to educate citizens for activity and leadership in the science and practice of plant pathology;

Plant Science Building

and to translate new knowledge into action for the well being of people, their agriculture, and their natural resources. Our Department views itself as a cohesive scientific group focused on plant-microbe interactions. Individual programs contribute directly to the mission of the College in agriculture, the biological sciences, the environment and international agriculture, through the impact of research, extension, and teaching activities.

The Department directs considerable effort, both to solving current plant disease problems and to investigating theoretical issues pivotal to long-term progress in plant disease control. Recent discoveries include the identification of a protein that elicits plant defense mechanisms, and the demonstration that the replicase  gene of viruses can confer viral resistance to transformed plants. In addition, faculty are highly interactive with the faculty in other departments and program areas, especially production systems and plant breeding and genetics. Overall, our faculty align themselves with about twenty of the program areas of the College, with five program areas being considered central to the Department (biological control, IPM, fungal biology, molecular/cellular plant-microbe interactions, and biology of plant diseases). We take great pride in our interactive relationships and consider these relationships to be a departmental and college strength.

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