Faculty mentors and a brief description of their projects are listed in the table below. Clicking on the name of a faculty mentor leads to their home page, contact information, and a more detailed description of their research program. Interested students are encouraged to contact both the administrators of the Kelman Scholars Program and potential faculty mentors directly for more information.
**You can learn more about the Department of Plant Pathology and North Carolina State University through a short YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPEjjiReVaI
| Mentor |
Research Project |
| Dr. Peter Balint-Kurti |
Corn diseases; Gray Leaf Spot and Southern Corn Leaf Blight |
Dr. D. Michael Benson
|
Epidemiology and control of ornamental diseases and ecology of root-infecting fungi |
Dr. David McK. Bird
|
Nematode biology and development; genome organization and evolution |
Dr. Robert I. Bruck
|
Epidemiology and control of forest tree diseases. |
Dr. Ignazio Carbone
|
Evolutionary biology, molecular population genetics and genomics. |
William O. Cline
|
Diseases of small fruits, integrated pest management, cultural practices, and disease resistance |
Dr. Christina Cowger
|
Biology, epidemiology, and population genetics of economically important small grain pathogens |
Dr. Marc Cubeta
|
Studies on the ecology and genetics of Rhizoctonia fungi associated with orchids and potato |
Dr.
Margaret E. Daub
|
Isolating and characterizing genes from plant pathogens |
Dr. Eric L. Davis
|
Biotechnology and molecular host-parasite interactions |
Dr. Ralph A. Dean
|
Analysis of complete gene sets from major plant pathogenic and industrially important fungal species |
Dr. Larry F. Grand
|
Assessing fungal biodiversity and addressing the biogeography of wood-decay fungi in North Carolina |
Dr. Gerald J. Holmes
|
Extension and applied research of vegetable crops. |
Dr. Shuijin Hu
|
Soil microbial ecology, pathogen/disease suppression, plant interactions |
| Dr. Kelly L. Ivors |
Plant pathogens of the diverse agricultural economy of western North Carolina, which includes vegetables, ornamentals, burley tobacco and Christmas trees |
Dr. Stephen R. Koenning
|
Disease management, nematology, host plant resistance to nematodes, nematode ecology |
Dr. Steven A. Lommel
|
RNA plant virus, red clover necrotic mosaic virus to study the molecular mechanisms of plant viral pathogenesis |
Dr. Frank Louws
|
Emphasizing IPM and sustainable agricultural principles and practices for the small fruit and vegetable agricultural sector |
Dr. David S. Marshall
|
Breeding and genetics of small grain crops (wheat, oat, barley, and triticale) for disease resistance |
Dr. Asimina Mila
|
Biology and management of tobacco diseases, epidemiology, forecasting and modeling of plant diseases |
Dr. James W. Moyer
|
Viral focus is on the genetic mechanisms utilized by Tospoviruses for diversity and adaptation |
Dr. Peter S. Ojiambo
|
Theoretical and applied Epidemiology, Integrated disease management |
Dr. Charles H. Opperman
|
Plant-Parasitic Nematode Gentics; Molecular Crop Protection |
Dr. Gary A. Payne
|
Ecology of Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium verticillioides and the inheritance of resistance to the fungi |
Dr. Zvezdana Pesic-Van Esbroeck
|
Plant virology; characterization, epidemiology and control of plant viruses infecting vegetable, fruit and field crops |
Dr. Jean Beagle Ristaino
|
Molecular biology reasearch involving studies in the genus Phytophthora with emphasis on Phytophthora infestans |
Dr. David F. Ritchie
|
Bacterial and fungal plant pathogens that cause diseases of fruit and vegetable crops |
Dr. Barbara B. Shew
|
Peanut diseases through use of host resistance, fungicides applied according to disease advisories, and innovative cultural practices |
Dr. H. David Shew
|
The ecology and epidemiology of soilborne fungal pathogens |
Dr. Turner B. Sutton
|
Etiology, epidemiology, and control of apple diseases, vinifera grapes, disease forecasting |
Dr. Lane Tredway
|
Evolutionary history and population genetics of turfgrass pathogens |
Dr. R. Gregory Upchurch
|
Contribution of metabolite/toxin transporters to pathogen aggressiveness and survival |
Dr. Paola Veronese
|
The interaction of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana with the soil-borne fungus Verticillium dahliae |
