The Graduate Field of Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology includes 44 faculty who can supervise graduate student research. The majority of Field faculty are members of one of the two Departments of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, in Ithaca and Geneva. Others are located at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, the Ithaca Departments of Microbiology and Plant Biology, the Geneva Department of Horticultural Sciences, or the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Ithaca and USDA-ARS in Geneva.
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Core Faculty: Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology in Ithaca
| Name | Research Interests | |
|---|---|---|
 | Steven V. Beer | Molecular genetics and mechanisms of pathogenicity of Erwinia amylovora; biological control of fire blight and other diseases by bacteria. |
 | Gary C. Bergstrom | Biology, epidemiology, and integrated management of diseases of wheat, corn, soybean, forage legumes, and biofuel feedstock crops. |
 | Samuel W. Cartinhour Courtesy Professor Location: Ithaca Email: sc167@cornell.edu Tel: (607)255-8091 Lab Web Page | Analysis of regulatory mechanisms and gene expression networks in Pseudomonas syringae. |
 | Alan Collmer | Molecular phytobacteriology and microbial genomics. |
 | Margery L. Daughtrey Senior Extension Associate Location: Long Island Email: mld9@cornell.edu Tel: 631-727-3595 Lab Web Page | Improving disease management for ornamental crops, with the emphasis on developing new information to benefit the floriculture industry of New York. |
 | William E. Fry | Biology of oomycetes and management of disease they cause (with emphasis on Phytophthora infestans). |
 | Stewart M. Gray | The biology of plant virus - insect vector interactions, virus diseases of potato and grain crops, virus disease management and epidemiology. |
 | Kathie T. Hodge | Systematics and ecology of pathogenic and symbiotic fungi, especially those that are pathogens of insects. Director of the Cornell Plant Pathology Herbarium |
 | George W. Hudler | Epidemiology and management of diseases of woody ornamentals and Christmas trees. |
 | Sondra Lazarowitz | Molecular mechanisms in virus-host interactions; molecular genetics of plant-virus movement and host resistance to virus infection; intra- and intercellular communications in plants. |
 | Kwangwon Lee | Characterizing light and clock regulations in fungi and their roles in pathogenic plant-microbe interactions using genomics, quantitative genetics and molecular biology tools. |
 | Magdalen Lindeberg | The identification of novel virulence factors in Pseudomonas syringae pathovars through analysis of their genome sequences. |
 | James W. Lorbeer | Diseases of vegetable crops, biology of plant pathogenic fungi, chemical and biological control of plant diseases. |
 | Rosemary Loria | Host-pathogen interactions; molecular genetic analysis of pathogenicity determinants. |
 | Margaret McGrath | Diseases of vegetable crops, integrated pest management, fungicide resistance, epidemiology, powdery mildew, Phytophthora, air pollutants |
 | Gregory B. Martin | Molecular basis of bacterial pathogenesis, plant immunity, and plant disease susceptibility. |
 | Michael G. Milgroom | Population biology and evolution of plant pathogens; the integration of population biology and plant disease epidemiology. |
 | Eric B. Nelson | Ecology and development of oomycetes in the spermosphere and rhizosphere with special emphasis on plant pathogenic Pythium species. Of special interest is understanding how microbial interactions and plant associations influence Pythium development and pathogenesis. |
 | Rebecca J. Nelson Location: Ithaca Email: rjn7@cornell.edu Tel: (607) 254-7475 Lab Web Page | International agriculture; host plant resistance; biology and management of diseases of cereal and root/tuber crops; integrated pest management |
 | Teresa E. Pawlowska | Biology and evolution of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi (phylum Glomeromycota) |
 | Keith L. Perry | Cucumber mosaic virus and its vector transmission, pathogen diagnostics technologies, and potato viruses; Director of the NYS Foundation Potato Seed Program and the Uihlein Laboratory and Farm. |
 | Karen L. Snover-Clift Location: Ithaca Email: kls13@cornell.edu Tel: (607) 255-7850 | Director - Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab |
 | Gillian Turgeon Location: Ithaca Email: bgt1@cornell.edu Tel: (607) 255-7458 Lab Web Page | Genetics and molecular biology of fungal pathogens. |
 | Xiaohong Wang Courtesy Professor Location: Ithaca Email: xw57@cornell.edu Tel: (607) 255-7845 Lab Web Page | Molecular basis of plant-nematode interactions, host resistance to the potato cyst nematodes |
 | Thomas A. Zitter Location: Ithaca Email: taz1@cornell.edu Tel: (607) 255-7857 Lab Web Page | Diseases of vegetables, integrated pest management, ecology and epidemiology of foliar pathogens, epidemiology and control of virus diseases |
 | Candace W. Collmer |  | David M. Geiser Adjunct Faculty Molecular evolutionary genetics and systematics of fungi, especially /Fusarium/ and /Aspergillus. Location:Penn State |
 | Donna M. Gibson Adjunct Faculty Discovery of microbial metabolites and the roles they may play in pathogenicity, virulence, defense, or growth and development. Location: ARS |  | Maria Harrison Adjunct Faculty The arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis and phosphate acquisition in plants. Location: BTI |
 | Richard A. Humber Adjunct Faculty Biology, systematics/taxonomy, and biocontrol uses of fungal pathogens from arthropods and other invertebrates. Location: ARS |  | Dan F. Klessig Adjunct Faculty Plant immunity: molecular mechanisms of pathogen recognition and defense signal transduction. Location: BTI |
 | Peter Moffett |  | P.F. Palukaitis Adjunct Faculty Location: Scotland |
 | David Schneider Adjunct Faculty USDA-ARS Systems biology of P. syringae; comparative genomics of plant pathogens; mathematical and computational models of gene regulation networks in bacteria. Location:Ithaca |  | Richard C. Staples Physiology, metabolism, and cell biology of fungi.Experience focused on the rust fungi. Adjunct Faculty Location: BTI |