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Assistant Extension Specialist in Turfgrass Pathology, Dept. of Plant Biology
My research program focuses on sustainable cool-season turfgrass disease management, aiming to provide solutions for effective disease control while minimizing the unintended impact of disease control practices (i.e., fungicides).
To achieve this goal, my team strives to understand the short- and long-term effects of management practices on the pathobiome (disease-causing or -facilitating microbial community) and beneficial microbiome, leveraging multi-omics, digital PCR, and applied machine-learning techniques.
To facilitate real-world and practical impacts, my team also aims to translate biological findings and fundamental developments into accessible decision support tools for turfgrass managers through disease predictive models and pathogen quantification assays.
In addition, my team also directs a turfgrass disease control products efficacy evaluation program collaborating with industry partners. This program is among the largest of its kind in the U.S., testing 300-500 turfgrass synthetic and biological fungicide treatments against all major diseases each year.
All of these research and development activities directly fuel my outreach efforts to provide the latest science-based information and education to the turfgrass managers in New Jersey, the Northeast, and beyond.
