Plant Pathology
The Plant Pathology Department offers a wide range of research opportunities in both basic and applied topics. Our graduate programs are designed around your own research, extension, and career goals. Opportunities for research at both the M.S. and Ph.D. levels include: molecular plant pathology, fungal molecular genetics, phytobacteriology, nematology, virology, epidemiology, biocontrol, disease resistance and soilborne diseases. Inter-disciplinary programs in biotechnology, plant breeding, microclimatology, plant stress, pest management, and international agriculture are also available. The department has state of the art facilities and instrumentation to support research interests ranging from the most applied to the most basic. Laboratory based research is conducted in Plant Sciences Hall with ancillary greenhouses, growth chambers and small plots available, as needed. Field research problems may be carried out with faculty in Lincoln or the Research and Extension Centers at Clay Center, North Platte, and Scottsbluff.
For graduate programs, the Department of Plant Pathology is part of the School of Biological Sciences and our graduate degrees are granted through the School. Application forms for admission to the department will be sent upon request. All students are required to take the Graduate Record Exam (aptitude and advanced portion, usually biology) at their own expense before being accepted by the department. In addition, transcripts of Colleges/Universities attended, reference letters and a statement, not exceeding one typewritten page, of your long-term professional goals will be needed. A TOEFL exam score for students whose native language is not English is also required (550 minimum).
Students may apply for entry into the graduate program at any time during the year. Decisions regarding program admission are made monthly, as application files are completed; however decisions regarding Departmental Graduate Research Assistantships are made twice annually, in April and November for funding beginning July 1 and January 1, respectively. In order to fairly consider all applicants for assistantships, 1 March and 1 October have been established as deadline dates. If your file is not complete by these dates it will be held and not be considered for a Departmental Graduate Research Assistant until the next funding period.
A few State funded Departmental Graduate Research Assistantships are available to students admitted in our department.; These assistantships are granted separate from admission to the graduate program and area by the Department Head through individual faculty on a competitive basis. Many individual faculty have grant programs which also provide research assistantships and are awarded by the individual faculty investigator. Applicants may inquire directly to individual faculty about the availability of these funds.
We are a medium-sized department of 16 faculty who are highly interactive and compatible. Our graduates are competitive in the scientific arena and are sought for positions in academe, government and the private sector. We are proud of our graduate program and hope the foregoing comments concerning our department and the University will help you reach a decision to apply to the University of Nebraska for graduate work.
Further Information
James R. Steadman, Professor & Graduate Advisor
jsteadman1@unl.edu
Core Faculty
| Faculty Member | Research Interests |
|---|---|
| James Alfano | Bacterial Pathogenicity of Plants |
| Roy French | Viruses and Nucleic Acids |
| Loren Giesler | Soybean and Urban Plant Diseases |
| Leslie Lane | Virology |
| Amit Mitra | Vector, Plant Transformation |
| James Partridge | Environmental Stress and Disease |
| Thomas Powers | Nematology |
| James Steadman | Disease Management/Resistance |
| James Van Etten | Viruses of Eukaryotic Algae |
| Anne Vidaver | Phytobacteriology |
| Gary Yuen | Soilborne Diseases/Biological Control |
