Graduate Faculty
The Plant Center fosters interaction among plant science researchers across UGA departments, colleges, and campuses, including the College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, the Franklin College of Arts & Sciences, the Odum School of Ecology, and the Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources. The Plant Center encompasses researchers not only on the Athens campus, but also at the Griffin and Tifton campuses, and it facilitates exchanges between UGA faculty and USDA research scientists. Their complementary research interests center around plant breeding, genetics, genomics, biochemistry, molecular biology, physiology and evolution.
Madgy Alabady
Associate Research Scientist, Director Georgia Genomics and Bioinformatics Core
Plant Biology, Georgia Genomics Facility
Website | ResearchGate
malabady@uga.edu
functional genomics, epigenetics, small RNA
Jill Anderson
Associate Professor
Genetics, Ecology
Website | Google Scholar
jta24@uga.edu
global change, ecophysiology, natural selection, evolutionary genetics, local adaptation
Sudeep Bag
Assistant Professor
Plant Pathology
Website | Google Scholar
sudeepbag@uga.edu
molecular virology, virus-host interaction
Bochra Amina Bahri
Assistant Professor
Plant Pathology, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website
bbahri@uga.edu
turfgrass and forage pathology, pathogen population genetics
Jessica Barb
Assistant Research Scientist
Plant Biology, Crop and Soil Sciences, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
jgbarb@uga.edu
small grains breeding and genetics
Maor Bar-Peled
Professor
Plant Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
Website
peled@uga.edu
complex carbohydrates synthesis and regulation, biochemistry and molecular biology
Jeff Bennetzen
Norman and Doris Giles Professor, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, National Academy of Sciences Member, Lamar Dodd Award (2014)
Genetics, Institute of Bioinformatics
Website | Google Scholar
maize@uga.edu
cereal comparative genomics, genome structure and evolution
David Bertioli
Professor
Website | ResearchGate
bertioli@uga.edu
peanut genetics and genomics, and wild species introgression
Tim Brenneman
Professor
Plant Pathology
Website | ResearchGate
arachis@uga.edu
epidemiology and control of pecan diseases and soil-borne peanut diseases
Marin Brewer
Associate Professor
Plant Pathology
Website | Google Scholar | ResearchGate | Focus on Faculty
mtbrewer@uga.edu
plant-pathogenic fungi, population genomics, mating systems, host specialization
C. Robin Buell
Professor
GRA Eminent Scholar Chair in Crop Genomics
Crop and Soil Sciences, Institute of Plant Breeding Genetics and Genomics, Institute of Bioinformatics
Website | Google Scholar
Robin.Buell@uga.edu
plant genome biology with a focus on crops and medicinal plants; synthetic biology, evolution of natural product in biosynthesis
John Burke
Distinguished Research Professor, Creative Research Medal (2013),
Plant Biology
Website | Google Scholar
jmburke@uga.edu
plant evolutionary genetics
Shu-Mei Chang
Professor
Plant Biology
Website | ResearchGate
smchang@uga.edu
evolution and ecology of plant reproduction and mating systems
Peng W. Chee
Professor
Crop and Soil Sciences, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory
Website
pwchee@uga.edu
Molecular Cotton Breeding Laboratory
molecular breeding of cotton
Y. Anny Chung
Assistant Professor
Plant Biology
Website
yyachung@uga.edu
plant and microbial ecology, competition and coexistence, climate change effects on plant-microbe interactions
Joann Conner
Assistant Research Scientist
Horticulture, National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory
Website
jconner@uga.edu
apospory, angiosperm asexual reproduction
Alan Darvill
Regents Professor, Director of CCRC
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Plant Biology, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
Website
adarvill@ccrc.uga.edu
plant cell walls
R. Kelly Dawe
Distinguished Research Professor, Creative Research Medal (2000)
Plant Biology, Genetics
Website | Google Scholar
kdawe@uga.edu
centromeres, cytogenetics
C. Michael Deom
Professor
Plant Pathology
Website | ResearchGate
deom@uga.edu
virus-host interactions
Katrien Devos
Distinguished Research Professor, Creative Research Medal (2017), Crop Science Society of America Fellow (2019)
Plant Biology, Crop and Soil Sciences, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, Institute of Bioinformatics
Website | ResearchGate
kdevos@uga.edu
comparative genomics in cereal
Lisa Donovan
Distinguished Research Professor, Creative Research Medal (2006), Women’s Leadership Fellow (2016)
Plant Biology
Website | ResearchGate | Focus on Faculty
ldonovan@uga.edu | ResearchGate
plant evolutionary ecophysiology, stress physiology, resource allocation
Rhuanito Soranz Ferrarzi
Associate Professor
Horticulture
Website| Google Scholar
ferrarezilab@uga.edu
Controlled Environment Agriculture (precision irrigation, mineral nutrition, plant physiology, and cropping systems
Scott Gold
Professor
Plant Pathology
Website
sgold@uga.edu
molecular biology of plant-fungal pathogen interactions
Scott Harding
Senior Research Scientist
Forestry, Genetics
Website
sharding@uga.edu
stress physiology, metabolism, metabolomics
David Jespersen
Assistant Professor
Crop and Soil Sciences
Website
djesper@uga.edu
turfgrass physiology
Dan Johnson
Assistant Professor
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
Website | Google Scholar | ResearchGate
Danjohnson@uga.edu
plant water transport, xylem structure and drought tolerance
Chang Hyun Khang
Professor
Plant Biology
Website | ResearchGate
ckhang@uga.edu
plant-fungal interactions, rice, blast fungus
Brian Kvitko
Assistant Professor
Plant Pathology
Website | ResearchGate
bkvitko@uga.edu
mechanisms of plant immune action against bacteria, molecular phytobacteriology
Soraya Leal-Bertioli
Senior Research Scientist
ResearchGate
sorayab@uga.edu
use of wild relatives to improve the peanut crop
Jim Leebens-Mack
Professor, Creative Research Medal (2016)
Plant Biology
Website | Google Scholar | ResearchGate | Focus on Faculty
jleebensmack@uga.edu
genomic, phylogenetic and experimental analyses
Changyi ‘Charlie’ Li
Professor
College of Engineering
Website
cyli@uga.edu
high-throughput phenotyping, plant imaging, robotics
Zenglu Li
Professor
Crop and Soil Sciences, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website
zli@uga.edu
soybean breeding, genetics and genomics
Wolfgang Lukowitz
Associate Professor
Plant Biology
Lab Website
lukowitz@uga.edu
plant development and cell biology
Anish Malladi
Associate Professor
Horticulture, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website | ResearchGate
malladi@uga.edu
fruit growth and developmental physiology
Rodney Mauricio
Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor
Genetics
Website
mauricio@uga.edu
conservation genetics, invasive species, ecological genetics, evolutionary ecology, plant-animal interactions, evolutionary quantitative genetics, adaptation
Cecilia McGregor
Associate Professor
Horticulture, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website | Google Scholar
cmcgre1@uga.edu
vegetables, breeding, genetics, genomics, marker-assisted selection, QTL
Mohamed Mergoum
Professor, Georgia Seed Development/UGA Foundation Professor
Crop & Soil Sciences, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website
mmergoum@uga.edu
small grain breeding, genetics and genomics
Scott Merkle
Professor, Associate Dean of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, Creative Research Medal (2011)
Forestry
Website
smerkle@uga.edu
somatic embryogenesis and genetic transformation of forest trees
Ali Missaoui
Assistant Professor
Crop & Soil Sciences, Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website | ResearchGate
cssamm@uga.edu
bioenergy, forages, breeding, genomics
Melissa Mitchum
Professor
Plant Pathology, Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website | Google Scholar | ResearchGate | Twitter
Melissa.Mitchum@uga.edu
molecular plant-nematode interactions, effectors, peptide signaling, host plant resistance, soybean genetics and genomics
Debra Mohnen
Professor
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
Website | ResearchGate
dmohnen@uga.edu
biosynthesis of plant cell wall polysaccharides
Michelle Momany
Professor, Associate Dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Plant Biology
Website | Twitter
mmomany@uga.edu
fungal genetics, cytoskeleton, polar growth
Savithri Nambeesan
Assistant Research Scientist
Horticulture
Website
sunamb@uga.edu
ripening and postharvest physiology
Peggy Ozias-Akins
Distinguished Research Professor, Director of IPBGG, Creative Research Medal (2015)
Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, Horticulture, National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory
Website | ResearchGate | Focus on Faculty
pozias@uga.edu
developmental biology and molecular mechanisms of apomixis, genetic enhancement of peanut and grasses
Wayne Parrott
Distinguished Research Professor, Interim Director of the Center for Applied Genetic Technologies
Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, Crop and Soil Sciences, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website | Google Scholar | ResearchGate | Lab Facebook | Twitter
wparrott@uga.edu
transgenics, breeding
Andrew Paterson
Regents Professor, Lamar Dodd Award (2009)
Crop and Soil Sciences, Genetics, Institute of Bioinformatics, Plant Biology, Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory
Website | Google Scholar | Focus on Faculty
paterson@uga.edu
plant genetics, genomics, evolution, crop improvement, domestication
Paul Raymer
Professor
Crop and Soil Sciences, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website
praymer@uga.edu
turfgrass breeding and genetics
Harald Scherm
Professor and Department Head
Plant Pathology
Website | Google Scholar
scherm@uga.edu
etiology and integrated management of diseases of fruit crops
Robert Schmitz
Associate Professor, Georgia Research Alliance Lars G. Ljungdahl Distinguished Research Investigator
Genetics, Institute of Bioinformatics
Website | Google Scholar | ResearchGate | Twitter
schmitz@uga.edu
epigenetics, epigenomics
Paul Severns
Associate Professor
Plant Pathology
Google Scholar | ResearchGate
Paul.Severns@uga.edu
plant disease epidemiology
Shavannor Smith
Associate Professor
Plant Pathology
Website | ResearchGate
shavs@uga.edu
plant-pathogen interactions, structure and evolution of disease resistance loci, plant-insect interactions
Rajagopalbabu Srinivasan
Associate Professor
Entomology
Website |ResearchGate
babusri@uga.edu
vector biology, vector-pathogen interactions, vector-virus-host interactions, thrips, whiteflies, aphids, plant viruses
Andrea Sweigart
Associate Professor
Genetics
Website | Google Scholar
sweigart@uga.edu
evolutionary genetics, speciation
CJ Tsai
Winfred N. Haynes Professor and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar
Forestry, Genetics, Institute of Bioinformatics, Plant Biology
Website | Google Scholar | ResearchGate | Lab Facebook | Focus on Faculty
cjtsai@uga.edu
phenylpropanoid metabolism, stress response, wood formation, gene family evolution, gene-metabolite networks
Breeanna Urbanowicz
Assistant Professor
Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Website |Google Scholar | ResearchGate
breeanna@uga.edu
plant biochemistry, structure function relationships of enzymes involved in cell wall polysaccharide biosynthesis
Caterina Villari
Assistant Professor
Forestry
Website |Google Scholar | ResearchGate
cvillari@uga.edu
fungal pathogens, resistance mechanisms of trees, chemical ecology, insect-fungi symbioses
Esther van der Knaap
Professor
Horticulture, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website | Google Scholar | ResearchGate
vanderkn@uga.edu
tomato developmental genetics, genomics, molecular biology
Ron Walcott
Associate Dean
Graduate School
Website | Google Scholar
rwalcott@uga.edu
seed pathology and bacteriology
Jason Wallace
Assistant Professor
Crop and Soil Sciences, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website | ORCiD
jason.wallace@uga.edu
quantitative genetics and genomics of crops and their microbiomes
Dayton Wilde
Dooley Professor
Horticulture, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website | ResearchGate
dwilde@uga.edu
molecular genetics of ornamental plants
Li Yang
Assistant Professor
Plant Pathology
Website | Google Scholar
Li.Yang1@uga.edu
molecular genetics of the crosstalk between plant immunity and development
Zheng-Hua Ye
Professor
Plant Biology
Website
yh@uga.edu
molecular mechanisms and evolution of vascular differentiation and patterning
William York
Emeritus Professor
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Website
will@ccrc.uga.edu
spectroscopic and computational methods for the structural and conformational analysis of complex carbohydrates
Donglin Zhang
Michael A. Dirr Professor
Horticulture, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
Website
donglin@uga.edu
woody ornamental improvement