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Faculty

Faculty, Lecturers and Post Doctoral Associates

Our faculty members make up the Instructional Areas that include Plant Biology & Biotechnology, Sustainable Agricultural Production & Technology, as well as Landscape Architecture & Landscape Management. 

Faculty

 

Faculty MemberResearch Focus
Carol Allen

Dr Carol Allen

Agent Associate in Food Safety Email: callen12@umd.edu  Room: PLS 2125E  Phone:301.405.7543      

 

  • Optimizing water quality
  • Fruit and vegetable crop production to meet current food safety requirements
Craig Beyrouty

Dr. Craig Beyrouty

Professor and Dean

College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Email:beyrouty@umd.edu  Room: Symons 1296

 Phone: 301.405.2072

  • Agronomy
  • Soil Science

Dr. Daniel Buonaiuto

Assistant Professor

Email: dbuona@umd.edu

Room: PLS 2128

  • Plant phenology and global change
  • Plant community ecology
  • Invasive species impacts and control
  • Sustainable nursery and turf management practices.
Dr. Mark Carroll

Dr. Mark Carroll

Associate Professor and Director, Environmental Science and Policy Program

Email: mcarroll@umd.edu 

Room: PLS 2132  

Phone: 301.405.1339

  • Turfgrass
  • Water Quality
  • Nutrients
  • Pesticides
  • Runoff
  • Organic Lawn Care
Diana Cochran

Dr. Diana Cochran

Assistant Clinical Professor

Email:cochrand@umd.edu

Room: PLS 2133 

Phone: 301.405.4336

  • Commercial crop production
  • Crop diversification
  • Relationship between plants and environmental variables
  • Sustainable in-season crop management practices
DR. Gary Coleman

Dr. Gary Coleman

Associate Professor

Email: gcoleman@umd.edu  Room: PLS 6142 

Phone: 301.405.4371

  • Tree growth and development
  • Nitrogen Storage
  • Bud Dormancy
  • Plant Adaptation
  • Nitrogen-use efficiency
Dr. James Culver

Dr. James Culver

Professor

Email: jculver@umd.edu 

Room: PLS 6139

Phone: 301.405.2912

  • Virology
  • Nanotechnology

PLSC399 opportunities may be available during the Fall and Spring semesters. Please email for more information.

Christopher Ellis

Dr. Christopher Ellis

Professor

Email: cdellis@umd.edu  Room: PLS 2144 

Phone: 301.405.7782

  • Planning and design for sustainable land development
  • Landscape ecology & environmental perception
  • Information technology for landscape planning and design
  • Geographic modeling and analysis of built and natural systems
Dr. John Erwin

Dr. John Erwin

Professor and Chair

Email: jerwin@umd.edu Room: PLS 2104 

Phone: 301.405.4356

  • Environmental control of plant growth in greenhouses and controlled environment agriculture
  • Identifying ways to maximize flowering, photosynthesis and yield using different
    lighting and temperature strategies
  • Manipulating the environment in controlled environment systems to maximize
    edible crop nutritional value.
  • Identifying new production strategies to reduce chemical use, environmental input and labor costs.
  • Identifying strategies to facilitate heat and drought tolerant crops to improve plant
    resilience in a changing climate.
  • Identifying new ornamental crops that are heat and drought tolerant.
Kate Everts

Dr. Kathryne Everts

Professor & Director- Wye Research Center and the Harry R. Hughes Center for AgroEcology

Email: keverts@umd.edu 

Phone: 410.827.8056

  • Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum
  • Sclerotinia sclerotiorum
  • Sustainable management of soilborne diseases
  • Vegetable disease forecasting for reducing fungicide use
  • Epidemiology of vegetable diseases
Dr. Macarena Farcuh

Dr. Macarena Farcuh

Assistant Professor

Email: mfarcuh@umd.edu  Room: PLS 2116 Phone:301.405.1323

  • Fruit quality
  • Fruit ripening
  • Postharvest physiology
  • Fruit biochemistry and molecular biology
  • Fruit safety
  • Fruit hormonal balance

PLSC399 opportunities may be available during the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. Please email the semester prior for more information.

Dr. Nicole Fiorellino

Dr. Nicole Fiorellino

Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist

Email: nfiorell@umd.edu  Room: PLS 2124 

 Phone: 301.405.6241

  • Adaptive nitrogen management
  • Alternative crops
  • Long-term phytoremediation of soils with high phosphorus concentrations
Tom Flores

Tom Flores

Assistant Clinical Professor - Instruction.

Email: tflores3@umd.edu

  • Viticulture
  • Brewing
  • Sensory
  • Biochemistry
Ana Fulladolsa

Dr. Ana Cristina Fulladolsa

Director, Maryland Plant Diagnostic Lab

Email: acfulla@umd.edu  Room: PLS 3134   

Phone: 301.405.1611

  • Plant Disease Diagnostics - all crops
  • National Plant Diagnostic Network
  • Diseases of woody and herbaceous ornamentals
  • Plant Diagnostic Laboratory
Dr. Mengjun Hu

Dr. Mengjun Hu

Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist

Email: mjhu@umd.edu Room: PLS 2106 

Phone: 301.405.5586

  • Plant Pathology
  • Grape and Small Fruit Disease
  • Fungicide Resistance and Its Mechanisms
Byoung-Suk Kweon

Dr. Byoung-Suk Kweon, PLA

Professor

Email: kweonb@umd.edu  Room:  PLS 2140 

Phone: 301.405.4341

  • Environmental behavior
  • Environment and health
  • School and Children's Environment
  • Landscape Performance
  • Urban Agriculture
Dr. Shirley Micallef

Dr. Shirley Micallef

Professor, PLSC Graduate Admissions Chair

Email: smicall@umd.edu 

Room: PLS 2126 

Phone: 301.405.4369

  • Food safety of fresh produce
  • Rhizosphere and phyllosphere bacterial interactions
  • Microbial ecology
  • Plant exudate biology
  • Environmental detection of human pathogens

PLSC399 opportunities may be available during the Fall and Spring semesters. Please email the semester prior for more information.

Dr. David Myers

Dr. David Myers

Associate Professor, LARC Director & MLA Program Chair

Email: dnmyers@umd.edu  Room:PLS 2146 

Phone: 301.405.4350

  • Green Infrastructure
  • Ecological Design
  • Greenway design and planning
  • Residential environments
  • Conservation design and planning
Dr. Maile Neel

Dr. Maile Neel

Professor

Email: mneel@umd.edu  Room: PLS 6117 

Phone: 301.405.9780

  • Habitat Fragmentation and the Spatial Distribution of Biological Diversity
  • Endangered Species Recovery and Conservation

Dr. Pierre Jacob

Assistant Professor

Email: pjacob@umd.edu

Room:

Phone:

 

  • The plant immune response in a stressful environment.
  • Plant response to environmental stress.
  • Gene discovery for increased resistance to biotic and abiotic stress.
  • Function of NLRs and TIR domains in immunity and beyond.
Yiping Qi

Dr. Yiping Qi

Professor

Email: yiping@umd.edu  Room: PLS 5121 

 Phone: 301-405-7682

  • Plant genome engineering
  • Plant innate immunity
  • Plant genome engineering
  • CRISPR-Cas Systems
Nidhi Rawat

Dr. Nidhi Rawat

Associate Professor, PLSC Director

Email: nidhirwt@umd.edu  Room: PLS 2114 

Phone: 301.405.9744

  • Gene discovery for resistance to fungal pathogens
  • Susceptibility mechanisms of plants to pathogen infection
  • Mechanistic investigation of molecular interaction between plants and fungal pathogens
  • Developing solutions to fungal diseases of small grain crops including wheat and barley

Dr. Daniel Rodriguez Leal

Assistant Professor

Email: danielrl@umd.edu  Room: PLS 6123  Phone: 301.405.0920

 

  • Plant Developmental Genetics
  • Genome Editing
  • Trait Development in Biotech
  • Phylogenetics and Evolution

Dr. Deni Ruggeri

Associate Professor, BLA Program Chair

 Email: druggeri@umd.edu Room: PLS 2136                                                                                               Phone: 301.405.0229                                                                                                                                              

  • Community participation, citizen engagement and co-creation
  • PAR processes in community and landscape development
  • Landscape Democracy and environmental justice
  • Place identity, and attachment
  • Livability in Urban Design
  • Engaged Scholarship and Pedagogy.
Dr. Naomi Sachs

Dr. Naomi Sachs

Associate Professor

Email: nsachs@umd.edu Room: PLS 2134 

Phone: 301.405.1602

 

  • Application of the Healthcare Garden Evaluation Toolkit (H-GET) in healthcare and beyond
  • Design for Mental and Behavioral Health Environments
  • Correlations between Urban Greenspace and Violent Crime
  • Positive Nature Theory
Colby Silver

Dr. Colby Silvert

Assistant Professor

Email: csilvert@umd.edu  Room: PLS 2131  Phone: 301.405.4356

 

  • Extension education
  • Evaluation and program planning
  • Planned change approaches
  • Andragogy
  • International agricultural development
  • Specialty crop and small-scale farming systems
  • Residential landscape conservation
Dr. Joseph Sullivan

Dr. Joseph Sullivan

Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Programs

Email: jsull@umd.edu 

Room: PLS 2122 

Phone: 301-405-1626

 

  • Environmental Stress
  • UV-B Radiation
  • Global Climate Change
  • Ecosystem Services
  • Plant Physiological Ecology
Vijay Tiwari

Dr. Vijay Tiwari

Assistant Professor

Email: vktiwari@umd.edu | Room: PLS 2125J 

Phone: 301.405.1730

  • Genetics and genomics of small grain crops

PLSC399 opportunities may be available during the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. Please email for more information. Interview process required before acceptance in the lab and PLSC399.

Dr. Kate Tully

Dr. Katherine Tully

Associate Professor

Email:kltully@umd.edu | Room: PLS 2108 

 Phone: 301.405.1469

Curriculum Vitae

  • Effects of sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion on nutrient dynamics in coastal farmlands
  • Cover crops for ecosystem services provisioning
  • Environmental impacts of the African Green Revolution

PLSC399 opportunities may be available during the Fall and Spring semesters. Undergrads must apply and go through an interview process before they are accepted into PLSC399. There is a required discussion group component, which is run by my grad students. 

Dr. Melissa Welsh

Dr. Melissa Leiden Welsh

Associate Clinical Professor, AGST Director

                      Email: drmwelsh@umd.edu  

Room: PLS 2130  

 Phone: 301.405.6969

  • Agricultural & Extension Education
  • Teacher Preparation/ Mentoring
  • Learner Centered Teaching
  • Agricultural Literacy
  • Motivation
  • Experiential Learning
Shunyuan Xiao

Dr. Shunyuan Xiao

Professor

Email: xiao@umd.edu 

Room: PLS 2102 

Phone: 240.314.6480

 

  • Plant immunity
  • Powdery mildew pathogenesis
watermelon

Position to be filled by February 2025

Invasive Species Biologist
yellow flowers

Position to be filled by February 2025

Abiotic Stress Biologist
watermelon

Position to be filled by July 2025

Agronomy (research area yet to be determined)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Affiliate & Adjunct Faculty

Contact InformationResearch Focus
Dr. Andrew Baldwin

Dr. Andrew Baldwin       

Affiliate Professor          

email: baldwin@umd.edu        ENST | phone: 301.405.7855                                                                                                                                            

  • coastal and restored wetland ecosystems
  • Plant-microbe interactions in coastal wetlands, effects of plant species on bacterial, archaeal, and mycorrhizal communities

Filler PictureBenjamin Beale

Affiliate Principal Agent 

email: bbeale@umd.edu | St. Mary's County 

phone: 301.475.4481

  • Southern Maryland Cluster
  • Agronomic Crop Production
  • Fruits & Vegetables Crops
  • Beginning Farmer
  • Herbicide Resistant Weed Management

Dr. Bryan ButlerBryan Butler

Affiliate Principal Agent

email: bbutlers@umd.edu | UME- Carroll County 

 phone: 410.386.2760

  • Tree Fruits
  • Vegetables High Tunnels
  • Small Fruit
  • Hops and Barley

Dr. Caren ChangDr. Caren Chang

Affiliate Professor

email: carenc@umd.edu 

phone: 301.405.1643

ethylene hormone signaling

Priscila ChaverriDr. Priscilla Chaverri

Adjunct Associate Professor

email: pchaverr@umd.edu

 
Dr. David Clement

Dr. David Clement

Affiliate Principal Agent, Home & Garden Information Center (HGIC)

email: clement@umd.edu  phone: 410.531.558

 

  • Plant Pathology
  • Ornamental IPM
  • Ornamental Diseases
  • Ornamental Disease Management
Dr. Allen Davis

Allen Davis

Affiliate Professor

email: apdavis@umd.edu | CEE | phone: 301.405.1958

 

Dr. Jose FeijoJose Feijo 

Affiliate Professor

email: jfeijo@umd.edu | CMNS | phone: 301.405.4906

 

Filler PictureJames Lewis

 Affiliate Senior Agent

email: jlewis2@umd.edu | UME-Caroline County | phone: 410.479.4030

  • Agronomy
  • Caroline County
  • Mid-Shore Cluster

Dr. Zhongchi LiuDr. Zhongchi Liu

Affiliate Professor

email: zliu@umd.edu 

phone: 301.405.1586

Department of Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics

Ronald MyersRonald Myers

Affiliate Principal Agent 

email: myersrd@umd.edu | Anne Arundel County 

phone: 410.222.3906 

  • Fruits & Vegetables Crops
  • Agronomy Field Crops
  • Weed Science
  • Pesticide Use & Safety
  • No-Tillage Technology
  • Pasture & Hay Production

     

Mitch Pavao-Zuckerman

Mitch Pavao- Zuckerman

Affiliate Assistant Professor 

email: mpzucker@umd.edu | ENST |

 phone: 301.405.1178

 

 

  • Urban ecosystems, green infrastructure function, and ecosystem services
  • Social-ecological systems, ecosystem services, and ecological resilience

Dr. Wendy PeerDr. Wendy Peer

Affiliate Associate Professor

email: wapeer@umd.edu | ENST | phone: 301.405.5491

  • Auxin homeostasis
  • Flavonoid function
  • Plant growth regulators/invasive species
  • Metal-center proteins
Dr. Andrew Ristvey

Dr. Andrew Ristvey

Affiliate Senior Agent 

email: aristvey@umd.edu | Wye Research Center 

 phone: 410.827.8056 x 113

 

 

  • Commercial Horticulture
  • Alternative Specialty Crops
  • Green Roof
  • Aronia
  • Wye REC

Dr. David TilleyDr. David Tilley

Affiliate Associate Professor 

email: dtilley@umd.edu | ENST | phone: 301.405.1306

  • Ecological Design & Engineering
  • Green Building Ecology & Design
  • Energy Analysis of Alternatives
  • Energy and Environmental Accounting
  • Wetland Radiometry & Health

Kurt VollmerDr. Kurt Vollmer

Agent

email: kvollmer@umd.edu | Wye Research and Education Center | phone: 410-827-8056

  • Weed Management

 

Emeritus

Contact InformationResearch Focus
flowers

Dr. John Bouwkamp

Associate Professor Emeritus  

 email: jbouwkam@umd.edu                                                                                                                                                                                

                      

  • Vegetables
Dr. steven cohan

Dr. Steven Cohan

Professor Emeritus

email: scohan@umd.edu                            

  • Landscape Management
  • Green Roof Stormwater Mitigation

Dr. Jose CostaDr. Jose Costa

Professor Emeritus 

email: costaj@umd.edu

  • Breeding and genetics of wheat and barley
  • utilization of molecular markers in plant breeding
  • Breeding of wheat and barley with improved disease resistance, high grain yield and quality

John Lea-CoxDr. John Lea-Cox

Professor Emeritus

email: jlc@umd.edu

Curriculum Vitae

  • Recycling of water
  • Green Roof Systems
  • Wireless sensor networks for resource management
  • Water-borne pathogen management

 

Dr. Peter Dernoeden

Dr. Peter H Dernoeden

Professor Emeritus

email: pd@umd.edu |

phone: 301.405.1337

 

  • Turfgrass Management
  • Turfgrass IPM

photo of cornDr. Thomas Fretz

Dean Emeritus

email:tfretz@umd.edu

 

photo of flowersDr. Donald Scott Glenn

Associate Professor Emeritus

email: sglenn@umd.edu

 

rosesDr. Arvydas Grybauskas

Associate Professor Emeritus

email: arvydas@umd.edu

 
William Kenworthy

Dr. William Kenworthy

Professor Emeritus

email: wkenwort@umd.edu

 

  • Soybean genetics and breeding

landscape and sunsetDr. Marla McIntosh

Professor Emeritus

email: mmcintos@umd.edu

 

Angus MurphyDr. Angus Murphy

Professor Emeritus

email: asmurphy@umd.edu 

  • Auxin Transport
  • ABC Transporter
  • Phototropism
  • Membrane nanodomains
  • Hormone/Herbicide crosstalk

tobaccoDr. Timothy J Ng

Professor Emeritus

email: binkley@umd.edu

 

Dennis NolaMr. Dennis Nola, PLA, ASLA

Instructor

email: dnola@umd.edu |

room: PLS 2138 | phone: 301.405.0066

  • Urban agriculture and social justice of equitable urban revilatization

cropsDr. Ronald Ritter

Professor Emeritus

email: rlritter@umd.edu

 
watermelon

Dr. Lester Vough

Associate Professor Emeritus

email: vough@umd.edu

 
Dr. Chris Walsh portrait

Dr. Christopher Walsh 

Professor Emeritus

email: cswalsh@umd.edu 

 room: PLS 2118    

 phone: 301.405.4351

 

  • Apple Breeding for Climate Change
  • Sustainable Fruit Production
  • Maryland Tree Architecture Project
  • Food Safety of fresh fruits and vegetables

hayDr. Robert Wiley

Professor Emeritus

email: rwiley@umd.edu

 

LECTURER

Contact InformationResearch Focus

Filler PictureAnn Anderson 

Lecturer with 20+ years of landscape architectural office practice specializing in graphic communication and planting design
email: aanders8@umd.edu 

  • Planting Design
  • Design Theory

Phillip ChoPhillip Cho

Lecturer & University Landscape Architect, Project Manager at UMBC

email: pscho@umd.edu

  • Project Management
  • Landscape Construction
  • Campus Planning and Design
  • Senior/ Low-income Housing

Diana CortezDiana Cortez

Faculty Specialist

email:dcortez@umd.edu | room: PLS 2139 | Phone: 301.405.4359 

  • Academic Advisor

Christine MachadoChristine Machado

Lecturer (LARC120)

email: cmach15@umd.edu

  • Environment and health
  • Symbiotic relationship between landscape & architecture
  • Primary based research

flowersSherry Russell

Lecturer

email: slr2020@umd.edu

 

 

  • Landscape performance
  • Economic effects of community managed open spaces and parks
  • Practice business strategy

Filler PictureJessica Sanders

Lecturer (PLSC471) 

email: sandersj@umd.edu

 

 

Filler PictureJeff Server, ASLA, LEED AP BD +C

Lecturer & Project Manager/Project Architect at Prism Design Collective
email: jserverj@gmail.com

  • Digital/analog workflows incorporating technology
  • Interdisciplinary design and practice
  • Urban design, with an emphasis on waste landscapes and sustainability
  • Land art and Earthworks

Filler PictureJames Westwater, Ph.D.

Lecturer (LARC489R,  LARC620, LARC689C) and visual artist

email: jamesw@umd.edu

  • Art + design
  • Land art
  • Conceptual art
  • Creative spaces
Filler Picture

Caren Yglesias            

Lecturer (LARC 263); Architect; author of the recent book, Desert Gardens of Steve Martino (Monacelli, 2018)
email: caren@umd.edu

 

 

 

  • History and theory of landscape architecture
  • Materials and methods of construction
  • Sustainable design

 

Photo of Kayla GriffithKayla Griffith, MS, CCA 

Lecturer (PLSC112, PLSC113) 

email: kmgriffi@umd.edu

  • Agriculture education
  • Farm stress
  • Application of integrated agronomic systems

 

Post Doctoral

Contact InformationResearch Focus
Filler Picture

Blaise Jumbam                      

Post-doctoral Scholar      

Email: jblaise@g.umd.edu                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 

  • Using high throughput sequencing in combination with culture-based techniques to identify bacteria and fungi responsible for the development of Grape Sour Rot (GSR) in Maryland vineyards
flower

Anil Kumar                    

Post-Doctoral Associate      

anilk26@g.umd.edu                

  • Plant Biotechnology
  • Transformation of ornamental crops
Filler Picture

JeeEun Lee

Post-Doctoral Associate

jl3738@g.umd.edu      

 

 

  • Human Behavior and Design
Filler Picture

Rushil Ramesh Mandlik

Post-Doctoral Associate

email:rushilrm@g.umd.edu

 

              

  • Molecular Biology
  • Genomics
Filler Picture

Adam William Schoen

Post-Doctoral Associate

email: awschoen@g.umd.edu

 

                                                                                                            

  • Small Grain Breeding
  • Genetics
Filler Picture

Pavar Kumar Sharma 

Post-Doctoral Associate 

Email: pksharma@g.umd.edu      

       

                         

  • Computational Biologist
  • Machine learning
  • Database design
  • PanGenome
Filler Picture

Aytug Tuncel

Post-doctoral Scholar

email: atuncel@g.umd.edu

  • Plant Genome editing
  • Metabolic engineering
  • Starch metabolism
  • Protein biochemistry

Filler PictureFNU Shumayla

Post-Doctoral Associate

  • Tree Physiology

Filler PictureZhuangji Wang

Post-doctoral Scholar

email: 

 Phone: 301.405.1469

  • Developments of soil surface runoff, diffusive root growth and surface coupled water and heat movements modules within MIAZSIM-2DSOIL software
  • Developments of piecewise inverse analysis of measured TDR waveforms

 

Assistant Research Professors

Contact InformationResearch Foci
Gen Li Portrait

Gen Li

Assistant Research Professor         Email: gli2013@g.umd.ed

 

  • Plant Physiology
  • Plant Biotechnology
  • Plant Molecular Biology                                     
Filler Picture

Weifeng Luo

Assistant Research Scientist

Email: luowf@g.umd.edu

  • Crops (Wheat) Genome Editing