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.

Please click on the faculty names below for more information. Names are listed alphabetically

Faculty Member	Contact Information	Research Focus
	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
	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
	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 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 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.
	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 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.
	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 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. Angela Ferelli Agent Associate email: angfer@umd.edu \| room: PLS 2126 \| phone: 302.353.7159	Food safety of Fresh Produce Foodborne pathogen ecology in agricultural environments Agricultural water quality Food Safety Modernization Act Educator
	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
	Kelly Fleming Assistant Clinical Professor email: kflemin2@umd.edu \| room: PLS 2132 \| phone: 301.405.4335
	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
	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. John Lea-Cox Professor and Extension Specialist email: jlc@umd.edu \| room: PLS 2120 \| phone: 301.405.4323 Curriculum Vitae	Recycling of water Green Roof Systems Wireless sensor networks for resource management Water-borne pathogen management PLSC399 opportunities may be available during the Fall and Spring semesters. Please email a proposal discussion at least a month prior to the semester.
	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 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 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. Bill Phillips Assistant Clinical Professor email: billii@umd.edu \| room: PLS 2131 \| phone: 301.405.1061	interactions between agronomic crop plants and weeds
	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
	Dr. Karen Rane Director, Maryland Plant Diagnostic Lab email:rane@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. 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 Assistant 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
	Dr. Fereshteh Shahoveisi Assistant Professor email: fsh@umd.edu \| room: PLS 2110 \| phone: 301.405.4355	Turfgrass Pathology
	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
	Mr. Jack Sullivan, PLA, FASLA Associate Professor email: jack@umd.edu \| room: PLS 2142 \| phone: 301.405.0106	Sustainable Urban Landscapes Healing Landscapes Landscape and Garden History in England and Italy Campus Design
	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
	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. 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 Leiden Welsh Assistant 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
	Dr. Shunyuan Xiao Professor email: xiao@umd.edu \| room: PLS 2102 \|phone: 240.314.6480	Broad spectrum disease resistance Plant-fungal interaction Powdery mildew pathogenesis

	Contact Information	Research Focus
	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
	Benjamin 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
	Bryan 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 Chang Affiliate Professor email: carenc@umd.edu \| phone: 301.405.1643	ethylene hormone signaling
	Dr. Priscilla Chaverri Adjunct Associate Professor email: pchaverr@umd.edu
	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
	Allen Davis Affiliate Professor email: apdavis@umd.edu \| CEE \| phone: 301.405.1958
	Jose Feijo Affiliate Professor email: jfeijo@umd.edu \| CMNS \| phone: 301.405.4906
	James Lewis Affiliate Senior Agent email: jlewis2@umd.edu \| UME-Caroline County \| phone: 410.479.4030	Agronomy Caroline County Mid-Shore Cluster
	Dr. Zhongchi Liu Affiliate Professor email: zliu@umd.edu \| phone: 301.405.1586	Department of Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics
	Ronald 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 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 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 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 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
	Dr. Kurt Vollmer Agent email: kvollmer@umd.edu \| Wye Research and Education Center \| phone: 410-827-8056	Weed Management

	Contact Information	Research Focus
	Dr. John Bouwkamp Associate Professor Emeritus email: jbouwkam@umd.edu	Vegetables
	Dr. Steven Cohan Professor Emeritus email: scohan@umd.edu	Landscape Management Green Roof Stormwater Mitigation
	Dr. 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
	Dr. Peter H Dernoeden Professor Emeritus email: pd@umd.edu \| phone: 301.405.1337	Turfgrass Management Turfgrass IPM
	Dr. Thomas Fretz Dean Emeritus email:tfretz@umd.edu
	Dr. Donald Scott Glenn Associate Professor Emeritus email: sglenn@umd.edu
	Dr. Arvydas Grybauskas Associate Professor Emeritus email: arvydas@umd.edu
	Dr. William Kenworthy Professor Emeritus email: wkenwort@umd.edu	Soybean genetics and breeding
	Dr. Marla McIntosh Professor Emeritus email: mmcintos@umd.edu
	Dr. Angus Murphy Professor Emeritus email: asmurphy@umd.edu	Auxin Transport ABC Transporter Phototropism Membrane nanodomains Hormone/Herbicide crosstalk
	Dr. Timothy J Ng Professor Emeritus email: binkley@umd.edu
	Mr. 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
	Dr. Ronald Ritter Professor Emeritus email: rlritter@umd.edu
	Dr. Lester Vough Associate Professor Emeritus email: vough@umd.edu
	Dr. Christopher Walsh Professor Emeritus email: cswalsh@umd.edu \| room: PLS 2118 \| phone: 301.405.4351; 240.461.5149	Apple Maturity Assessments Sustainable Fruit Production Maryland Tree Architecture Project Food Safety of fresh fruits and vegetables
	Dr. Robert Wiley Professor Emeritus email: rwiley@umd.edu

Lecturer	Contact Information	Research Focus
	Ann 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 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 Cortez Academic Advisor and Lecturer email:dcortez@umd.edu \| room: PLS 2139 \| Phone: 301.405.4359	Academic Advisor PLSC251: Financial Applications for the Green Industry
	Christine Machado Lecturer (LARC120) email: cmach15@umd.edu	Environment and health Symbiotic relationship between landscape & architecture Primary based research
	Sherry Russell Lecturer email: slr2020@umd.edu	Landscape performance Economic effects of community managed open spaces and parks Practice business strategy
	Jessica Sanders Lecturer (PLSC471) email: sandersj@umd.edu
	Jeff 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
	Dan Straub, ASLA, APA, PLA, LEED AP Lecturer (LARC321); Landscape Architect - DFB & PUSH Urban Design Studio email: dstraub@umd.edu	Construction Documentation & Implementation Urban Streetscapes & Tree Planting Green Infrastructure Urban Planning & Urban Design
	James Westwater, Ph.D. Lecturer (LARC489R, LARC620, LARC689C) and visual artist email: jamesw@umd.edu	Art + design Land art Conceptual art Creative spaces
	Caren Yglesias, Ph.D., AIA, Affil. ASLA *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
	Kayla Griffith, MS, CCA Lecturer (PLSC112, PLSC113) email: kmgriffi@umd.edu	Agriculture education Farm stress Application of integrated agronomic systems

	Contact Information	Research Focus
	Yanhao Cheng *Post-Doctoral Associate* email: chy2019@g.umd.edu
	Scott David Cosseboom *Post-Doctoral Associate* email: scossebo@g.umd.edu
	Hong Fang *Post-Doctoral Associate* email: hfang88@g.umd.edu
	Megha Gupta *Post-Doctoral Associate* email: mgupta38@g.umd.edu
	Seyedali Hosseinirad *Post-Doctoral Associate* email: hrad@g.umd.edu
	Zhuangji Wang *Post-doctoral Scholar* email: \| phone: 301.405.1469
	Blaise Jumbam *Post-doctoral Scholar* email: jblaise@g.umd.edu

	Gen Li *Post-Doctoral Associate* email: gli2013@g.umd.edu
	Weifeng Luo *Post-Doctoral Associate* email: luowf@g.umd.edu
	Preeti Patel *Post-Doctoral Associate* email: ppatel58@g.umd.edu
	Gautam Saripalli *Post-Doctoral Associate* email: guatams@g.umd.edu
	Parva Kumar Sharma *Post-Doctoral Associate* email: pksharma@g.umd.edu
	Simon Sretenovic *Post-doctoral Scholar* email: simonsre@g.umd.edu
	Aytug Tuncel *Post-doctoral Scholar* email: atuncel@g.umd.edu

Xiaoyu Wang

Post-Doctoral Associate

email: xwang147@g.umd.edu

Faculty

Faculty, Lecturers and Post Doctoral Associates

FACULTY

Please click on the faculty names below for more information. Names are listed alphabetically

Affiliate & Adjunct Faculty

Emeritus

Dr. Thomas Fretz

Dr. Donald Scott Glenn

Dr. Arvydas Grybauskas

Dr. Ronald Ritter

Dr. Robert Wiley

LECTURER

Sherry Russell

Post Doctoral