Dr. Brian Scully recently joined the USDA-ARS as the Research Leader of the Crop Protection and Management Research Unit at the Coastal Plains Research Station in Tifton, GA.   Dr. Scully came to the USDA-ARS from the Indian River Research and Education Center, University of Florida/IFAS in Ft. Pierce, FL, where he served as the Center Director from 2003 through 2007. The University of Florida/IFAS first employed Dr. Scully in 1991 and posted him at the Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle Glade, where he was responsible for corn and turf breeding programs. He was a member of the Department of Horticultural Sciences and jointly affiliated with the Department of Agronomy in IFAS.   His appointment in Belle Glade was preceded by employment at Texas A&M University as an Assistant Professor of Horticulture stationed in Weslaco, TX.  He has also worked as a Senior Tropical Horticulturist for the Department of Agriculture in the U.S. territory of Guam.

In 1989, Dr. Scully received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in Department of Plant Breeding and Biometry, and his M.S. in Plant Science from the University of California, Riverside.  He earned a B.S. degree in Soil Science from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA.  His research has primarily focused on the development cultivars, breeding lines, germplasm with improved adaptation and host plant resistance to diseases and pest.  Over his career he has released improved plant materials of bean, celery, corn, lettuce, tomato, and turf.

Dr. Scully can be reached at brian.scully@ars.usda.gov or (229) 387-2330.