Department of Plant Science
Plant Science News
Researchers receive $7 million grant to develop deeper crop roots
January 16, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have received a $7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, to design a low-cost, integrated system that can identify and screen for high-yielding, deeper-rooted crops.
The interdisciplinary team, led by Jonathan Lynch, distinguished professor of plant nutrition, will combine a suite of technologies designed to identify phenotypes and genes related to desirable root traits, with the goal of enhancing the breeding of crop varieties better adapted for nitrogen and water acquisition and carbon sequestration.
Researchers receive $3.6 million to study genetics of plant disease resistance
January 9, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A $3.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation will support a new research project aimed at pinpointing the genes that confer disease resistance in cacao.
The ultimate goal of the four-year study is to develop a new approach that plant scientists and breeders can use to identify the genetic basis for disease resistance in a variety of perennial crops, according to lead researcher Mark Guiltinan, professor of plant molecular biology in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
Fifteen named distinguished professors at Penn State
January 9, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State's Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs has named 15 faculty members as distinguished professors.
College of Agricultural Sciences
•Jonathan P. Lynch, professor of plant nutrition
January 4, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Dan Stearns, J. Franklin Styer Professor in the Department of Plant Science at Penn State, recently was awarded the status of Trailblazer by the National Association of Landscape Professionals.