Agriculture

Bruce E Tabashnik

Department Head, Entomology
Regents Professor
Professor, Entomology
Professor, BIO5 Institute
Professor, Entomology / Insect Science - GIDP
Member of the General Faculty
Member of the Graduate Faculty
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(520) 621-1151

Research Interest

Bruce Tabashnik, PhD, is the department head of Entomology at the University of Arizona. His research team studies the evolution and management of insect resistance to insecticides and transgenic plants. Current work focuses on evolution of resistance to insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Widespread use of transgenic corn and cotton that produce Bt toxins has increased the chances that pests will evolve resistance. Since 1997, Bt cotton has accounted for more than half of Arizona's 300,000 acres of cotton, which provides exceptional opportunities for field and laboratory research. Specific projects now underway include analyses of the genetics and ecology of pink bollworm resistance to Bt cotton, impact of Bt cotton on non-target insects, and effects of pollen-mediated gene flow from Bt crops to non-Bt crops. Progress is facilitated by synergistic collaborations that benefit from expertise in molecular and population genetics, ecology, modeling, and pest management.

Monica Schmidt

Associate Professor, Plant Science
Associate Professor, Applied BioSciences - GIDP
Associate Professor, Genetics - GIDP
Associate Professor, BIO5 Institute
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(520) 626-1643

Work Summary

My research focus is on functional foods—designing crops to deliver more than mere calories—by both adding nutritional compounds and eliminating anti-nutritional compounds. I work on enhancing seeds of two of the most globally important crops, soybean and corn.

Research Interest

Monica Schmidt is an Associate Professor in the School of Plant Sciences in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Arizona. Dr. Schmidt’s research interests are in both functional foods and functional genomics. Her research aims at applying molecular biology and genetic techniques to help alleviate current major agricultural problems. As soybean is a global commodity, much of her research focuses on soybean seed traits. Current research is investigating cellular mechanisms to strengthen the metabolic engineering efforts to fortify crops with nutraceutical carotenoids. Since soybean oil is a large component of the American diet, Dr. Schmidt is also investigating means to engineer a more healthy oil composition. Other functional food projects aim at the suppression of deleterious compounds in crops, such as toxins produced from contaminating fungus, in maize and peanuts. She uses techniques of plant biotechnology in over a dozen crops to investigate gene function, at a cellular and entire plant level. Dr. Schmidt has worked with both domestic and international collaborators on value-added traits in seeds of legumes for over a decade and is one of the few academic laboratories that can routinely transform soybean. She has been involved with a number of innovations in tissue culture / transformation techniques (for example, maturation media for soybean, novel gene expression cassette system) and her research on seed manipulation has resulted in a start-up company and patents. Keywords: plant biotechnology, functional foods, soybean, maize

Gene A Giacomelli

Professor, Agricultural-Biosystems Engineering
Professor, Applied BioSciences - GIDP
Professor, Plant Science
Professor, BIO5 Institute
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(520) 626-9566

Work Summary

Gene Giacmomelli's research focus includes controlled environment plant productions systems [greenhouse and growth chamber] research, design, development and applications, with emphases on: crop production systems, nutrient delivery systems, environmental control, mechanization, and labor productivity.

Research Interest

Gene Giacomelli, PhD, is the director of the CEAC, or interdisciplinary education, research and outreach program for greenhouse and other advanced technology systems. Here at the University of Arizona, he teaches Controlled Environment Systems, which is an introduction to the technical aspects of greenhouse design, environmental control, nutrient delivery systems, hydroponic crop production, intensive field production systems, and post-harvest handling and storage of crops. His research interests include controlled environment plant productions systems (greenhouse and growth chamber) research, design, development and applications, with emphases on: crop production systems, nutrient delivery systems, environmental control, mechanization, and labor productivity.

Peter C Ellsworth

Professor, Entomology
Professor, Entomology / Insect Science - GIDP
Specialist, Entomology
Specialist, BIO5
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(520) 374-6225

Work Summary

Peter Ellsworth is working to develop science-based solutions for integrated pest management through applied ecological investigations and organized outreach programs of Cooperative Extension, with principal focus on cotton; Integrated whitefly, Lygus, and pink bollworm management in cotton.

Research Interest

Peter Ellsworth, PhD, has broad interests in insect-crop interactions and applied insect ecology with particular emphasis on those aspects, which may be exploited for sound ecological and economical pest management. His responsibilities are to develop science-based solutions for integrated pest management through applied ecological investigations and organized outreach programs of Cooperative Extension, with principal focus on Bemisia tabaci, Lygus hesperus and Pectinophora gossypiella in the cotton agroecosystem, other field crops, and new crops as well as in cross-commodity interactions. In addition, Dr. Ellsworth is interested in insect phenology, diapause, insect-water relations, predictive modeling, pest biology, sampling, thresholds, and damage dynamics.As Director of the multi-disciplinary Arizona Pest Management Center, Dr. Ellsworth helps manage the institution's NIFA Extension IPM grant, serves as the state's federal IPM Coordinator and Pesticide Coordinator, and oversees and helps organize teams of research and extension faculty for the betterment of the science and application of IPM in Arizona.