People

Charles Anderson

Co-Director, Center for Biorenewables; Associate Professor of Biology
In vivo imaging of plant cell wall dynamics. Molecular genetic analysis of genes involved in cell growth. Cell wall biosynthesis in dividing cells. Cell wall engineering for sustainable bioenergy production.

Saurabh Bansal

Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management

Robert Beelman

Professor Emeritus of Food Science

Robert Berghage

Associate Professor of Plant Science
Environmental plant physiology. Controlled and modified environments for plant growth. Eco-roofs, rooftop greening, and other uses of plants in distributed stormwater management systems.

David Blandford

Professor Emeritus of Agricultural and Environmental Economics

Rachel Brennan

Professor of Civil Engineering

Dennis Buffington

Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Engineering

John Carlson

Professor of Molecular Genetics; Director, Schatz Center for Tree Molecular Genetics
Genome mapping, including genetic linkage mapping, molecular cytogenetics; studies of genetic diversity in forests.

Jeffrey Catchmark

Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Cellulose synthesis and organization, cellulosic composites and coatings, microbial cellulose production, and chemically powered microfluidic and biological devices and sensors.

Stephen Chmely

Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Surinder Chopra

Professor of Maize Genetics
Regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis during plant development and plant-pathogen interaction. Epigenetic regulation and allele specific patterns.

Daniel Ciolkosz

Co-Director, Center for Biorenewables; Associate Research Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Erin Connolly

Professor and Head of Plant Science
Molecular mechanisms of micronutrient transport. Iron uptake and compartmentalization. Metal ion homeostasis

Daniel Cosgrove

Eberly Chair and Professor of Biology
Mechanism of plant growth. Function and evolution of expansins. Biochemistry and rheology of plant cell walls. Growth responses to light, hormones, and water stress and other stimuli.

Christine Costello

Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Ali Demirci

Professor-in-Charge of the CSL Behring Fermentation Facility; Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Francesco Di Gioia

Assistant Professor of Vegetable Crop Science
Plant nutrition, plant physiological and biochemical response to environmental and abiotic stress conditions, sustainable vegetable production, agrobiodiversity, agronomic biofortification, food and nutrition security.

Luis Duque

Assistant Research Professor of Storage Root Physiology

J. Gregory Ferry

Stanley Person Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Enzymology and molecular genetics of anaerobic microbes from the Archaea domain

Majid Foolad

Professor of Plant Genetics
Genetic characterization of resistance/tolerance to biotic/abiotic stresses, and genes/QTLs contributing to tomato fruit quality. Investigation of genes/QTLs for directed crop improvement and germplasm enhancement. Tomato cultivar development & release.

Lara Fowler

Senior Lecturer in International Affairs

John Golbeck

Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Light reactions in photosynthesis. Structure and function of photosystem I and the heliobacterial reaction center. Regulation and bioassembly of iron-sulfur clusters in cyanobacteria and plants. Plant and bacterial metalloproteins. Generation using Photosystem I, hydrogenase, and molecular wire technology.

Enrique Gomez

Professor of Chemical Engineering

Robert Graves

Professor Emeritus of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Ying Gu

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Mechanism of cellulose biosynthesis in higher plants. Genetic modification of plant cell wall to scale-up biofuel production.

Mark Guiltinan

J. Franklin Styer Professor of Horticultural Botany; Professor of Plant Molecular Biology; Director, Endowed Program in the Molecular Biology of Cocoa
Plant functional genomics, metabolomics and biotechnology. Identification of key genes for disease resistance and important traits in the tree crop Theoboma cacao, the Chocolate tree.

Marvin Hall

Professor Emeritus of Forage Management

Jim Harvey

Educational Program Specialist, Penn State Extension

Paul Heinemann

Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Clare Hinrichs

Professor of Rural Sociology
How transitions to sustainability are understood, negotiated, organized, contested, and assessed.

David Hughes

Huck Chair in Global Food Security; Professor of Entomology and of Biology
Parasite manipulation of host behavior

Michael Hulet

Associate Professor of Poultry Science

Sibel Irmak

Research Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Michael Jacobson

Professor of Forest Resources

Heather Karsten

Associate Professor of Crop Production/Ecology

Jason Kaye

Chair, Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Ecology; Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry
Ecosystem ecology; global change biology; biogeochemistry of nitrogen and carbon cycling in managed and unmanaged ecosystems.

Armen Kemanian

Professor of Production Systems and Modeling
Agricultural Systems, Agricultural and Natural Systems Modeling, Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling, Bioenergy Systems, Coupled Hydrologic and Nutrient Modeling, and Plant Competition

Ken Kephart

Professor Emeritus of Animal Science

Seong Kim

Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering; Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

Roger Koide

Retired Professor of Horticultural Ecology

Joshua Lambert

Professor of Food Science
Dietary polyphenols in prevention of obesity and fatty liver disease; efficacy and mechanisms of action of food-derived phytochemicals in prevention of lung cancer; biotransformation, bioavailability and potential hepatotoxicity of dietary phytochemicals Impact of food and medicinal plants and phytochemicals on human health. Role of plant genetics, environmental factors, agronomic practices, and post-harvest processing in moderating the relationship between medicinal and food plants and human health

Joel Landry

Assistant Professor of Environmental and Energy Economics
The welfare evaluation of current and proposed policies given the presence of pre-existing policy distortions and multiple market failures, and the evaluation of the incentives, institutions, and decision-making processes that explain why imperfect policies often emerge

Jesse Lasky

Associate Professor of Biology
Ecological and evolutionary genomics, genetic and ecophysiological basis of adaptation to environmental stress, evolutionary ecology of biological complexity.

Bruce Logan

Evan Pugh University Professor and Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Costas Maranas

Donald B. Broughton Professor of Chemical Engineering
Computational studies of metabolism and gene regulation.

Megan Marshall

Associate Teaching Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Lauren McPhillips

Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Robert Meinen

Senior Extension Associate

Judd Michael

Nationwide Insurance Professor of Safety & Health; Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Joel Morrison

Associate Research Professor

B. Tracy Nixon

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Structural and functional basis of cellulose synthesis. Using Physcomitrella patens and other organisms as model systems, we are learning how plants make cellulose for building new cell wall. The studies use methods of molecular biology and cryoEM to characterize the enzyme as a monomer, and when it assembles into its larger 'Cellulose Synthase Complex '(CSC for short). The aim is to understand cellulose synthesis to explain fundamentals of cell wall biology in plants, and to enable manipulation of its synthesis for applications in fields of bioenergy and materials.

Jacqueline O'Connor

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Charles Ray

Associate Professor of Ecosystem Science and Management
Analysis of natural resources systems; wood identification and taxonomy; forest industry economics; wood products operations management; process control, simulation, and optimization; statistical quality control; relationships of wood, moisture, product properties, and environmental emissions; artificial intelligence; lean manufacturing; quality management systems.

Andrew Read

Director, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and Entomology; Eberly Professor of Biotechnology
The ecology and evolutionary genetics of infectious disease.

John Regan

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Biological treatment processes, molecular microbial ecology, bioenergy production.

Mohammad Rezaee

Assistant Professor of Mining Engineering

Tom Richard

Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Application of fundamental engineering science to microbial ecosystems, developing innovative strategies for a more sustainable agriculture and the emerging bio-based economy.

Greg Roth

Emeritus Professor of Agronomy

Howard Salis

Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering; Associate Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Engineering microorganisms for applications in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering.

Elsa Sanchez

Professor of Horticultural Systems Management

Phillip Savage

Department Head and Walter L. Robb Family Chair of Chemical Engineering
Chemical reaction kinetics, algae biofuel, catalysis, sustainability, supercritical fluids.

Amir Sheikhi

Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
Micro- and nanoengineered soft materials for medicine and the environment; microfluidic-enabled biomaterials for tissue engineering and regeneration; living materials; next-generation bioadhesives, tissue sealants, and hemostatic agents; hydrogels for minimally invasive medical technologies; self-healing and adaptable soft materials; smart coatings; hairy nanocelluloses as an emerging family of advanced materials.

James Shortle

Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Environmental Economics

Paul Smith

Professor Emeritus of Bioproducts Marketing and Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Mary Ann Smith

Biology Lecturer (Schuylkill)
The isolation of microorganisms with the potential for antibiotic production within soil and sourdough systems

Chunshan Song

Distinguished Professor of Fuel Science, Professor of Chemical Engineering

Richard Stehouwer

Professor of Environmental Soil Science

Donald Thompson

Professor Emeritus of Food Science

Ming Tien

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Characterization and biochemical analysis of cellulose synthesis in a variety of organisms. Mechanism and regulation of fungal degradation of lignin. Dissimilatory Iron reduction.

Benay Gürsoy Toykoç

Assistant Professor of Architecture

Gabriella Varga

University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Animal Science

Paul Walker

Professor Emeritus

Meng Wang

Assistant Professor of Environmental Systems Engineering

Jack Watson

Professor of Soil Science

Hojae Yi

Assistant Research Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Yi Zhang

Assistant Professor of Food Science

Andrew Zydney

Director of the Center for Industrial Biotechnology; Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering