Sheau-Fang Hwang

Sheau-Fang Hwang is a Professor at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences, specifically within the Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Sciences. Her research focuses on plant pathology, particularly diseases affecting canola and pulse crops. She holds a PhD from Washington State University and has received numerous awards, including the 2011 Outstanding Research Scientist Award from the Canadian Phytopathological Society and the 2020 Gold Award for her contributions to Rhodiola Rosea commercialization.

Education:

• PhD in Plant Pathology, Washington State University

Research Interests:

• Clubroot (Plasmodiophora brassicae) management in canola
• Blackleg (Leptosphaeria maculans) integrated control strategies
• Verticillium stripe wilt of canola
• Aphanomyces root rot in field pea
• Yield loss modeling for plant diseases

Publications Trends: Recent work emphasizes clubroot resistance genetics, Verticillium wilt impact on canola yields, and molecular markers for pathogen identification. Key themes include disease management through crop rotation, fungicide efficacy, and genomic approaches to breeding resistant cultivars.

Awards:

• 2025 – Award for Achievements in Plant Disease Management (Canadian Phytopathological Society)
• 2021 – Outstanding Research Scientist Award (Canadian Phytopathological Society)
• 2020 – Silver Teamwork Recognition Award (Alberta Agriculture)

Advising & Grants: Supervises graduate students (e.g., Longfei Wu, Ji Cui) and collaborates with institutions like Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Research is funded by grants focused on clubroot management and pulse crop disease control.

Labs/Teams: Leads a multidisciplinary team including Research Associate Dr. Rudolph Fredua-Agyeman and technicians focusing on field trials, molecular analysis, and disease modeling.