معرفی
Christine Durbahn Smart is the Goichman Family Director at Cornell AgriTech and a Professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University. Her academic appointment is divided into 50% research, 40% extension, and 10% teaching. She focuses on vegetable disease management, particularly bacterial and oomycete pathogens, using genomic tools to study pathogen diversity and develop sustainable disease control strategies. Her extension work collaborates with growers, seed companies, and agricultural stakeholders to implement science-based practices.
Education: Ph.D. (1992) and B.S. (1986) in Plant Pathology from Michigan State University. She leads the Elementary Science Outreach Program to promote agricultural awareness among youth.
Research Interests: Host-pathogen interactions, pathogen population genomics, and the application of genomic data to improve crop disease management. She specializes in diseases affecting vegetables like cucurbits, tomatoes, and cannabis, addressing emerging pathogens and resistant varieties.
Recent Work: Published studies on cucurbit powdery mildew management, cannabis downy mildew, and tomato early blight resistance. Awards include the New York Farmers Club Fellow (2017) and recognition for excellence in teaching (2012, 2016).
Grants and Collaborations: Leverages funding for projects like Phytophthora population dynamics and cannabis disease diagnostics. Partnerships include Cornell Cooperative Extension and Hudson Valley Research Laboratory initiatives.
Labs/Teams: Directs Cornell AgriTech facilities and collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to advance plant pathology research and extension efforts.
