Students in the Plant Biology Program may choose from four research and curriculum tracks:
- Molecular and Cellular Biology/Genomics
- Plant Breeding and Genomics
- Horticulture and Plant Technology
- Plant Pathology
- Natural Products and Human Health
Specific curricular requirements for each student are developed within the general program requirements by his or her committee, with approval by the track coordinator and program director. The tracks are interwoven in that members of the graduate faculty may be members of more than one track and students are encouraged to take courses in more than one track area.
Students in the molecular and cellular biology/genomics track may specialize in biocontrol of pests and pathogens, biofuels and bioenergy, biotechnology and crop improvements, biotic and abiotic stress/interactions with the environment, circadian control, genetic control of plant development, metabolomics/primary and secondary metabolism, natural products and human health, programmed cell death/senescence and fruit ripening, plant diversity/anatomy/evolution and biogeography, interactiosn with pathogenic and symbiotic microbes, plastid molecular genetics, structural/functional and computational genomics, transcriptional and post-trnacsriptional gene regulation.
Students in the plant breeding and genomics track have the opportunity to study a broad range of topics related to plant breeding from cultivar development, tissue culture, gene mapping, biochemical mechanisms to the latest discoveries in plant genomics and bioinformatics. The plant breeding faculty conduct research on an array of differenct traits, including but not limited to, higher quality and greater yield of fruit, fiber and other plant consituents, resistance to biotic stresses caused by disease and insect pests, resistance to abiotic stresses such as heat and drought, and specialty products such as novel fatty acids, proteins and other plant metabolites.Students will gain experience on a diverse range of vegetable, horticultural and pomological crops including specialty crops like cranberry, blueberry, hazlenuts, dogwoods, hollies, turgrasses, peaches, apples, tomatoes and biofuels. Students will gain experience with both traditional and DNA-based marker-facilitated selection schemes. Studens will gain credentials that are desired to directo or lead plant breeding research at private companies or public institutions. Work experience on the various plant breeding projects often is available for students majoring in plant breeding.
The horticulture and plant technology track focuses on agricultural biotechnology, genetics, plant physiology, weed science, plant systematic, plant-microbe interactions, turfgrass science, crop science in agronomic crops and biofuels, horticultural science in fruits, vegetables, flowers and tree crops.
Among the issues that students in the plant pathology track may address are host/pathogen interactions, epidemiology and control of plant disease, plant virology, bacteriology, mycoplasmology, mycology, molecular biology of plant pathogenic or endophytic microorganisms, and biotechnology.
In the Natural Products and Human Health track, students are to study basics mechanisms of Natural products, mode of action and toxicity. Discover, identify, and characterize bioactive from plant and fungi through multidisciplinary approaches. Develop novel uses for natural products as medicines, foods, cosmetics, dietary supplements and crop protection agent.
The list below categorizes each faculty according to their respective track(s). Names in bold indicate track coordinators.
| Stacy Bonos | Bingru Huang |
| Eric Lam | Peter Oudemans |
| Gina Sideli | James Simon |
| Lena Struwe | Nilgun Tumer |
| Ning Zhang |
| Stacy Bonos | A.J. Both |
| Edward Durner | Joseph Goffreda |
| Jason Grabosky | Joseph Heckman |
| Bingru Huang | Thomas Molnar |
| James Murphy | Mark Robson |
| James Simon | Lena Struwe |
| Sonia Arora | Joan W. Bennet |
| Rong Di | Rodolfo Juliani |
| Xiao-Ping Li | John McLaughlin |
| Paul Meers | Ilya Raskin |
| Mark Robson | James Simon |
| Lena Struwe | Nilgun Tumer |
| Qing-Li Wu |