Undergraduate Research opportunities
Purdue University is one of the nation's leading research institutions. There is a vibrant culture of undergraduate student research at Purdue with almost 2,000 research projects completed every year. An emphasis on experiential learning and the real-world application of knowledge are two distinguishing characteristics of the Purdue student experience.
As a Plant Science undergraduate student, participating in research is part of your student experience! The two courses we offer for research are BTNY 29800 (available for freshmen and sophomores) and BTNY 49800 (available for juniors and seniors).
Undergraduate Research Application Process (Click here to download the full step by step list)
- Contact a BTNY faculty research instructor that you are interested in researching with to discuss the research opportunity and plan your research project. During this step, you will identify the project title, hypothesis, description of research methods, and number of hours for the semester.
- Email Darcy Allen with the name and email of your research instructor.
- Darcy will send you the research application as a DocuSign form to complete. You must complete all of the required fields and sign it, then the document will be emailed to your research instructor to comment and sign.
- In the meantime, during open registration Use Scheduling Assistant to register for BTNY 29800 or BTNY 49800 with the Course Reference Number (CRN) assigned to your research instructor (CRN is available in myPurdue > Look Up Classes); you will need to request an override for permission from department. Please comment with the number of credits you are planning to complete. (This process is not available during preregistration)
- Once your application is approved by the department undergraduate chair, your application will be sent to Darcy to be filed. Darcy will approve your override request to register and you need to confirm your registration in Scheduling Assistant. IF YOU ARE COMPLETING MORE THAN ONE RESEARCH CREDIT, you will need to adjust the number of registered credits. Here are instructions on how to adjust your credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYvXSCEVXx8
Researchers in our department specialize in the areas of Plant Pathology, Weed Science, and Plant Biology.
Plant Pathology
Cathie Aime
Mycology
Systematics, biology, and genomics of basidiomycetes with emphasis on rust fungi and tropical biodiversity.
Janna Beckerman
Ornamental and Fruit Diseases
Extension and research activities related to diseases of landscape ornamentals, nursery and greenhouse disease management, and small/tree fruit diseases.
Guohong Cai
Soybean Plant Pathology
Pathogen biology, population and genomics; host-pathogen interactions; and phytobiome.
Zhixiang Chen
Molecular Plant Pathogen Interactions
Molecular basis of plant disease resistance; regulation of gene expression and signal transduction during plant defense responses to microbial pathogens.
Christian Cruz
Plant Disease Management
Fungal ecology, epidemiology, host resistance, sensor based methods for disease detection and quantification, data science and crop biosecurity.
Steven Goodwin
Plant Pathology
Molecular genetics of host-pathogen interactions; population genetics,evolution and speciation of plant pathogenic fungi; genetics and genomics of disease resistance in small grains.
Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi
Molecular Plant Pathology
Molecular and genetic basis of bacterial wilt disease and root development in tomato and Arabidopsis.
Guri Johal
Maize Molecular Pathology and Genetics
Molecular and genetic basis of maize interactions with fungal pathogens; disease lesion mimic mutants and programmed cell death in maize.
Lee Miller
Turfgrass Pathology
Etiology, epidemiology, and management of turfgrass diseases.
Sue Loesch-Fries
Molecular Virology
Function of viral genes in virus replication, disease development, and virus control.
Tesfaye Mengiste
Molecular Genetics of Plant Immunity
Molecular genetics of plant immune responses to fungal pathogens.
Darcy Telenko
Field Crop Pathology
Extension and research on the biology and management of field crop diseases.
Jin-Rong Xu
Fungal Biology
Characterization of infection-related signaling pathways and genes important for fungal-plant interactions in Magnaporthe grisea and Fusarium graminearum.
Lei Zhang
Plant-Nematode Interactions
Focus on Plant-Nematode Interactions, biological control of soybean cyst nematode, and nematode effector biology.
Weed Science
Kevin Gibson
Weed Science
Ecology, biology, and management of invasive plant species and herbicide resistant weeds.
Bill Johnson
Weed Science
Biology and management of economically important weeds in agronomic crops; interactions between weeds, insects, and diseases.
Bryan Young
Weed Science
Weed biology and ecology relative to developing effective management strategies in agronomic crops, herbicide application technologies for optimization and stewardship of herbicide use, and the physiological characterization of herbicide resistant weed biotypes.
Plant Biology
Leonor Boavida
Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
Plant reproductive development, gamete identity and function, cell-cell communication.
Jeneen Fields
Plant Breeding and Pathology
Field and molecular breeding for quality trait improvement and disease resistance in legumes and student engagement research.
Sharon Kessler
Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
Signaling in plant reproductive development.
Damon Lisch
Plant Epigenetics
Epigenetic regulation of transposable elements in plants.
Scott McAdam
Plant Evolutionary Physiology
Evolution of drought tolerance and response in plants, from stomatal behavior to xylem physiology and hormones.
Gordon McNickle
Plant Ecology
Plant species coexistence and community structure. Ecological interactions with a focus on evolutionary game theory.
Mike Mickelbart
Plant Physiology
Plant adaptation to the environment and plant water use.
Christopher Oakley
Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics of Plants
Genetic basis of local adaptation, consequences of genetic drift for adaptation and population persistence.
Bob Pruitt
Plant Molecular Biology
Molecular and genetic regulation of growth and development of plants and their interactions with bacteria.
Chris Staiger
Plant Cell Biology
Cellular basis of plant disease resistance and cytoskeletal response to biotic stress.
Dan Szymanski
Plant Cell Biology
Genetics and cell biology of plant growth. Molecular genetic live cell imaging, biochemistry, computational modeling of plant cell morphogenesis.
Gyeong Mee Yoon
Plant Hormone Biology
Molecular, genetic, and biochemistry basis of the gaseous plant hormone ethylene function; protein turnover regulation in ethylene biosynthesis; ethylene signaling pathway.
Yun Zhou
Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
Plant stem cells, transcriptional signaling in plant development, cell-cell communication, live imaging, quantitative developmental biology.