Assistant Professor - Plant Health & Microbe Interactions

Title:

Assistant Professor - Plant Health & Microbe Interactions

Executive Area:
Academic Affairs

College/School/MBU:
College of Natural Sciences

Department:
Stockbridge Sch of Agriculture

Work Location:

Amherst

Schedule:

Full Time

Work Arrangement:
Onsite

The Stockbridge School of Agriculture (SSA) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is seeking applications for a 9-month, full time, tenure-track Assistant Professor in Plant Health and Plant-Microbe Interactions, with a focus on innovative and sustainable approaches to managing plant diseases. We are seeking talented applicants qualified for an assistant professor position. Under exceptional circumstances, highly qualified candidates at other ranks may receive consideration.

The Stockbridge School of Agriculture (SSA) plays a vital role in advancing the College’s and University’s strategic goals in agriculture, horticulture and soils through three focus areas: soil and environmental health; sustainable farming and landscapes; and plant health. SSA functions as a full University department. We offer excellent 4-year undergraduate degree programs (on-campus and online), solid graduate education and research, and significant knowledge transfer and translation of our applied research through collaborations with UMass Extension and CAFE.

Uniquely, SSA also offers highly applied 2-year AS degrees. SSA contributes to UMass’s ranking as a top Agricultural University nationally and globally (US News) and is committed to fostering this globally recognized research success. We also continue to ensure excellent education in our areas of expertise for all students, particularly through highly ranked programs (DataUSA 2022) in Sustainable Food & Farming (no.1) and Turf (no.
6), and a large online program generating over $2 million total revenue.

This position will include a robust research program that develops, evaluates, and applies innovative strategies for plant disease management, helping address the increasing complexity of plant disease challenges facing agricultural systems. The emergence and spread of new plant pathogens in both agricultural and urban landscape systems, and the failure of some existing management tools, driven in part by climate change, present new problems.

At the same time, the rise of modern technologies to better understand plant pathogens and their ecology offers new opportunities to solve them.

The successful candidate will be expected to develop a nationally and internationally recognized research program focused on plant pathogens, integrating fundamental investigations of plant-microbe interactions with applied, translational approaches that deliver field-level disease management solutions. Although emphasis should be placed on horticultural and specialty crops of economic importance to Massachusetts and the Northeast region, research on other crops will also be considered.

Areas of research may include, but are not limited to, host resistance, biological control, plant-soil-microbe interactions, advanced diagnostic and genomic technologies, and precision disease management. Candidates with demonstrated expertise in applying state-of-the-art techniques—such as molecular, genomic, computational, AI/machine learning, and/or precision agriculture tools—to address both basic mechanisms and practical disease management challenges are especially encouraged to apply.

The candidate is expected to collaborate with SSA faculty across disciplines, faculty from other departments, UMass Extension educators, farmers, and other stakeholders to generate and disseminate research-based, practical solutions for emerging and economically significant plant diseases in Massachusetts and the Northeast region. We expect this position will strengthen SSA’s cross-disciplinary capacity in plant-microbe-soil systems and contribute to the resilience of regional food and landscape systems.

Work collaboratively and effectively to promote teamwork, equality and inclusiveness.

Work in partnership with colleagues within the CNS community and across the campus to support the Dean’s strategic priorities.

Perform other…