Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology

The Department of Plant Pathology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis is recruiting an Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology with an emphasis on plant health and microbiomes. This is an academic year (9-month), tenure-track Assistant Professor position that includes an appointment in the California Agricultural Experiment Station (AES), with responsibility for research and outreach relevant to the AES mission, as well as university service.

The appointee is expected to establish a competitive, externally funded research program in plant microbiome science that addresses critical and emerging issues in plant pathology. The program should advance microbiome-informed approaches to the diagnosis, prediction, and/or management of plant diseases and develop science-based solutions to promote plant health. Research should generate fundamental and applied understanding of the composition, function, and/or dynamics of plant-associated microbial communities (including bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, viruses, and/or other microorganisms) and their interactions with plant hosts and each other.

Areas of interest may include disease-suppressive microbiomes, dysbiosis and pathobiomes, host-microbiome-pathogen interactions, pathogen-pathogen and pathogen-non pathogen interactions, disease complexes and multi-infections, microbiome engineering, synthetic communities, and the ecology and evolution of pathogens within the phytomicrobiome. Research may also address climate-driven changes in plant-microbiome interactions and emerging diseases, span model, agricultural, and/or natural plant systems, and should have a strong mechanistic and/or predictive foundation.

The appointee will complement existing departmental strengths in plant-microbe interactions, disease epidemiology, and disease management, while expanding microbiome-informed approaches relevant to food security, agricultural sustainability, climate resilience, and the broader One Health framework.

The appointee will be expected to teach GDB
103:
The Microbiome of People, Animals and Plants, a 3-unit, upper-division undergraduate course that serves Global Disease Biology (GDB) and other students. The appointee is also expected to contribute to required GDB courses, such as GDB
90:
Introduction to Global Disease Biology, GDB 187:
Global Disease Biology Seminar, and PMI
129Y:
One Health:
Human, Animal & Environment Interfaces, and will have opportunities to contribute to graduate courses such as PLP
201B:
Ecology and Epidemiology of Plant Pathogenic Organisms and PLP
298:
Microbial Ecology.

Training and mentoring of graduate students, undergraduate student advising, curricular development, outreach, and departmental and university service are expected. The successful candidate will be an active member of the Plant Pathology Graduate Program and other graduate groups as appropriate and will have opportunities to collaborate with Cooperative Extension specialists and advisors, relevant industries, and other public stakeholders.

This recruitment is conducted at the Assistant Professor rank, and the resulting appointment will be at that rank regardless of the appointee's qualifications.

Initial review of applications will be conducted using anonymized versions of the Statement of Research Accomplishments and Interests. Applications demonstrating sufficient potential based on this review will advance to full review, at which time letters of recommendation will be requested and included in subsequent evaluations.

UC Davis supports Family-friendly recruitments. UC Davis covers travel expenses for a second person to accompany an invited faculty recruitment candidate who is a mother (or single parent of…