Announcement by Josh Kohut, SEBS Dean of Research and NJAES Director of Research Dear SEBS/NJAES community, I am very excited to announce that Janice McDonnell will serve as the SEBS/NJAES Associate Dean of Research Impact, effective July 1, 2025. The Associate Dean of Research Impact is a new position in the SEBS Office of Research […]
Research
Researchers Find Climate Change Threatens Global Food Supply
Climate change is putting the global food system at risk, even as farmers try to adapt, according to a study conducted by a Rutgers-New Brunswick professor and other researchers in a national collaboration. Publishing their findings in Nature, the researchers found that every 1-degree Celsius increase in global mean surface temperature (about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) could reduce […]
Scientists Find a New Way to Help Plants Fight Diseases
A breakthrough by a collaboration between Rutgers and Brookhaven National Laboratory could improve crop resilience In a discovery three decades in the making, scientists at Rutgers and Brookhaven National Laboratory have acquired detailed knowledge about the internal structures and mode of regulation for a specialized protein and are proceeding to develop tools that can capitalize […]
Plant Breeders Stage a Dogwood Revolution, Creating Hardy Varieties That Sparkle
With the advent of Memorial Day, the treescape in the Northeast has turned mostly green again, the ornamentals’ early spring flowers long dried and scattered. But there’s an exception. The vivid pink Scarlet Fire® dogwood tree, produced through decades of research by Rutgers University-New Brunswick plant breeders, is just starting to bloom. Introduced to consumers […]
Mapping Mercury Contamination in Penguins of the Southern Ocean
Rutgers research sheds light on the prevalence of mercury pollution in the world’s polar regions In 1962, when environmentalist and author Rachel Carson penned Silent Spring, alerting the world to the dangers of the pesticide DDT, it was the reproductive threat to birds – the bald eagle in particular – that spurred people to action. Six […]
Live From Antarctica: Rutgers Opens a Portal to One of Earth’s Most Remote Places
The innovative program connects students with researchers in the Antarctic, inspiring a love of science Wearing overalls, layered sweatshirts, and a knit cap to fend off the chilly weather, Rutgers biological oceanographer Mya Sharpe stood on a deck of Palmer Station on Anvers Island near the Antarctic Peninsula, broadcasting live to students, some more than 6,000 miles away. As […]
Not Mushroom for Debate – “The Last of Us” Spores Interest in Mycological Research
In the HBO hit series, The Last of Us, a global pandemic fueled by a mutated Cordyceps fungus turns people into zombies – a scenario seemingly realistic to anyone who watched nature documentaries under quarantine. While Cordyceps is a real fungus that affects insects, famously seen parasitizing ants in BBC’s Planet Earth hijacking their brains […]
Scientists Witness Plant Cells Generate Cellulose and Form Cell Walls for First Time
In a discovery with potential practical applications, a team of Rutgers biophysicists, bioengineers and plant biologists capture first live images In a groundbreaking study on the synthesis of cellulose – a major constituent of all plant cell walls – a team of Rutgers University-New Brunswick researchers has captured images of the microscopic process of cell-wall […]
Rising to a Global Challenge, Scientists Win Acclaim for Developing Ways to Measure Rainforest Biodiversity
Rutgers researchers shine in competition designed to produce rapid and autonomous technologies to identify vanishing species The challenge posed by organizers of the XPRIZE Rainforest competition to the international scientific community was formidable. Devise a way to document the biodiversity within a remote Amazonian rainforest without stepping foot within, they said. Design a tent-size, portable […]
Micronesia’s Pohnpei State Endorses Landmark Food Security Policy Developed in Collaboration with SEBS Science Team
The expansive Pacific Island nation of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is taking bold steps to develop sustainable local food production with support from an interdisciplinary food system science team from the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. Pohnpei State is home to FSM’s most biodiverse ecosystems that includes many endemic species and […]
