Green Climate Fund-Supported Policy Review Meetings in Yap, Chuuk, and Kosrae Bring Evidence-Based Food Security Frameworks to Communities Most Impacted by Climate Change A Rutgers University food systems research team has completed a series of in-person stakeholder review meetings in Yap, Chuuk, and Kosrae states of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) during April and May […]
Plant Biology
Announcement: Introducing New Faculty Leadership of Our Core Facilities
Announcement by Dr. Josh Kohut, SEBS Dean of Research and NJAES Director of Research. I am pleased to announce that Dr. Jim Simon, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Biology, has been appointed Faculty Director of SEBS/NJAES Core Facilities, effective July 1. In this role, Dr. Simon will provide strategic oversight and coordination across […]
World Cup Will Be Played on Rutgers Turfgrass
While soccer fans watch their favorite teams compete at this summer’s World Cup, Rutgers University’s plant biologists will be looking under the players’ cleats—eyeing the lush, green natural turfgrass they created. Ten of the tournament’s 16 soccer stadiums in the United States, Canada, and Mexico hosting the World Cup will feature cultivated varieties (cultivars) of […]
Graduate Students Help Professor Bring Plant Species Back to Life
Sue Huang is using speculative and critical design to bring long-dead plant species in New Jersey back to life in the collective human consciousness. Her latest work is a collaborative effort founded in both science and the imagination – one that involves graduate students and mixes research, history, software development, visual design and plant biology. […]
Senior Shelin Pompey SEBS’26 Brings Living Wall Back to Life Through Experiential Learning
What began as a grey, aging installation inside the Floriculture Greenhouse on the George H. Cook campus has been transformed into a vibrant, living work of art—thanks to the vision, persistence and creativity of Rutgers graduating student Shelin Pompey. A senior majoring in plant science with a concentration in horticulture and turf industry at the […]
Scientists Document Fight Against Basil Disease in New Video Series
In laboratories and greenhouses at Rutgers University-New Brunswick – alongside collaborators at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Florida and Bar-Ilan University – scientists are advancing plant breeding innovations to protect one of the world’s most widely used herbs: basil. Now, supported by a $3.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National […]
FAME Afterschool Program Uses Video Storytelling To Inspire Next Generation of STEM Leaders
The FAME (Food, Agriculture, and Marine Ecosystems) afterschool 4-H program at Rutgers is transforming how high school students engage with science by combining in-person, science-in-action tours, interviews with scientists and collaborative video storytelling. FAME offers a unique 12-week after-school experience where students don’t just learn about science—they become active participants in scientific discovery and communication. […]
Plant Biologist Elected to National Academy of Inventors, Receives Highest Honor for His Work
The Rutgers plant biologist was elected to the 2025 Class of the National Academy of Inventors When basil crops across the United States began collapsing 15 years ago, farmers were desperate. A mysterious strain of downy mildew began wiping out crops with no treatments, no way to stop the disease from spreading and no basil […]
Plant Biology Graduate Students Win Awards at Annual Meeting of National Societies
Leaders in agronomy, crops and soil sciences gathered at CANVAS 2025 from November 9-12 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to host the premier gathering of ideas, solutions and innovation from across the field of environmental sciences. CANVAS, formerly the ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting, provides a platform for emerging learners and leaders from industry, government agencies, and […]
How Plants Remember Stress: A Key to Surviving Heat Waves
As global temperatures rise and heat waves become more common, farmers and gardeners face a growing challenge: how to keep plants healthy when it’s scorching hot. A new study offers hope by showing that plants can actually “remember” past stressful experiences and use that memory to better handle future heat. Bingru Huang, Distinguished Professor in […]











