Abstract
Among the many responsibilities of the worldwide scientific community are advancing the knowledge base that underpins each scientific discipline, addressing the pressing scientific issues of the day (e.g., emerging infectious diseases, food security, and climate change), and perhaps most importantly, educating and training subsequent generations of scientists. Yet, around the globe, advances in scientific and communications technology, proliferation and mining of data, and increasing financial constraints of university systems have led to fundamental changes in our institutions of higher learning. Increasing emphasis on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to problem solving in agriculture add to the complexity of providing robust preparation for the plant pathologists of the future. Thus, as the U.N. recognizes the year 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health, it is fair to ask if current approaches to graduate education in plant pathology are adequate to meet current and anticipated challenges and if the outcomes can be improved.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abramo G, D’Angel CA, Di Costa F (2009) Research collaboration and productivity: is there correlation? Higher Educ 57:155
Agrios, G (2005) Plant Pathology, 5th Edition Elsevier Academic Press, Amsterdam, ISBN: 9780120445653
Anon (2019a) https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/science/schools-and-departments/biological-sciences/
Anon (2019b) https://www.aut.ac.nz/profiles?id=chiggins&asset=268516
Anon (2019c) https://www.miragenews.com/boosting-tasmania-s-gmo-free-brand/
Anon (2019d) http://www.biol.canterbury.ac.nz/postgrad/biol_postgrads.shtm
Beattie GA, Leach JE, Eversole KA, Kinkel LL, Lindow SE, Young CA, Hamernik DL, Fletcher J, Pierson LS, Jones AS, Huse SM, Barghese T, Craven KD, Bailey VL, Rideout SL, Guilhabert-Goya M, Halverson LJ, Buckner W, Felton GW and Fraser CM (2016) Phytobiomes: A roadmap for research and translation. American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN www.phytobiomes.org/roadmap
Bellgard MI, Bellgard SE (2012) A bioinformatics framework for plant pathologists to deliver global food security outcomes. Australas Pl Pathol 41:113–124
Brown W (1945) Plant pathology: teaching and research. Nature 155:773–776
Collinge DB, Jørgensen HJL, Lund OS, Lyngkjær MF (2010) Engineering pathogen resistance in crop plants: Current trends and future prospects. Annu Rev Phytopathol 48:269–291. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-phyto-073009-114430
Collinge DB, Mullins E, Jensen B, Jørgensen HJL (2016) The status and prospects for biotechnological approaches for attaining sustainable disease resistance. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118867716.ch1. Chapter 1 in in Plant Pathogen Resistance Biotechnology Print ISBN:9781118867761 |Online ISBN:9781118867716 |https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118867716
Dong OX, Ronald PC (2019) Genetic engineering for disease resistance in plants: Recent progress and future perspectives. Plant Physiology (preview). https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.18.01224
Earl AS, Baldwin RL, Gordon JC, Guyer GE, Harrison F, Hiler EA, Jorgensen ML, Lund DB, Malone TF, Neufville MH, Owens ED, Pettibone CA, Rosenfeld A, Saul CF, Schuh GE, Seidel GE, Smith JAD, Smith KR, Wyngaarden JB, Zinser EA, Zuiches JJ (1995) History and overview of the Land Grant College system. in Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant Universities: A profile. Committee on the Future of Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture. National Research Council. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, pp 1–17
Eastburn DM and D’Arcy CJ (2010) Scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) projects in plant pathology. In Hardwick NV and Gullino ML, eds, Knowledge and Technology Transfer for Plant Pathology, Plant Pathology in the 21st Century 4. Springer. DOU https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8934-3_4
Gisi U (2010) Training in plant pathology from an industry perspective. In Hardwick NV and Gullino ML, eds, Knowledge and Technology Transfer for Plant Pathology, Plant Pathology in the 21st Century 4. Springer. DOU https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8934-2_8
Greene M (2007) The demise of the lone author. Nature 450. https://doi.org/10.1038/4501165a
Gubbi J, Buyya R, Marusic S, Palaniswami M (2013) Internet of Things (IoT): a vision, architectural elements, and future directions. Fut Gen Computer Syst 29:1645–1660
Gullino ML (2009) Teaching plant pathology and disease and pest management for University students: some considerations after thirty years of experience. Arab J Pl Protect 27:233–235. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d0f5/9c1930e3ce512176feb3425efe281efde2e1.pdf
Ip RHL, Ang LM, Seng KP, Broster JC, Pratley J (2018) Big data and machine learning for crop protection. Comput Electron Agric 151:376–383
ISAAA (2018). Biotech crops continue to help meet the challenges of increased population and climate change. ISAAA Brief 54-2018: Executive Summary. http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/54/executivesummary/default.asp
Kashyap H, Ahme HA, Hoque N, Roy S, Bhattacharyya DK (2016) Big data analytics in bioinformatics: architectures, techniques, tools and issues. Netw Model Anal Health Informat Bioinformat 5:28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13721-016-0135-4
Klein JT (2010) A taxonomy of interdisciplinarity. In: Frodeman R, Klein JT (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 15–30
Lee S, Bozeman B (2005) The impact of research collaboration on scientific productivity. Soc Stud Science 35(5):673–702
MacDonald J, Allen C, Gadoury D, Jacobi W, Kelemu S, Moyer J, Murray T, Ong K, Pearson C, Sherwood J, Vidaver A (2009) Education in plant pathology: Present status and future challenges. Pl Dis 93:1238–1251. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-93-12-1238
Machula CS (1991) Centralized planning of science, technology, and society in the Soviet Union and its impact on educational policy, 1966–1984. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Illinois. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/23429
Marginson S, Tytler R, Freeman B and Roberts K (2013) STEM: country comparisons: international comparisons of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Final report. Australian Council of Learned Academies, Melbourne, Vic. http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30059041
McNew G (1960) The nature, origin, and evolution of parasitism. In: Horsfall J, Dimond A (eds) Plant Pathology: An Advanced Treatise. Academic Press, New York, pp 19–69
Merrill W (1978) Innovative teaching of plant pathology. Annu Rev Phytopathol 16:239–261
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2018) Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25038
Noar RD, Daub ME (2016) Bioinformatics prediction of polyketide synthase gene clusters from Mycosphaerella fijiensis. PLoS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158471
Payne S, Maxon M, Casadevall A, Lanier M (2019) Strengthening the “Ph” in the Ph.D.: The Role of Professional Societies in Graduate Training. ASM Colloquia Report. https://www.asmscience.org/content/colloquia.55
Richter BS, Poleatewich A, Hayslett M, Stofer K (2018) Finding the gaps: an assessment of concepts, skills and employer expectations for plant pathology foundational courses. Pl Dis 102:1883–1898
Rylance R (2015) Global funders to focus on interdisciplinarity. Nature 525:313–315
Sandino J, Pegg G, Gonzalez F, Smith G (2018) Aerial mapping of forests affected by pathogens using UAVs, hyperspectral sensors, and artificial intelligence. Sensors 18(4):944. https://doi.org/10.3390/s18040944
Sands D (1992) Rediscovering idea generation in a scientific discipline. Pl Dis 76:1079–1080
Schumann GL (2003) Innovations in teaching plant pathology. Annu Rev Phytopathol 41:377–398
Smith GR, Fletcher JD, Marroni V, Kean JM, Stringer LD, Vereijssen J (2017) Plant pathogen eradication: determinants of successful programs. Australas PlPathol 46(3):1–8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13313-017-0489-9
Tayagui A, Sun Y, Collings DA, Garrill A, Nock V (2017) An elastomeric micropillar platform for the study of protrusive forces in hyphal invasion. Lab Chip 17:3643–3653. https://doi.org/10.1039/c7lc00725f
Van Noorden R (2015) Interdisciplinary research by the numbers. Nature 525:306–307
Vincelli P (2005) An inquiry-based approach to teaching disease cycles. Pl Health Instr. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHI-T-2005-0222-01
Walker JC (1963) The future of plant pathology. Annu Rev Phytopathol 1:1–4
Weinhold AR (1996) Plant pathology: a discipline at a crossroads. Annu Rev Phytopathol 34:1–11
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fletcher, J., Gamliel, A., Gullino, M.L. et al. A fresh look at graduate education in Plant Pathology in a changing world: global needs and perspectives. J Plant Pathol 102, 609–618 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42161-020-00509-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42161-020-00509-2