Tag: doctoral student

Close-up of a strawberry plant with green leaves and red stems, set against a black covering. Ripe and unripe strawberries are visible in the background.

A $130 million drain: UF researcher looks to genetics to rein in wasteful strawberry runners

by Brad Buck
April 8, 2026

Strawberry growers pour roughly $130 million a year, nationally, into a surprisingly stubborn problem: a part of the plant that sabotages fruit production. These fast-growing offshoots – called “runners” – stretch out from the mother ... READ MORE

Category: Agribusiness, Agriculture
Tags: DNA, Doctoral Student, Fruit Production, Genetics, Growers, Gulf Coast Research And Education Center, Kaitlyn Vondracek, Labor, Nurseries, Seonghee Lee, Strawberries, Strawberry Runners, UF Plant Breeding Ph.D. Program
Close-up of red bell peppers on a plant with green leaves.

AI may help kill weeds, preserve peppers, tomatoes

by Brad Buck
October 3, 2024

First, University of Florida scientists developed technology to kill weeds, instead of strawberries. Now, UF/IFAS researchers are designing a machine that can surgically eliminate weeds while preserving the tomatoes and peppers around them, ... READ MORE

Category: UF/IFAS
Tags: Agricultural And Biological Engineering, Algorithm, Archive, Computer Vision, Detection, Doctoral Student, Peppers, Plastic Beds, Precision Ag, Southwest Florida Research And Education Center, Tomatoes, Vinay Vijayakumar, Weed Sprayer, Yiannis Ampatzidis
Unripe green tomatoes on wilting vines, supported by stakes.

UF researchers find tomato plants resistant to devastating disease

by Brad Buck
May 3, 2023

University of Florida researchers may have found the key to developing tomatoes that can resist a catastrophic disease. Although it has been around for 50 years, target spot of tomato has become increasingly problematic during the last few ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture
Tags: Disease, Disease Resistance, Doctoral Student, Edgar Sierra, Fungicides, Fungus, Gulf Coast Research And Education Center, Horticultural Sciences, Plant Breeding, Sam Hutton, Target Spot, Tomatoes
A professor looks at a beaker in his lab.

‘Dr. Saba’ named Outstanding Graduate Educator by national horticultural society

by Brad Buck
August 16, 2021

As a University of Florida professor, Bala Rathinasabapathi spends many hours in the lab and the classroom – not to mention at his office. He puts just as much emphasis on student success as he does on his scientific pursuits. Often student ... READ MORE

Category: UF/IFAS Teaching
Tags: American Society For Horticultural Science, Bala Rathinasabapathi, Doctoral Student, Graduate Educator Of The Year, Horticultural Sciences, UF/IFAS CALS, Vance Whitaker

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