From Fields to Classrooms: Decoding Maize Diseases and Cultivating Scientific Minds

In this episode Addie Thompson, Assistant Professor in the Plant, Soil & Microbial Sciences Department at Michigan State University, discusses her research on disease resistance to tar spot, a fungal pathogen affecting maize. Learn about different modeling prediction techniques and data collection approaches, ranging from manual measurements to high-throughput lidar data obtained via drones. Emphasizing an interdisciplinary approach, Thompson underscores the pivotal role of collaboration in staying at the forefront of research. Additionally, Addie touches on her educational approach in science, teaching her students on how to think about science, how to ask the right questions, and then how to work together in a collaborative group and how to communicate. Addie Thompson is an Assistant Professor in the Plant, Soil & Microbial Sciences Department at the Michigan State University, and affiliated with the Plant Resilience Institute and NRT-IMPACTS. She earned a BS in Genetics from Iowa State University in 2008 and a PhD in Plant Breeding and Molecular Genetics from the University of Minnesota in 2014. Prof. Thompson’s research focuses on using quantitative genetics, high-throughput phenotyping, and statistical and physical models to predict how varieties will grow in diverse and challenging environments, and to discover genes contributing to these differences. Link: https://www.thompsonmaizelab.org/

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