Professor Vegetable Pathology Lab web site: www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/millerlab/ Research (54%), Teaching (10%), Extension (36%)

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NEW - MS Graduate Research Associateship Opportunity

Available in 2010 for international work in vegetable diseases > More

Research

My program includes basic and applied research on the etiology and management of diseases of vegetable crops, the characterization of plant pathogens, and food safety.  Efforts are focused on:

• Sustainable/integrated disease management in organic and conventional systems
• Etiology of emerging diseases
• Molecular characterization of pathogens relevant to vegetable agroecosystems
• Detection technologies for pathogens and beneficial microorganisms
• Role of plant disease management in food safety and interactions of plant and zoonotic pathogens 

Extension

• Disease management for vegetable crops for Ohio clientele including county educators and state personnel, growers and private sector crop protection professionals
• Development of media (videos, slide sets, fact sheets, web page content; popular press material), teaching (presentations), participation in grower-oriented meetings and workshops, farm visits, and sample diagnosis

Teaching

• Diagnostic Field Plant Pathology (Plant Path 685), offered every other Summer a s a10-day field course.  Last offered Summer 2009 in Wooster
• Fruit and Vegetable Pathology (Plant Path) 615.01 (co-taught with Mike Ellis); offered every other Winter (2009)
• Guest lectures in Plant Disease Management (Plant Path 603)
• Pest and Disease Diagnostics for International Trade and Food Security: An International Short Course
• Advising of PhD and MS students
• Advising of undergraduate interns

International Programs

International development work is an essential part of my research and outreach program. I have been involved since 1995 in the US AID sponsored IPM Collaborative Research and Development Program (IPM CRSP) in the Philippines, and more recently also in Bangladesh. I currently serve as site chair for the Philippines site and am a member of the Executive and Technical committees of the IPM CRSP. I also participated in the USAID-sponsored Pest and Pesticide Management Program, D'nepropetrovsk, Ukraine from 1997-1999, working to develop IPM programs for vegetable and wheat crops in southeastern Ukraine. I am also involved in Collaborative Institutional Interaction Development Between OSU College of Food Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Ataturk University, Erzerum, Turkey.  I currently serve as the Director of the Office of Inernational Programs, American Phytopathological Society.

About Me

I am a northern Ohio native and completed my Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at The Ohio State University. I became interested in plant science through my Senior Honors project under the guidance of Dr. W. R. Sharp, which involved the effects of asbestos contamination on plant growth and development. I then accepted a graduate assistantship with Dr. Douglas P. Maxwell in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There I studied the interaction of Phytophthora medicaginis with alfalfa using cytological and biochemical methods. I received my M.S. degree in 1979 and Ph.D. degree in 1982. During my graduate studies I developed a deep appreciation of the genus Phytophthora, and have continued to work with this genus of plant pathogens in some capacity throughout my career. In 1982 I joined DNA Plant Technology Corporation, a plant biotechnology firm in southern New Jersey. Less than two years later I become part of a "spin-off" called Agri-Diagnostics Associates, where we developed monoclonal antibody-based diagnostic kits for detection of plant pathogens, including species of Phytophthora, Rhizoctonia, Sclerotinia, Septoria and Mycosphaerella. In 1991 I joined the faculty in the Department of Plant Pathology at OSU, focusing on research and extension in vegetable crop diseases.

Selected Recent Publications

Baysal, F., Benitez, M.-S., Kleinhenz, M., Miller, S.A. and McSpadden Gardener, B.B. 2008. Field management effects on damping-off and early season vigor of crops in a transitional organic cropping system.  Phytopathology 98:562-570.

Aruscavage, D., Miller, S. A., Lewis Ivey, M. L., Lee, K. an LeJeune, J. T. 2008. Survival and dissemination of Escherichia coli O157 on physically and biologically damaged lettuce plants.  J. Food Protection 71:2384-2388.

Baysal-Gurel, F., Lewis Ivey, M. L., Dorrance, A., Luster, D., Frederick, R., Czarnecki, J., Boehm, M. and Miller, S. A. 2008.  An immunofluorescence assay to detect urediniospores of Phakopsora pachyrhizi.  Plant Dis. 92: 1387-1393.

Harp, T. L., Pernezny, K., Ivey, M. L., Miller, S. A., Kuhn, P. J. and Datnoff, L. 2008.  The etiology of recent pepper anthracnose outbreaks in Florida. Crop Protection 27: 1380-1384.

Miller, S. A., Mera, J. and Baysal, F. 2008. Evaluation of drip- and foliar-applied fungicides for the control of downy mildew and phytophthora blight of winter squash, 2007.  Plant Disease Management Reports 2: V030.

Miller, S. A., Mera, J. and Baysal, F. 2008. Evaluation of fungicides for the control of powdery mildew and Phytophthora blight of winter squash, 2007.  Plant Disease Management Reports 2: V031.

> More Publications

Current Grants

Miller, S. International Plant Diagnostic Network, USAID subcontract Va Tech. 2005-09  Total award: $520,000.

Erbaugh, M., Doohan, D., Kleinhenz, M., Kovach, J., Lindbo, J. Miller, S.  Regional IPM program for East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, USAID subcontract Va Tech. 2005-09  Total award: $800,000.

Dorrance, A., Boehm, M. and Miller, S. Hand held assays for field friendly diagnosis of soybean rust, Iowa Soybean Board. 2007-08  Total award: $127,193.

Jackwood, D., LeJeune, J., McSpadden Gardener, B., Miller, S., Saif, L., Saif, Y.M.  Center for Diagnostic Assays, OARDC ABIG. 2006-09  Total award: $300,000.

Miller, S.A.  IPM CRSP South Asia USAID, subcontract from Va Tech. 2005-08  $101,219.

LeJeune, J., Lee, K. and Miller, S.  Biophysical and ecological processes impacting the growth and survival of E. coli O157 on and in vegetables, USDA NRI National Food Safety Initiative. 2006-09  Total award: $537,816.

LeJeune, J., Doohan,D., Medeiros, L., Miller, S.A., Moore, R.H. and Wilson, R.  Integrating social and biological sciences to enhance adoption of vegetable safety behaviors from farm to table, USDA NRI National Food Safety Initiative. 2007-11  Total award: $2,337,428.

Miller, S. A.  Evaluation of seed treatment to prevent bacterial canker in greenhouse tomatoes, OGVGA. 2007-08  Total award: $10,000.

Miller, S. A.  Evaluation of seed treatment to prevent bacterial canker in greenhouse tomatoesm BCGGA. 2007-08  Total award: $6,000.

Francis, D., Kleinhenz, M., McSpadden Gardener, B. and Miller, S. A.  Grafting to improve organic vegetable production in field and high tunnel systemsm USDA CSREES Integrated Organic Program. 2007-10  Total award: $858,507.

Miller, S.A., Bennett, M. and McSpadden Gardener, B.B.  Enhancing seed health in tomatoes. OARDC SEEDS Industry Matching Grant Competition. 2007-09  Total award $35,750.

Francis, D. M., Miller, S. A., Kleinhenz, M. D. and Blaine, T.  Genetic resources for grafted vegetable production, OARDC SEEDS Interdisc. Team Research Competition. 2007-09  Total award: $99,610.

Miller, S.   Enhancing plant disease diagnostics at the local level, Ohio Vegetable and Small Fruit Research and Development Program (OVSFRDP). 2008 Total award: $3,000.

Jasinski, J., Rhodes, L., Riedel, R., Miller, S., Precheur, R. Powdery mildew fungicide insensitivity evaluations on pumpkin OVSFRDP. 2008  Total award: $2,500.

Lewis Ivey, M.L. (S. Miller, advisor) The impact of plant pathogen biofilms on the colonization and persistence of E. coli O157:H7 on lettuce, OARDC SEEDS Graduate Student Competition, 2008-09  Total award: $6,000

Contact Information

Sally Miller
Department of Plant Pathology
The Ohio State University
227 Selby Hall
1680 Madison Avenue
Wooster, Ohio 44691-4096

Phone: (330) 263-3678
FAX: (330) 263-3841
Email: miller.769@osu.edu