Former Center students collaborating!

Center graduate student alumni Jack Koster (Lecturer, CSUMB; Lab Assistant, UCCE) and Yu-Chen Wang (Farm Advisor, UCCE) are working collaboratively these past several months, conducting plant pathology research on diverse projects that are addressing the needs of growers in the tri-county area (Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties). One of their projects is evaluating the impact of Impatiens Necrotic Spot Virus (INSV), a disease that causes large economic losses to growers and shippers, on lettuce varieties.

While graduate students at Cal Poly, Yu-Chen and Jack worked together side-by-side at the Strawberry Center and we are so pleased and proud to see them collaborating now as professional colleagues and researchers! Yu-Chen noted that she "enjoys working together with Jack to apply what we learned from strawberries at Cal Poly to new and different crops"; And according to Jack, "I have enjoyed my part-time work with Yu-Chen helping her advance research projects and perform diagnostics. It is good to be cognizant of current investigations into pathogen management, as well as current threats - I can bring this information back to my classroom and labs."