Contact Information

Dr. Nicholas Greatens

nicholas.greatens@usda.gov

Foreign Disease/Weed Science Research
1301 Ditto Avenue, Fort Detrick, MD 21702
Phone: (301)-###-####
Fax: (301) 619-2880

Nicholas Greatens is a postdoctoral fellow at the USDA-ARS SCINet and AI Center of Excellence and Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) based at the USDA-ARS Foreign Disease and Weed Science Research Unit (FDWSRU) in Frederick, MD under the mentorship of Dr. Rachel Koch Bach. He recently completed his PhD in plant pathology at the University of Minnesota, where his dissertation examined two recently introduced crown rust fungi in North America.

Research Emphasis

Research uses genomics, phylogenetics, and population genetics/genomics methods to study foreign fungal pathogens that may threaten United States agriculture. With Dr. Koch Bach, current projects address coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix), red leaf blotch of soybean, (Coniothyrium glycines), and peanut smut (Thecaphora frezzii).

Publications

• View publications via Google Scholar

Education
Ph.D. Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota
B.S. Plant Science, University of Minnesota

Research Experience

• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, USDA-ARS SCINet/ORISE and USDA Foreign Disease, Weed Science Research Unit, Frederick, Maryland, 2023 - present
• Graduate Research Assistant, University of Minnesota Dept. of Plant Pathology, St. Paul, MN, 2019-2023
• Researcher, University of Minnesota Dept. of Plant Pathology, St. Paul, MN, 2017-2019

Honors & Awards

• ARS SCINet and AI Center of Excellence Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2023
• Vaala-Henry Endowment in support of the Norman E. Borlaug Fellowship for International Agriculture, 2021