Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Beaumont, Texas, USA
Dr. Zhou is an Associate Professor of Plant Pathology, specializing in disease management in conventional and organic rice. He earned his B. S. in Plant Protection and M. S. in Plant Pathology from Zhejiang University, China and Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Oklahoma State University. After his postdoctoral research on the development of innovative management strategies for watermelon diseases at the University of Maryland College Park, he joined the Texas A&M AgriLife Research at Beaumont in 2009. He maintains an active research and outreach program on the management of sheath blight, blast, bacterial panicle blight, narrow brown leaf spot and other economically important diseases of rice. His research focuses on better understanding epidemiology of rice diseases and on developing improved host resistance and chemical control and innovative biocontrol practices (biofumigation cover crops, PGPR, endophytes and other beneficial microorganisms) for integrated management of rice diseases. Recently, he also works with weed scientists to develop improved weed control programs for conventional and organic rice. He is a PI on a USDA NIFA OREI project and has been a PI or Co-PI on several USDA NIFA multistate projects aiming at improving rice disease, weed and insect pest management in the southern United States. He is a senior editor of Plant Health Progress and a section editor of Plant Disease Management Reports.
