Dr. Rubella Goswami currently serves as the Director for the Plant Protection Division at USDA’s-National Institute of Food and Agriculture where she had previously been a National Program Leader. In this role, she provides leadership and oversight for the division’s research, education and outreach activities across the nation through grant programs. She supervises a team of National Program Leaders, Program Specialists and support staff associated with NIFA’s efforts in plant health related areas.
Dr. Goswami has also served as an Assistant Director for the National Identification Services with Plant Protection and Quarantine and the Chief for the Plant Pest and Protectants Branch with Biotechnology Regulatory Services within USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS). She has a background in molecular and applied plant pathology and prior joining the federal government, she held faculty positions with two universities and was associated with the crop protection industry for over a decade. Her core research and teaching experience has largely been in the area of plant and fungal genomics, pest management, diagnostics and host-pathogen interaction. Dr. Goswami’s educational background includes a Doctoral degree in Plant Pathology from the University of Minnesota, US; Master’s degree in Plant Molecular Biology from the University of Nottingham, UK; and Undergraduate degree in Agriculture from India.