Maricelis Acevedo, assistant professor of plant pathology, is scheduled to present "Field Nurseries in Kenya and Ethiopia Promoting International Collaboration" at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting Feb. 11-15 in Washington, D.C.

Acevedo will discuss the impact of East African international field facilities that are shared by many nations and institutions. They are considered opportunities for achieving broad, durable disease resistance to plant pathogens and optimizing the use of genomic data.

According to Acevedo, the facilities also allow formal and informal training and knowledge sharing for international scientists and students.

The annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science attracts thousands of leading scientists, engineers, educators, policymakers and journalists who gather to discuss recent developments in science and technology.

Additional information on the meeting can be found here.

Acevedo joined the NDSU faculty in 2010. She earned her master's degree in plant breeding from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez and her doctorate in biology with a specialization in plant pathology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She also had postdoctoral training at the USDA-ARS Small Grains and Potato Research Unit in Aberdeen, Idaho.

Her research interests are rust-pathogen virulence evolution and the utilization of host resistance to manage cereal rusts.

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