Tim R. Gottwald received his BS in Botany from Long Beach State University in California, in 1975 and his PhD in Plant Pathology from Oregon State University in 1979. He joined the USDA-ARS as a Research Plant Pathologist/Epidemiologist in 1979. Dr. Gottwald was stationed in Byron, Georgia, until 1984, when he moved to the ARS U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory (USHRL) in Orlando, Florida, to address the 1984 outbreak of citrus canker. Dr. Gottwald relocated with the USHRL when it moved to Fort Pierce in 2000, where he has served as the Research Leader of Plant Pathology for the last 13 years. He has also been an adjunct Full Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville since 1984. Dr. Gottwald is continually consulted on epidemiology and sampling designs on a wide range of pathogens and pests by state, national, and international regulatory agencies and institutions. His research focuses on phytopathology and epidemiology to provide fundamental knowledge on exotic and domestic bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens. His long-term research goal is to develop innovative disease control/mitigation and sampling strategies based on biological and epidemiological evaluation of disease pathosystems.
