Educational Background Ph. D. 1988. Dept. of Plant Pathology, University of California , Riverside M. S. 1978. Dept. of Plant Pathology, Virginia Tech , Blacksburg , VA B. S. 1976. Dept. of Horticulture , Virginia Tech, Blacksburg , VA Positions Held April -June 2004 BARD Fellow Dept. of Virology, Volcani Institute, Bet Dagan , Israel Dec. 2003 to March 2004 Lady Davis Trust Fellow http://ldft.huji.ac.il/index.html Inst. of Plant Sci. and Genetics in Agriculture, Hebrew University of Jerusalem , Rehovat , Israel 2002 to present Professor Dept. of Plant Pathology, University of Florida 1996 to 2002 Associate Professor Dept. of Plant Pathology, University of Florida 1991 to 1996 Assistant Professor Dept. of Plant Pathology, University of Florida 1988 to 1991 Postdoct. Res. Assoc. III Dept of Entomology, Univ. of California , Riverside 1988 to 1989 Postdoct. Res. Assoc. I Dept. of Botany and Plant Sci., Univ. of California , Riverside Honors 2004 - BARD Fellowship. 2003 - Lady Davis Trust Fellowship. 2001 - IFAS Research and Extension Team Award, Team Leader 1986 - Dissertation Research Award, University of California , Riverside . 1985 - Graduate Opportunity Fellowship, University of California , Riverside. 1976 - Women's National Farm and Garden Association Scholarship. 1976 - Virginia Pesticide Association Award. Teaching Responsibilities PLP 4222/6223 Plant Virology FALL 2004 Instructor PLP 4290/6291 Princ. of Plant Dis.Diag./Plant Dis. Diag. Guest Lecturer PLP 3002/5005 Fundamentals of Plant Path. Guest Lecturer PLP 2000 Plant Diseases and Human Affairs Guest Lecturer Graduate Students Chaired or co-chaired : M.S.: Mr. Don McGlashan 1992-1994 Horticultural Sciences Ms. Mariadaniela Lopez 1997-1999 Plant Pathology Mr. Hamed Al -Aqeel 2000-2003 Plant Pathology Ph. D. : Dr. Tso-Chi Yang 1994-1997 Plant Pathology Dr. Xiomara Sinisterra 1996-1999 Plant Pathology Dr. Juliana Freitas-Astua 1996-2001 Plant Pathology Dr. Alba Nava 1999-2003 Plant Pathology Patents and Copyrights 1. “Materials and Methods for Producing Geminivirus Resistant Plants.” J. E. Polston , E. Hiebert , A. Abouzid . U.S. Patent Serial No . 60/117,151. International Application No. PCT/US00/01612, filed January 25, 2000 . 2. “Materials and Methods for Producing Tomato yellow leaf curl virus Resistance in Plants.” J. E. Polston and E. Hiebert . U.S. Patent Serial No. 10/477,240. Invited Presentations At International Conferences 2001 - “Management of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus in Florida ”. Third International Geminivirus Symposium, 24-28 July 2001, Norwich , England . 2001 - “Whitefly-Geminivirus Interactions: A New World Perspective”. European Whitefly and Geminivirus Symposium. 26 Feb.-3 Mar. 2001, Ragusa , Sicily , Italy . 2000 - “Biology and Management of Whitefly-transmitted Geminiviruses”. 3 Oct. 2000 . Seminar at ESPOL, Guayaquil , Ecuador . 1999 - “Biotechnology in plant virus research”. Panelist for the symposium entitled "The Role of Biotechnology in Plant Pathology and Nematology". Annual Meeting of the Amer. Phytopath . Soc. - Caribbean Div. 22 June 1999 . San Juan , PR. 1998 - “The appearance of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus in Florida and implications for the movement of this and other tomato geminiviruses”. Second Intern. Wkshp. on Bemisia and Geminiviral Diseases. 7-12 June 1999. San Juan , PR. 1997 - “Characterization and Detection of Geminiviruses”. Instituto de Investigationes Horticolas - Liliana Dimitrova . 24 Nov. 1997 . Quivican , Cuba . Invited Presentations At National Conferences 2001 - “New and emerging disease problems: Tomato yellow leaf curl virus”. 17 th Conf. On Insect and Disease Management on Ornamentals. 25-27 Feb. 2001, Orlando , FL. 1999 - “The appearance of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (Geminiviridae, Begomovirus) in Florida ”. USDA National Research, Action, and Technology Transfer Plan: Second Annual Review of the Second 5 Year Plan. 1-4 Feb. 1999. Albuquerque , New Mexico . 1999 - “Emergence of geminiviruses of tomato in the Western Hemisphere : the tomato yellow leaf curl paradigm”. Colloquium -"New and Emerging Plant Viruses". American Phytopathological Society Annual Meeting. 7-11 Aug. 1999. Montreal , Canada . 1999 - “The emergence of whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses in the Westem Hemisphere.” This was an invited presentation in the Environmental Protection Agency's seminar series. 2 Feb. 1999 . Washington D.C. 1998 - “The emergence of whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses in the Western Hemisphere .” Colloquium: Vectored Plant Pathogens of International Regulatory Significance. Annual Meeting of Amer. Phyto . Soc. 8-12 Nov. 1998, Las Vegas , NV. 1997 - Tomato Geminiviruses In The Western Hemisphere : Biology, Ecology, and the Relevance to Resistance Strategies. 1 Aug. 1997 , Seminis Seeds, Woodland , CA . International Activities Consultations : Jamaican Agricultural Development Foundation regarding pepper virus management. Kingston , Jamaica , May 1993. Transagricola, Inc. Dominican Republic regarding virus diseases of tomato in the Dominican Republic , Dec. 1993. Transagricola, Inc. Dominican Republic regarding virus diseases of tomato in the Dominican Republic , Dec. 1992. FUSADES, El Salvador , conducted a one week workshop in Spanish on “Techniques for Plant Virus Identification.” Jan. to Feb. 1991. Escuela Pan Americana, Honduras conducted a workshop on “Identification of Plant Viruses Using ELISA.” Feb. 1991. Chemonics, Inc., Guatemala , Costa Rica , and Honduras regarding cucurbit virus management in Central America . Jan. to Nov. 1990. Research Projects: Evaluating resistance of tomatoes, engineered for resistance to TYLCV, in Israel . Plants are being tested with a different whitefly population, and two strains of TYLCV. April 2001–present. Designed the floor plans and advised on equipment purchases for a new building at ESPOL Guayaquil, Ecuador to house agricultural diagnostic laboratories (soils, plant pathology, entomology, nematology). Nov 2000. Evaluating tomatoes that were genetically-engineered for resistance to ToMoV in Florida , in a location other than Florida . Field tests were conducted in Puerto Rico . 2000 and 2001. Compared TYLCV sequence isolated from tomatoes in The Bahamas with isolates from Cuba , Dominican Republic , Jamaica , Florida , and Mexico and determined it to be most closely related to the sequence from Florida . 1999-2000. Produced monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies and evaluated them for their ability to detect TYLCV and other geminiviruses such as bean golden mosaic virus. This work was conducted primarily in Puerto Rico . 1997-2000. Identified and characterized a source of resistance to bean golden mosaic virus from a line of Phaseolus coccineous in the progeny of an interspecific cross of this line with P. vulgaris. This work was conducted in Florida and Puerto Rico . 1998-2001. Worked cooperatively with a plant virologist in Mexico on the identification and taxonomy of tomato geminiviruses in Cuba , 1997-1999. Conducting cooperative research project on identification of tomato geminiviruses in Guadeloupe and Martinique , 1995-present. Conducted research in the Dominican Republic on the development of tomato germplasm resistant to geminiviruses, 1994-1997. Conducted cooperative research project on identification of alternate hosts of tomato yellow leaf curl geminivirus in the Dominican Republic, 1993-1999. Conducting cooperative research project on identification of tomato geminiviruses in the Dominican Republic, 1993-present. Conducted research on identification of scotch bonnet pepper viruses in Jamaica , West Indies, 1992-1994. Conducted research on the identification and epidemiology of cucurbit viruses in El Salvador , El Salvador, 1989-1991. Conducted research on whitefly-transmitted viruses of soybean. ICRISAT, Hyderabad , India . 1983. Conducted research on whitefly-transmitted viruses. University of Puerto Rico Experiment Station, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico , 1982. Conducted research on tropical soybean viruses in numerous short-stay trips. University of Puerto Rico Expt. Sta. , Aquadilla, Puerto Rico, 1980-1982. Workshops Conducted : “Techniques for Identification of Geminiviruses”, two-day workshop, attended by 7 agricultural scientists and industry personnel from the Dom. Rep., Bradenton , Fl., January, 1994. “Use of ELISA for identification of curcurbit viruses”, 3-day workshop, attended by 12 agricultural scientists, Zamorano , Honduras , February, 1991. “Use of ELISA for identification of curcurbit viruses”, 3-day workshop, attended by 10 agricultural scientists, San Salvador, El Salvador, January, 1991. Visiting International Scientists Hosted : 1996. Dr. Cica Urbino , Plant Virologist, from INRA Guadeloupe, F.W.I. on geminivirus diagnostic techniques. 1995. L. Rivera, plant pathologist, Dept. of Plant Pathology, Univ. of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, P.R. on geminivirus diagnostic techniques. 1995. Dr. C. Jorda, Plant Virologist, from Dept. of Vegetable Protection, Polytechnic Institute, Valencia, Spain on geminivirus identification and characterization.