Dr. Schweigkofler joined the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in 2012 as a research scientist and became a Research Assistant Professor in 2013. He holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria. As a member of the NORS-DUC team (National Ornamental Research Site at Dominican University of California), his research focuses on pathogens of ornamental plants, esp. Phytophthora ramorum, the causal agent of Sudden Oak Death and ramorum blight. Working both in the laboratory, as well as in a state-of-the-art research nursery developed to study quarantine pathogens, major goals of his work are: i) to detect and identify plant pathogens, ii) to study the life-cycle, biology and spreading pattern of the microbes and iii) to control plant pathogens using environmental friendly and sustainable methods.