Professor and Extension Specialist, Department of Plant Pathology

B.S., Horticulture, University of Guelph, 1984

M.S., Plant Pathology, University of Guelph, 1987

Ph.D., Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, 1994

Tomato producers certainly worry about diseases crippling their plants and fruit, but no more than Dr. Frank Louws, a professor with N.C. State’s Department of Plant Pathology and a Cooperative Extension specialist. Louws’ research focuses on small fruit and vegetable farmers’ use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs as well as sustainable agricultural practices. He has developed corresponding programs in those areas for Cooperative Extension.

Integrated Pest Management is a systems approach that combines an array of crop production practices with careful monitoring of pests and their natural enemies. These practices include use of resistant varieties, timing of planting, cultivation, biological controls and judicious use of pesticides to control pests. They are used in greenhouses as well as on field crops. Such systems anticipate and prevent pests from reaching economically damaging levels.

Louws is a native of Canada. While earning his doctorate in plant pathology from Michigan State University, his studies emphasized sustainable agriculture. He designed integrated production systems for tomatoes and cucumbers, emphasizing less tilling of the land, use of green manure crops and models for forecasting the likelihood of diseases.

Before coming to N.C. State in January 1996, Louws served two years as a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Microbial Ecology at the Michigan State University/DOE Plant Research Laboratory in East Lansing, Mich. While there, he conducted experiments for assessing microbial diversity of plant pathogens and soil microbes.

At N.C. State, his students won first prize for their presentations at the Plant Pathology Masters Symposium for four consecutive years, 1998-2001.

Louws is a member of the Phytopathology Society in America and Canada.