As Co-Director, Jim provides administrative leadership for the SBC including setting strategic direction, fundraising, enhancing institutional and external visibility, and staff management.
Jim brings his expertise as a plant pathologist and plant geneticist to his current role as co-director. His research focuses on the functional and evolutionary genomics of plant disease resistance and deepening understanding of how plants detect and respond to plant pathogens. Jim’s research centers around the use of wild species related to crop plants as sources of genetic disease resistance, and is looking to find new ways to improve crops such as potato, tomato, tobacco, apple, peach, and strawberry.
Jim’s vision for the SBC is to enable cross-disciplinary research that promotes food security where it is needed the most, that leverages technology to improve the genetics of our crop plants to make them more resilient to environmental conditions and less dependent on chemical inputs, and that connects everyday decisions of farmers and home gardeners with environmental quality and sustainability.
Specifically, Jim’s vision for the SBC is to remain and to continue to grow as a vital asset for the University of Minnesota Plant Sciences Community that connects scientists and educators across disciplines and leverages diverse perspectives and skillsets. Beyond facilitating novel research, Jim also wants the SBC to serve as a conduit for increasing scientific literacy, building global plant health research capacity, and raising broad awareness of the impacts to plant science research has on global food security and ecosystem health.
Jim also is a Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and teaches graduate courses in Plant Pathology. His teaching experiences have included "Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions", "Genomics of Plant-Associated Microbes", "Current Topics in Molecular Plant Pathology" and "Plant Pathology Seminar", a course that teaches public scientific communication.
In his free time Jim enjoys gardening, running, biking, and traveling. Jim has always been a self-proclaimed "plant person" and often incorporates nature hikes or public garden visits whenever traveling. Jim also uses Twitter a lot and enjoys connecting with people around the world, sharing the exciting work that goes on at the University of Minnesota, and reading about scientific developments in the plant sciences and other fields. Feel free to follow him @JimBradeen.
Education
- Ph.D. (Plant Breeding & Plant Genetics), University of Wisconsin
- M.S. (Plant Breeding & Plant Genetics), University of Wisconsin
- B.S. (Horticulture), Michigan State University
