Koon-Hui Wang
Source: Nematology Newletter, September 2012
Rev. 12/01/2020
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Dr. Koon-Hui Wang received her B.S. degree in horticulture from the
National Taiwan University in 1993. She then enrolled at the University
of Hawaii at Manoa (UH Manoa) and received her M.S. degree in
horticulture in 1996 and Ph.D. degree in plant pathology in 2000. After leaving Hawaii, she became a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Florida in Gainesville and was promoted to Assistant Research Scientist in 2005. In 2007 she returned to UH Manoa as an Assistant Scientist. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Sustainable Pest Management at UH Manoa. |
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| Dr. Koon-Hui Wang (R) receives a plaque
commemorating her receipt of the Syngenta Award from Palley
Peterson (L) at the annual meeting of SON in Savannah, GA (August 15,
2012). Photo courtesy of J. Eisenback |
Dr. Wang’s research has focused
on the integrated management of soilborne pest problems, including nematodes,
fungi, and weeds. She has demonstrated the efficacy of soil solarization against
a range of soil pests. However, her main focus and strength has been the
integration
of multiple tactics including soil solarization, cover crops,
organic amendments, plant resistance, and biological control as alternatives to
methyl bromide for managing soilborne problems.
By combining several nonchemical tactics, she has achieved levels of pest control that approach the performance of the methyl bromide standard. She is particularly interested in crops such as sunn hemp and cowpea that can function both as rotational cover crops and amendment sources, and has conducted experiments to show that the rotation effect was more critical than the amendment in suppressing root-knot nematodes.
Rather than restricting her work to one agricultural commodity, Dr. Wang has shown that many of these pest management principles and practices are transferrable to a wide range of crops, including a number of vegetable crops, and ornamentals such as cut flowers and caladiums.
While she has made much progress in the management of soilborne pests, the most impressive feature of Dr. Wang’s work is that these efforts have been incorporated into the larger context of soil health in agroecosystems. Her objective is overall plant health, of which pest management is only one part. She emphasizes that free-living nematodes involved in nutrient cycling benefit plants by improving overall nutrient uptake and ultimately plant health.
Using her knowledge of soil ecology, she is perfecting the use of cover cropping in sustainable agricultural systems. She has documented the impact on beneficial omnivorous and predatory nematodes following severe practices such as fumigation with methyl bromide. She is especially interested in biological control and the potential of practices such as the use of organic amendments for stimulating biological control agents. She has made much progress in understanding and clarifying the ecological conditions useful for stimulating omnivorous and predatory nematodes as well as nematode antagonistic fungi.
Dr. Wang has authored 60
refereed publications, and numerous proceedings and extension publications. She
has put together several training CDs and videos, and created educational web
pages, and excels at outreach education and university teaching.
She has been very active in the Society of Nematologists, serving as chair for the Biological Control and Ecology Committees and has organized several highly successful symposia. Currently, she serves on the Honor and Awards Committee and is the Vice President of the Cobb Foundation
Dr. Koon-Hui Wang received the Syngenta Award for Excellence of the Society of nematologists in August, 2012.