Danesha Seth Carley to Lead IPM Center at NC State

A well-known leader in the field of pest management has been named director of the NSF Center for Integrated Pest Management (CIPM) at North Carolina State University. Danesha Seth Carley, who has served as the center’s interim co-director since August 2018, will provide leadership for the center, which fosters the development and adoption of integrated pest management practices.

Seth Carley is an associate professor of horticultural science who also serves as director of NC State’s Center of Excellence for Regulatory Science in Agriculture and director of the Southern IPM Center.

With just over 40 staff members collaborating on a range of projects, CIPM develops strategies, analytics and decision support systems to advance integrated pest management, an approach that combines biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools to reduce the economic, health and environmental risks posed by pests.

One of my goals is to foster excellence in our already great team and give them the support and resources to allow them to thrive.

“We serve and partner with government, industry, and university stakeholders locally, nationally and internationally,” Seth Carley said. “CIPM projects address new and invasive plant, disease, insect and aquatic pests by enhancing existing pest management systems; stopping pests at borders to safeguard U.S. agriculture and natural resources; ensuring food safety and food security; and more.”

As CIPM director, Seth Carley’s goal is to elevate the work of the center’s staff. “Steve Jobs once said that ‘My job is to take these great people we have and … make them even better,’” she said. “One of my goals at CIPM is to foster excellence in our already great team and give them the support and resources to allow them to thrive.”

Seth Carley brings “an abundance of enthusiasm, energy and ideas” to the position.

Seth Carly would also like to raise the center’s visibility nationally and internationally and build additional partnerships and collaborations. “My goal is to help the center become an even stronger leader in the IPM community and part of the IPM fabric everywhere — from North Carolina to India and anywhere in between.”

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Associate Dean Steve Lommel said that Seth Carley brings “an abundance of enthusiasm, energy and ideas to propel the center’s research, service and training into the future.”

“The CIPM is an established enterprise with a long history of excellence and service to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service,” Lommel added. “Dr. Seth Carley will ensure the center’s continued success.”

Seth Carley has been a faculty member at NC State since 2010, when she joined the crop science faculty. In 2015, she transitioned to the Department of Horticultural Science. She is co-author of a forthcoming book, Pollinator Gardening for the South: Creating Sustainable Habitats.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Earlham College in Indiana; a master’s degree in entomology and plant pathology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; and a doctorate in plant pathology and crop science from NC State. Before joining NC State’s faculty, she served at the university as a postdoctoral fellow.

This post was originally published in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences News.