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As the COVID-19 pandemic has made clear, adoption of new technologies and mitigation interventions to stop pandemics is not just a technical problem; solutions must be understood, embraced, and adopted by society. Prediction of plant disease pandemics is unreliable due to the lack of real-time detection, surveillance, and data analytics to inform decision-making and prevent spread. Our team has received Phase I funding from the NSF “Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention (PIPP)” program. We are developing a pandemic prediction system called the “Plant Aid Database (PAdb)” that links pathogen detection by in-situ plant disease sensors and remote sensing of crop health, genomic surveillance, real-time spatial and temporal data analytics and climate data to predictive simulations of plant disease pandemics.

We will hold a symposium on April 5, followed by a smaller invitation only workshop on April 6 to discuss new tools for pandemic prediction and the social and political implications of implementing them for monitoring and managing plant disease pandemics. The open symposium is April 5th in the Plant Sciences Building on Centennial Campus in Raleigh, NC, and will include a demonstration of the PlantAid Database. Two coffee breaks and a lunch will be provided for registered guests.

We have invited a global panel of speakers for the symposium. The speakers will be covering various topics including diagnostics and sensor development, diagnostic networks at national and international levels, modeling, forecasting and genetic tracking. In addition, we will be holding a poster session for graduate students and postdocs to present their work related to the topic of managing future plant disease pandemics.

General registration for the symposium is $30; $10 for students and postdocs.

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Invited Speakers and Draft Program

Brief Introductions

• Adrian Percy, Executive Director, Plant Sciences Initiative
• Provost Warwick Arden, NC State University

The Persistent Threat of Emerging Plant Disease to Global Food Security

• Jean Ristaino, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor, Director Emerging Plant Disease and Global Food Security Cluster, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, NCSU

Climate Change and Emerging Disease

• Dan Bebber, Associate Professor, Biosciences, University of Exeter, UK
• Karen Garrett, Preeminent Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville

Diagnostics and Sensor Development

• John Bianapfi, Molecular Biologist, Science and Technology (S&T) Laboratory. USDA APHIS
• Qingshan Wei, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NCSU

Diagnostic Networks at the National and International Levels

• Neil McRoberts, Director, National Plant Diagnostic Network, University of California Davis
• Jim Stack, Director, Great Plains Diagnostic Network, Kansas State University
• Tim Widmer, National Program Leader, Plant Health, USDA/ARS

Data Pipelines and Estimating Risks

• Laura Tateosian, Associate Teaching Professor, Center for Geospatial Analytics
• Bryony Taylor, Digital Development Coordinator, CABI Biosciences, UK
• Peter Ojiambo, Professor, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, NCSU

Lunch Speaker

• Chancellor Randy Woodson, NC State University

Modeling, Forecasting, and Decision Support

• Sarah Navarro, Regional Forest Pathologist, US Forest Service
• Chris Jones, Research Scholar, Geospatial Analytics, Center for Geospatial Analytics, NCSU
• Nik Cunniffe, Head of Theoretical and Computational Epidemiology Group, Cambridge University, UK

Population Genomics

• Ignazio Carbone, Professor, Director Center for Integrated Fungal Research, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, NCSU
• Jean Ristaino, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor, Director Emerging Plant Disease and Global Food Security Cluster, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, NCSU
• Diane Saunders, Group Leader, Plant Health, Designing Future Wheat, John Innes Research Centre, UK

Understanding and Mitigating Threats

• Wendy Jin, Associate Deputy Administrator, Science Technology and Plant Quarantine, USDA APHIS
• Romelito Lapitan, AgroBioterorism Countermeasures, Department of Homeland Security

Demonstration of the PADB and other surveillance technologies

• Chris Jones, Research Scholar, Geospatial Analytics, Center for Geospatial Analytics, NCSU

Poster Session

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