Professor Don M. Huber is Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Idaho (1957, 1959), a PhD from Michigan State University (1963), and is a graduate of the US Army Command & General Staff College and Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He was cereal pathologist at the University of Idaho for 8 years before joining the Department of Botany & Plant Pathology at Purdue University in 1971.
He is internationally recognized for his expertise in the development of nitrification inhibitors to improve the efficiency of nitrogen (N) fertilizers, interactions of the form of nitrogen, manganese and other nutrients in disease, herbicide-nutrient-disease interactions, techniques for rapid microbial identification, and cultural control of plant diseases.
His research over the past years has focused on the epidemiology and control of soil borne plant pathogens with emphasis on microbial ecology, cultural and biological controls, nutrient-disease interactions, and physiology of host-parasites.
Professor Huber is past chairman of the USDA-APS National Plant Disease Recovery System; former member of the US Threat Pathogens Committee; Advisory Board for the Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress; and OTSG Global Epidemiology Working Group.
His 41-year military career, as a retired Colonel, evaluated natural and manmade biological threats, including germ warfare and disease outbreaks and worked on committees that are part of the USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System under Homeland Security. He teaches courses on anti crop bioterrorism, is a consultant on biological weapons of mass destruction and emerging diseases, and advises on bioterrorism and biological warfare. Professor Emeritus Don Huber spoke at the Food Matters Aotearoa conference at Te Papa Wellington New Zealand February 14th 2015.
