Dr. Alan Chambers, Assistant Professor

The Chambers lab works with growers and industry stakeholders to trial elite and novel tropical fruits for southern Florida and other tropical/subtropical climates. These global partnerships increase value to growers and quality to consumers. The Chambers lab develops and uses modern molecular, biochemical, and genomic information to rapidly develop and deploy superior cultivars for select species.

Dr. Jonathan H. Crane, Associate Center Director and Professor

This program’s main areas of research include pruning practices (e.g., carambola, Annona spp., mamey sapote), cultivar evaluation of lime and lime-like hybrids, improving cultural control of laurel wilt in avocado production systems, improving Annona pollination systems and fruit set, rootstock evaluation of avocado, and cultivar improvement of papaya. The extension program’s focus is laurel wilt-ambrosia beetle control tactics and mitigation practices, Annona pollination improvement, lime and lime-like crop production under citrus greening conditions, dealing with invasive pests, and new papaya cultivars.