Welcome to the Department of
Plant and Soil Sciences

Our department is comprised of 28 faculty, 54 undergraduate and 54 graduate students, 29 postdoctoral and research associates, 3 Cooperative Extension specialists, and 8 staff personnel. We have very active teaching, research, and outreach programs in the areas of landscape horticulture, plant science, and environmental soil science.  We have a distinguished faculty who are not only nationally and internationally known in their research areas, but who are also excellent teachers who take special pride in advising and mentoring students.  Three of our faculty are the recipients of endowed professorships and chairs, and several of them have  received outstanding teaching, advising, and mentoring awards.  Faculty and specialists who have Cooperative Extension appointments provide outstanding educational  programs in the areas of horticulture, plant diseases, vegetable production, agronomic crop management, and weed science for citizens of Delaware.

At the undergraduate level, we offer majors in landscape horticulture and design, plant science, and environmental soil science. Students in these majors can minor in a number of areas and take advantage of excellent opportunities in research and internships.  Since the faculty to student ratio is low, students receive outstanding advisement on coursework and career planning. Most classes are relatively small, allowing students to become acquainted with fellow students and their professors. 

Graduate degrees at the M.S. and Ph.D. levels are offered in the areas of plant biology and soil science.  Our graduate students have diverse backgrounds and come to UD from outstanding universities in the US and abroad.  Our undergraduate and graduate students are placed in excellent and well paid positions in academia, industry, and government, and many of them are leaders in their fields.

The department is fortunate to have outstanding facilities, including well-equipped teaching, research, and computer laboratories,  high tech classrooms, state-of-the-art greenhouses and plant growth chambers, a ten acre botanic garden, an agricultural sciences library, pleasant areas for students to study and socialize, and a 350 acre farm.  We are also fortunate to be strongly allied with the Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI). DBI represents a focused effort by the state, private industry, and educational institutions to establish a significant interdisciplinary research center for the life sciences. Our students take advantage of world-class laboratory and bioimaging capabilities at DBI.

If you have any questions about our department, please contact me.

Donald L. Sparks
S. Hallock du Pont Chair of Plant and Soil Sciences and Department Chairperson