Rate My Professor Imana Power

Imana L. Power serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, where she was appointed in September 2022 with an 80% research and 20% teaching appointment. Her current research specializes in sweet potato pathology and disease control, focusing on developing disease-resistant varieties, producing clean planting material, and minimizing cultivar decline to equip Louisiana sweet potato farmers with effective disease management tools amid volatile weather patterns. This work builds on her extensive expertise in plant pathology, contributing to improved crop health and productivity in key agricultural commodities.

Power earned a doctorate in plant pathology from the University of Georgia in 2014, with her dissertation titled 'Characterizing peanut rust resistance: determining its mechanisms, and the genetics of the peanut host and Puccinia arachidis.' She previously obtained a graduate degree in ecological phytopathology from Wageningen University and Research Center in the Netherlands, where she investigated biocontrol strategies for soilborne wilt diseases. Following her Ph.D., she worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the National Peanut Research Laboratory, researching RNA interference approaches to suppress aflatoxin production by Aspergillus flavus in peanuts. She then returned to Suriname to head the plant pathology laboratory and serve as director of the Center for Agricultural Research, developing in-field molecular detection tools for diseases in root and tuber crops including banana, cassava, and ginger. Her scholarly contributions include key publications such as 'Analysis of small RNA populations generated in peanut leaves after exogenous application of dsRNA and dsDNA targeting aflatoxin synthesis genes' (Scientific Reports, 2020), 'Detection of exogenous double-stranded RNA movement in in vitro peanut plants' (Plant Biology, 2018), 'Characterization of small RNA populations in non-transgenic and aflatoxin-reducing-transformed peanut' (Plant Science, 2017), ''Avoyelles' Sweetpotato' (HortScience, 2024), and co-authorship of the '2024 Louisiana Plant Disease Management Guide.' With publications garnering over 89 citations, Power's research advances disease management in peanuts and sweetpotatoes.