Rate My Professor Punya Nachappa

Punya Nachappa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Biology within the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University, where she focuses on entomology. She earned her BS degree in agriculture from the University of Agricultural Sciences in India, MS in entomology from the University of Georgia in 2004, and PhD in entomology from Kansas State University in 2008. After completing her doctorate, Nachappa served as a postdoctoral researcher at Kansas State University, receiving a National Science Foundation postdoctoral teaching fellowship. From 2013 to 2018, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University. She joined Colorado State University in 2018 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor. In this role, she oversees the wheat entomology program and contributes as Associate Department Head.

Nachappa's research centers on insect vector biology, plant-insect interactions, and pest management strategies for major Colorado crops including wheat, hemp, potatoes, and soybeans. Her work examines how plant pathogens alter vector fitness, feeding behavior, and virus transmission, as well as the development of resistant crop varieties and biological controls. She discovered a naturally occurring entomopathogenic fungus that targets the wheat stem sawfly, a pest causing about $40 million in annual damage to Colorado wheat production, and is testing it in field trials. Nachappa collaborates with farmers and scientists on breeding thicker-stemmed wheat varieties to deter pests. She has secured funding from USDA-NIFA, Colorado Wheat Research Foundation, and FFAR. Key publications include Hayes et al., 'Biology and management of hemp russet mite (Acari: Eriophyidae),' Journal of Economic Entomology (2023); Schmidtbauer et al., 'Virus-mediated changes in insect vector tolerance to a plant defense compound,' Scientific Reports (2026); Keough et al., 'Effects of Soybean Vein Necrosis Virus on Life History and Host Preference of Its Vector,' Journal of Economic Entomology (2016); Nachappa et al., 'Water Stress Modulates Soybean Aphid Performance, Feeding Behavior, and Virus Transmission in Soybean,' Frontiers in Plant Science (2016); and Nachappa et al., 'Transcriptome analyses of Bactericera cockerelli adults in response to "Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum" infection,' Molecular Genetics and Genomics (2012). She received the College of Agricultural Sciences Faculty Teaching Award for less than 10 years experience at CSU in 2024.