Rate My Professor Ralph Dean

Ralph Dean is the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University, contributing significantly to Agricultural and Veterinary Science through his expertise in fungal plant pathology. He earned a B.S. in Botany from Imperial College, University of London, in 1980, and a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of Kentucky in 1986. As Director of the Center for Integrated Fungal Research, Dr. Dean has led research on host-pathogen interactions for over 25 years, using Magnaporthe oryzae, the causal agent of rice blast disease, as a primary model. His investigations include fungal signaling pathways such as cAMP regulation of appressorium formation, genome sequencing and post-genomic analyses, host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) mechanisms involving cross-kingdom small RNA movement, post-translational modifications like phosphorylation and ubiquitination during infection, effector protein targets in rice, and the endogenous core microbiome for rice enhancement. Additionally, he spearheads the Plant Electronics Initiative, a collaboration with engineers to develop sensor technology for detecting plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) indicative of stress.

Dr. Dean's scholarly impact is evidenced by 151 peer-reviewed publications, including highly cited works in Science, Nature, and The Plant Cell, amassing 22,078 citations with an h-index of 65. He edited Genomics of Plant-Associated Fungi: Monocot Pathogens (2014) and Genomics of Plant-Associated Fungi and Oomycetes: Dicot Pathogens (2014). Career highlights include Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Plant Pathology since 2017, co-founder of the Molecular Mycology and Pathogenesis Training Program since 2004, and instructor of PP707: Plant-Microbe Interactions since 2015. Awards encompass the NCSU Alumni Award for Outstanding Research (2019), NCSU Research Leadership Academy (2019), American Phytopathological Society Fellow (2016), and INRA Sabbatical Fellow (2016). He has mentored 23 postdoctoral fellows, 19 Ph.D. students, and numerous undergraduates, with many alumni in faculty positions at institutions like Ohio State University and Johns Hopkins University, or roles at USDA-ARS and companies such as Syngenta.