Courses - Fall 2025
PLSC
Plant Sciences
Open Seats as of
05/12/2025 at 07:30 AM
PLSC115
How Safe is Your Salad? The Microbiological Safety of Fresh produce
Recommended: PLSC110 and PLSC111; or (PLSC112 and PLSC113); or BSCI105; or (BSCI170 and BSCI171).
As food is produced in larger quantities and made to travel longer distances, keeping our food safe in this day and age is an ever growing challenge. This course will focus on the question of what it takes to grow and maintain safe fruits and vegetables, as food travels along the path from the farm to your fork. Food safety of fresh produce will be discussed from the public health, agricultural, economical and policy perspectives.
PLSC201
Plant Structure and Function
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in PLSC110 and PLSC111 or (PLSC112 and PLSC113); and minimum grade of C- in CHEM131 and CHEM132.
The relationship between plant structure and function and how the environment influences changes in the physiology to control higher plant growth and development are studied. Survey of the organizational structure of plants from the molecular to the morphological level and gain an understanding of how the plant functions to grow and reproduce.
Some course meetings will be held in the Research Greenhouse Complex.
PLSC203
Plants, Genes and Biotechnology
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in BSCI103; or minimum grade of C- in BSCI170 and BSCI171.
An overview of the history, genetics, and reproductive mechanisms for agronomic and horticultural plants that examines mechanisms of genetic improvement ranging from traditional plant breeding to tissue culture and genetic engineering. Social and political issues such as germplasm preservation and international intellectual property rights will also be discussed.
PLSC205
Introduction to Turf Science and Management
Credit only granted for: PLSC205 or PLSC305.
Formerly: PLSC305.
Principals of turf science and culture with emphasis on turfgrass anatomy, morphology, and physiology. The role of cultural interventions in achieving specific aesthetic and functional objectives is examined for multiple turf uses. Pest problems typically encountered in turfgrass management are also covered.
PLSC206
Plant Structure and Function Laboratory
Credits:
1
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: PLSC201 or permission of instructor .
Provide hands-on experience for students who are concurrently taking PLSC201 or other interested students and train students how to collect quantitative data from plants and perform statistical analysis (i.e., Student's t-test and chi-square analysis) of the data using Excel. The students will also have opportunity to access and analyze biological datasets from publicly available sources to build phylogenetic trees and explore gene expression patterns.
Some course meetings will be held in the Research Greenhouse Complex.
PLSC253
Woody Plants for Mid-Atlantic Landscapes I
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in PLSC110 and PLSC111.
A field and laboratory study of trees, shrubs, and vines used in ornamental plantings. Major emphasis is placed on native deciduous plant materials.
PLSC389
Internship
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
There will be two required real-time sessions, time to be determined.
Prerequisite: Permission of AGNR-Plant Science & Landscape Architecture department. Restriction: Junior standing or higher. And must be in Plant Sciences program; or must be in Landscape Architecture program. Deadline to request permission to sign-up for the course is 6/16/2023. See Dr. Mark Carroll for more information.
Credit will be given for practical work carried out at one or more horticultural, agronomic, landscape industries, botanical gardens, or arboreta under formally arranged internships.
Prerequisite: Permission of AGNR-Plant Science & Landscape Architecture department. Restriction: Junior standing or higher. And must be in Plant Sciences program; or must be in Landscape Architecture program. Deadline to request permission to sign-up for the course is 6/16/2023. See Dr. Mark Carroll for more information.
Credit will be given for practical work carried out at one or more horticultural, agronomic, landscape industries, botanical gardens, or arboreta under formally arranged internships.
PLSC399
Special Problems in Plant Science
Credits:
1 - 3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
PLSC404
Plant and Fungal Metabolism
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in BSCI170 and BSCI171; or minimum grade of C- in PLSC201 and PLSC206.
An introduction to biochemistry and metabolism in plants and fungi, covering the biosynthesis of compartments in plant and fungal cells with biological molecules such as nucleic acids, amino acids and lipids. Energy flow processes such as photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism and respiration, are covered in the course. The integration of different pathways in plant development and responses to environmental stresses will be discussed.
PLSC420
Principles of Plant Pathology
Credits:
4
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in CHEM131, CHEM132, and PLSC201; or students who have taken courses with comparable content may contact the department.
An introduction to the causal agents, nature and management of plant diseases with particular attention paid to economically important diseases of horticultural and agronomic crops.
PLSC433
Technology of Fruit and Vegetable Production
Credits:
4
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in PLSC201, PLSC271, and ENST200; or students who have taken courses with comparable content may contact the department.
Restriction: Junior standing or higher.
A critical analysis of research work and application of the principles of plant physiology, chemistry and botany to practical problems in the commercial production of fruit and vegetable crops.
Students must pay a $100.00 lab fee.
PLSC476
Data Wrangling and Visualization Using R
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Credit only granted for: PLSC489R or PLSC476 .
Formerly: PLSC489R.
Through a combination of lecture, hands-on demos, quizzes, and increasingly independent coding exercises and a project, you will learn the fundamentals of using the R statistical language. You will gain experience getting your data into R, wrangling it into the form needed for your chosen analysis, visualizing the data, getting your results out of those analyses, and documenting your workflow greater scientific community. Instead of focusing on a few specific types of analyses, you will learn basic skills and general principles that you can use to analyze data for your field.
PLSC489E
Special Topics in Plant Science; Human Pathogens on Plants
Credits:
2
Grad Meth:
Reg
Prerequisite: A microbiology course at 200 level or above; or permission of insructor. Restriction: Senior standing or Graduate students only.
Fruit and vegetable crops harboring enteric pathogens such as Salmonella enterica, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and Cyclospora cause thousands of foodborne illnesses and millions of dollars in financial losses a year. Enteric bacteria, viruses and parasites use various strategies to persist in the plant niche to pose a food safety risk to consumers. This course will discuss these microbial strategies, and how enteric bacteria colonize and internalize in plants. We will also examine plant recognition of bacteria and the ensuing bacterial response in enterobacterial-plant interactions. Finally, we will explore crop microbiome studies to understand connectivity in the food production chain to understand human pathogen dissemination in crop systems.
Fruit and vegetable crops harboring enteric pathogens such as Salmonella enterica, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and Cyclospora cause thousands of foodborne illnesses and millions of dollars in financial losses a year. Enteric bacteria, viruses and parasites use various strategies to persist in the plant niche to pose a food safety risk to consumers. This course will discuss these microbial strategies, and how enteric bacteria colonize and internalize in plants. We will also examine plant recognition of bacteria and the ensuing bacterial response in enterobacterial-plant interactions. Finally, we will explore crop microbiome studies to understand connectivity in the food production chain to understand human pathogen dissemination in crop systems.
PLSC608
Research Methods
Credits:
2
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: permission of department. Repeatable to 6 credits if content differs. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: AGRO608, NRSC608, or PLSC608. Formerly NRSC608.
PLSC608T
Research Methods; Supervised Teaching
Credits:
2
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: permission of department.
PLSC799
Master's Thesis Research
Credits:
1 - 6
Grad Meth:
S-F
PLSC898
Pre-Candidacy Research
Credits:
1 - 8
Grad Meth:
Reg
PLSC899
Doctoral Dissertation Research
Credits:
6
Grad Meth:
S-F
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