Rate My Professor Christopher Cornelison

Christopher Cornelison serves as Associate Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology within Kennesaw State University's College of Science and Mathematics, contributing to the Biology faculty. He concurrently holds the position of Assistant Vice President of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships and directs the BioInnovation Laboratory, an applied and integrative microbiology research facility focused on fungi and practical problem-solving. Cornelison earned his B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Georgia in 2009, an M.S. in Applied and Environmental Microbiology from Georgia State University in 2011, and a Ph.D. in Applied and Environmental Microbiology from Georgia State University in 2013. After completing his doctorate, he served as a post-doctoral research associate with the U.S. Forest Service until 2016. That year, he joined Kennesaw State University as a research scientist, advancing to his current faculty role, and previously acted as associate director of undergraduate research. Since spring 2020, he has directed the Office of Intellectual Property Development.

Cornelison directs externally funded research addressing fungal pathogenesis, antimicrobial strategies using volatile organic compounds, eumelanin production from fungi, Candida auris viability assays, and sustainable mushroom cultivation in controlled environments. His laboratory has obtained grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, Georgia Department of Agriculture, and Bat Conservation International, including two awards totaling more than $300,000 in 2020 to combat white-nose syndrome in bats. Select publications include "Fungi as a source of eumelanin: current understanding and prospects" (Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2023, with William Beeson and Kyle Gabriel), "Development of a multi-year white-nose syndrome mitigation strategy using antifungal volatile organic compounds" (PLoS ONE, 2022), "Antifungal Activity of Select Essential Oils against Candida auris and Their Interactions with Antifungal Drugs" (Pathogens, 2022), "Roadway-associated culverts may serve as a transmission corridor for Pseudogymnoascus destructans and white-nose syndrome in the coastal plains and coastal region of Georgia, USA" (Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 2021), and "Validation of methylene blue viability staining with the emerging pathogen Candida auris" (Journal of Microbiological Methods, 2019). He mentors graduate and undergraduate researchers, reviews for peer-reviewed journals, serves on the Georgia Bat Working Group board, and co-chairs the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology’s Recent Advancements in Microbial Control conference.