Rate My Professor Rebecca Nelson

Rebecca Judith Nelson is a professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science, Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section, and the Global Development Section at Cornell University. She joined the faculty in 2001. Nelson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College in 1982 and a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Washington in 1988. Prior to Cornell, she worked at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines from 1988 to 1996 and led the late blight program at the International Potato Center in Peru from 1996 to 2001.

Nelson’s research has focused on natural genetic diversity for disease resistance in maize, quantitative disease resistance, and mycotoxin resistance. More recently, her interests center on advancing the circular bionutrient economy to enhance the sustainability of agriculture and food systems. She is a MacArthur Foundation Fellow and has served as scientific director for the McKnight Foundation’s Collaborative Crop Research Program. Nelson co-chairs the Cornell Atkinson Center’s Food Security Working Group and cofounded The Soil Factory in Ithaca, New York, in 2021. She teaches courses including Perspectives in International Agriculture and Rural Development and Circular Studio: On-Campus Circular Solutions.