Research Interests

I am principally involved in teaching and administering the undergraduate program in plant science. I am also the structural botanist at Rutgers University, available to collaborate on research related to plant anatomy, morphology and development. I have worked on the site of synthesis of vanillin in the fruit of Vanilla planifolia, with the active vanilla group at Rutgers. We determined that vanillin is most likely made in the millions of secretory hairs that line the inner epidermis, adjacent the placentae. Other collaborative studies include investigations of the architecture of perennial rye grass with the turf group, mode of action of fungal disease resistance in transgenic tomato, studies of blueberry bud development with the blueberry group, and morphological variation grass leaf anatomy, and its potential use as a genetic marker.

Professional Preparation

	University of California, Davis, B. S., Botany, 1969
	University of California, Davis, M. S., Botany, 1970
	Cornell University, Ph.D., Botany, 1974
	Post-doctoral fellowship, Fairchild Tropical Garden, Miami, 1974-1976; 1978-1980

Professional Appointments

	Associate Professor, Rutgers University, 1987
	Assistant Professor, Rutgers University, 1983
	Assistant Professor, Mississippi State University, 1981
	Assistant Professor [acting], University of Minnesota, 1976

Affiliations

	Rutgers Plant Biology Graduate Program
	Evolutionary Biology at Rutgers University

Recent Publications

Joel, D. M., French, J. C., Graff, N., Kourteva, N., Dixon, R. and Havkin-Frenkel, D. 2003. A hairy tissue produces vanillin. Israeli J. Pl. Sci., 51: 157-9