Associate Professor, Forest Pathology Co-director, Southern Pine Health Research Cooperative Awards, Honors and Recognitions: 2022 Fred C. Davison Early Career Scholar Award, UGA Education Education: PhD, Crop Science - Plant Protection Curriculum, University of Padua (Italy), 2012 MS. Plant Health Sciences and Technologies, University of Florence (Italy), 2008 BS, Forest and Environmental Sciences, University of Florence (Italy), 2005 Research Labs/Centers/Committee: Villari Forest Pathology Lab Area of Specialty: Forest Biology Biotechnology/Molecular Biology/Genetics Health and Protection Research Areas: Forest Biology Forestry Research Interests: Dr. Villari has developed an active program bridging basic and applied forest pathology and spanning disciplines from molecular disease diagnostics to tree defense mechanisms. She employs cutting-edge molecular techniques to diagnose critical forest pathogens directly in the field, and explores new vibrational spectroscopy technologies to identify traits within seedlings that may help them ward off disease. Dr. Villari collaborates closely with the Forest Service, the Georgia Forestry Commission, the private industry sector, and numerous international institutions. In 2018, together with two other UGA colleagues, she co-founded the Southern Pine Health Research Cooperative, of which she is one of the co-directors. Most of her research centers on diseases of pines, and in the last few years, the major focus of her program has been the brown spot needle blight epidemic on loblolly pine.
