Elizabeth (Betsy) Pierson

Professional Summary

Elizabeth (Betsy) Pierson, Ph.D. is a professor and associate department head for undergraduate programs and faculty development in the Department of Horticultural Sciences. Pierson received an Honors B.S. degree in Biology from Indiana University and a Ph.D. degree in Botany from Washington State University. After post-doctoral work with the US Department of Agriculture, she joined the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Arizona as a Research Assistant Professor in 1990 and became a Research Associate Professor in 1996. Pierson joined the Department of Horticultural Sciences at Texas A&M University as an Associate Professor in 2009. Pierson is a member of the graduate faculty of Texas A&M University. She also is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology and a member of the intercollegiate faculty of Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences (MEPS).

Pierson’s areas of research include plant-microbe interactions, biological control, and sustainable agriculture. She also conducts research related to zebra chip disease of potato, microbe-insect interactions, and terrestrial plant ecology.  She teaches the undergraduate course Garden Science and the graduate course Plant-associated Microorganisms, which is available to students in three different graduate programs.  Pierson is active in graduate education, currently serving as a member of the Horticultural Sciences Graduate Program Committee and the MEPS admissions committee and as the advisor for the Horticulture Graduate Council. She also serves as a chair or member of graduate research committees and provides undergraduate laboratory research experience.