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Worked on Verticillium wilt disease on sunflower and potato caused by the fungus Verticillium dahliae and funded by the National Sunflower Association (NSA). Responsibilities: • Field surveys to collect infected samples of sunflower for further testing for Verticillium, Phomopsis, Phoma, Fusarium, Sclerotinia stem and stalk rot, insect damage, charcoal rot, downy mildew and other diseases. • Received, isolated, and identified V. dahliae and all the other fungi infecting Sunflower morphologically and molecularly using PCR amplification with specific primers and ITS region. • Used Amplified Fragment Length polymorphism (AFLP) and Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) to study the genetic diversity of Verticillium dahliae on different hosts including sunflower and potato, and studied the global genetic diversity. • Identified the vegetative compatibility groups (VCG’s) of the fungus using the molecular techniques. • Identified the most aggressive VCG on sunflower using different inoculation methods. • Had side projects on identifying the different species of Fusarium, Phomopsis, Phoma, Microphamina, and Colletotrichum morphologically and molecularly using different primers, tested their pathogenicity on sunflower, and run different molecular markers such as AFLP and rep-PCR on those fungi, as well as reporting new fungi on sunflower. • Laboratory skills in preparation (merchandise necessary equipments and materials), student supervising, and had different laboratory techniques skills.