MORRIS Cindy

I am a senior scientist and research director at the Plant Pathology research unit of INRAE’s center in Avignon, France where I have worked since 1989.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Research

My research focuses on microbial ecology to elucidate how the adaptation of microorganisms to their habitats affects two seemingly conflicting impacts on the environment: their capacity to i) cause disease, and in particular newly emerging diseases and to ii) play beneficial roles in major environmental phenomena – the water cycle in particular. My research concerns primarily the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae but our team also studies a wide range of other bacterial and fungal pathogens of plants. Questions common to the models of our team include the nature of non-agricultural habitats of pathogens and their role in disease outbreaks, and tracking pathways of long distance dissemination via the atmosphere and waterway. Detail of my activities can be found on the website of a project I coordinate about modernizing surveillance for plant health and on my blog about the interaction of microorganisms with atmospheric processes. This work has led me to be involved in fostering understanding and adoption of the concept of One Health for the management of plant health.

Teaching and outreach

In collaboration with Avignon University, I recently co-founded a new international graduate teaching and research program – IMPLANTEUS that opened in Sept 2020 - that melds plant production and food processing with environmental sciences and human health. I am co-director of the program and teach courses on plant health, on ecology, evolution and genetics, and on general scientific methods and standards.
I also compose lyrics and perform songs about science and post educational videos about plant health and atmospheric processes on my YouTube channel.

AWARDS and RECOGNITION

• 2009. Distinguished Alumnus, Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, USA
• 2015. Chevalier of the Order of Agricultural Merit, July 2015, French Minister of Agriculture
• 2021. Fellow, American Society of Phytopathology
• 2023. Femme-en-tête, Collège des Sociétés Savantes Académiques de France
• 2023. Fellow. International Society for Plant Pathology