My D. is interested in plant biology / science – particularly things like food nutrition (apparently food plants are becoming less nutritious – ack!) and adaptability to climate change. She comes at it from a global health perspective. She’s pretty interested in genetics of plants too. I know Bill Gates is on the record saying life science and energy development are the two areas where we need more scientists. In particular, so many kids are into biomedical engineering – which is cool and helpful – but we need more agricultural and energy scientists to address the big challenges facing the world. If I can find the link I’ll post it.
My D. is attending liberal arts college to get strong bio foundation and, if she stays on this path, will look at places like Cornell and UC Davis for grad school – or maybe in Europe where there’s is so much focus on this.
This wasn’t about plant pathology exactly, but I hope it helps!