After more than five years at the helm of Penn State's Microbiome Center, founding director Carolee Bull has stepped down. Though she will continue serving as department head of plant pathology and environmental microbiology and as a professor of plant pathology and systematic bacteriology at Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, Bull has handed off leadership of the Microbiome Center to recent Penn State hire Seth Bordentstein.
"Dr. Carolee Bull was instrumental in making the Microbiome Center a reality," said Robert F. Roberts, professor and head of the department of food science. "There is no doubt in my mind that she willed the center into existence. Dean Roush [College of Agricultural Sciences] invested in the faculty positions, Gary Thompson was supportive of the initiative, Peter Hudson from the Huck, and other colleges provided financial support, but Dr. Bull made it happen."
The Center is housed in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and has focused from its outset on collaborative research. Aided by an asynchronous "cluster hire" of faculty researchers in the College of Agricultural Sciences focusing on microbiomes, the Center?provided a place where these new hires could collaborate with colleagues from a wide range of other academic departments.
"Throughout this process, Bull made sure all of these various collaborators networked together and identified as part of the Microbiome Center," said Roberts. "She tirelessly communicated about the Microbiome Center and worked extremely hard to include as many interested faculty and students from as many departments and colleges as possible."
"The growth of the Microbiome Center has expanded and enriched my collaborations in microbiome research and outreach," said Mary Anne Bruns, professor of soil microbiology and biogeochemistry. "The Microbiome Center has also provided the vital faculty and interdisciplinary community to develop the first-ever dual-title Ph.D. degree program in Microbiome Sciences."
According to Bull, the collective goal that she and her colleagues initially pursued was to create a unit so vibrant that someone of Bordenstein's caliber would want to come to University Park and serve as the director. He is a nationally recognized leader in microbiome research and comes to Penn State from Vanderbilt.
"We spent a lot of time growing the Center that we envisioned. So, I'm the happiest person on campus to have Seth here. I think he embodies the community spirit and will continue this collaborative work," Bull enthused. "We selected Seth because we trust his vision and judgment."
Bordenstein joined Penn State in August, and holds appointments as a professor of biology in the Eberly College of Science and entomology in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
"Carolee's care and leadership are apparent at every level of our Microbiome Center," Bordenstein said. "She is a natural leader whose scientific precision and dedication have left our community in a strong position. I am deeply thankful for Carolee's partnership every day and her many long-lasting contributions to one of the largest and most active Microbiome Centers in the world. We are forever in her debt."
Additionally, the Microbiome Center was enthusiastically unanimous in creating the Commonwealth Award in Bull's honor and bestowing the inaugural honor on her at the Microbiome Center Symposium, held in late summer 2022.
Bull's research focuses on bacterial diseases in plants and mushrooms, bacterial systematics, epidemiology, and population biology of bacterial plant pathogens and biological control agents to develop alternatives to synthetic chemicals for plant disease management. Additionally, Bull has helped lead the way on issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. She was integral in establishing the Latinx agricultural network (LAN) in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
"I am committed to fostering diversity that makes a difference," she said.
Bull earned her doctorate in plant pathology at Oregon State University. She earned her Master of Science in plant pathology at Washington State University and her Bachelor of Science in botany at Ohio University. She is a fellow of the American Phytopathological Society, a member of the International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP), and a member of the Judicial Commission of the ICSP, and served as convener of the International Society of Plant Pathology Committee on Taxonomy of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria from 2006 to 2022. In 2022, she was named?Extraordinary Professor?in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences from the University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Bull aims to continue to be a collaborative member of the Microbiome Center and hopes to attend some of the Center's upcoming workshops. Although she is fully committed to serving the department she heads, she is always open to contributing her expertise and palpable enthusiasm to new projects.
"Something will come up that will capture my imagination," Bull explained. "My favorite thing in the world is to develop something important to other people; create it, develop a sustainability plan, and walk away...and do that again."
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