Balaji Aglave is the Research Director - Plant Pathology and Nematology at Florida Ag Research (An Ag Metrics Group Company). He holds a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences and completed his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Agriculture Biotechnology and Plant Pathology from the NRCC, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, India (2008). He has published over 100 peer-reviewed and popular scientific articles in the areas of Plant Pathology, Plant Biotechnology, Plant Virology and Nematology. He is author of one of the most popular Plant Pathology books in the world published by CRC press (Taylor and Francis group). The book, Handbook of Plant Disease Identification and Management has been sold in over 50 countries.He also served as an Associate editor, editorial board member and reviewer of dozens of peer reviewed journals. He has been an active member of the American Phytopathological Society and has served on multiple advisory boards and academic committees in different universities.Dr. Aglave has been honored by several awards among the scientific community. He has received the “Young Scientist Award” and “Honorary fellow” Award from the Microbiologists Society and Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding and the Indian Phytopathology Society.Current research is focused on development of new techniques to conduct laboratory bioassays for nematodes, fungal, and bacterial plant diseases. His laboratory is also involved in developing innovative molecular and qPCR based methods of plant disease studies. The crops under study in his laboratories include strawberry, tomato, citrus, potato, cucurbits, pepper, green and dry beans, ornamental, and Turf. He is well known cricket player in Tampa Bay area and likes to spend time with kids and family.