The Center is headed by an Administrative Director and Head of Research who is in charge of the research enterprise, fundraising and outreach of the Center’s activities. An Assistant Director monitors the day-to-day activities of the Center related to administrative and outreach issues. The Center has an Internal Steering Committee that consists of the Affiliate Faculty members and the Head of the Horticulture and LA Department (Dr. Stephen Wallner). The job of the Steering Committee is to provide advice on the research, funding, and outreach activities of the Center. Whenever possible the Steering Committee also participates in the writing of the Center’s Research and Training proposals. The Center has an External Advisory Committee that provides guidance and assessment related to the Center’s overall performance. The External Advisory Committee will be selected based on the scientific stature of scientists working on Rhizosphere Biology topics.

The Director in collaboration with the Internal Steering Committee works to foster interdisciplinary research collaboration between the members of the Center. For example, it is our intention that private donations (see below) be used to hire graduate students/post-docs who will work on interdisciplinary projects and generate enough preliminary results to allow the Center to submit competitive research proposals to federal agencies.