Professors and Areas of Research

Dr. Robert L. Wample is the Director of the Viticulture and Enology Research Center and Chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology at California State University, Fresno. He accepted this position in 2000, after the university conducted an international search.  Prior to joining Fresno State, he held the viticulture research position at Washington State University’s Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser, WA (1987) and was named the Chateau Ste Michelle Distinguished Professor of Viticulture (1995- 2000).    While at Fresno State, the Washington State Grape Society honored Wample with the Walter J. Clore Award (2004), which is the first time the award was presented to someone outside the state of Washington.  In 2005, Wample was recognized for his many outstanding accomplishments by Fresno State's College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.  Dr. Wample also served as the 2005-2006 President of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture Board of Directors.   His areas of research include the effects of mechanical pruning, irrigation management and drought on wine and juice grape growth, productivity and physiology including the effects of nutrition, harvest date, pruning level and disease on cold hardiness of wine and juice grapes.  He has also examined the use of hot water treatment to control of crown gall; the physiology of heat-shock protein formation; and recently, the application of “precision farming” techniques to viticulture.

 

Dr. Sayed A. Badr is a professor of viticulture in the Department of Viticulture and Enology.  He received his Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from U.C. Davis in 1970.  After over thirty-five years of service to Fresno State, Dr. Badr began participating in the early retirement program (FERP) in 2005, which allows faculty to teach one semester each year for up to five years.  He continues to contribute to the program by teaching viticulture each fall.  His areas of expertise are in the evaluation and development of growing techniques for new table grape varieties, in grapevine physiology and nutrition, and in the evaluation of rootstocks for table grapes.

 

Professor Kenneth C. Fugelsang received his master in Zoology and Botany from California State University, Fresno in 1972 and is the current winemaster and professor for the department.  In 1990 he was awarded the Claude Laval Research Award for Innovative Technology and was also honored by the College (formerly School) of Agricultural Sciences and Technology as the Salgo-Noren recipient for excellence in teaching and advising.   In 2003, he received the Outstanding Research and Scholarly Activity award by the College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, and was named as one of the university's "Top Dogs" by the College of Sciences and Mathematics in 2004.  He received the 2007 O.I.V. (International Office of the Vine and Wine) award for his enology book, "Wine Microbiology - Practical Applications and Procedures" co-authored by Dr. Charles Edwards of Washington State University in July 2007.   His areas of expertise are in wine stability and microbiology.      Fugelsang: Full Curriculum Vitae

 

Dr. Sanliang Gu received his Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University in 1992. Dr. Gu currently holds the Ricchiuti Chair of Viticulture at the Viticulture and Enology Research Center, serving as a research scientist and an associate professor of viticulture.  He was an Assistant Research Professor of Fruit Science for five years for the Department of Fruit Science at Southwest Missouri State University in Mountain Grove, Missouri.  His areas of expertise are in plant nutrition, plant-water relations, water stress, cold hardiness, cultivar evaluation, trellis systems and canopy management.

 

Dr. Roy Thornton is a professor of enology in the Department of Viticulture and Enology.  He received his Ph.D. in Applied Microbiology from Strathclyde University, Scotland in 1970.  He taught at Massey University in New Zealand for 20 years and then at Indiana University in Kokomo, Indiana for three years before joining the E & J Gallo Winery as a Senior Research Microbiologist for five years.  His research focus is on wine microbiology with emphasis on wine yeast genetics and physiology and on the breeding of wine yeast by selective hybridization for improved winemaking properties. He also focuses on the manipulation of wine flavor by the use of different wine yeasts, on the interaction of wine yeasts and bacteria and on the real time monitoring of fermentation by flow cytometry.  He has additional interests in brewing and fuel ethanol production.

 

Teaching and Research Faculty and Staff Directory


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Department of Viticulture and Enology / Viticulture and Enology Research Center
2360 E. Barstow· MS VR89
Fresno, CA  93740-8003
559/278-2089 · Fax: 559/278-4795

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