I received my B.S. in Biology from the University of Illinois-Urbana, an M.S. in Plant Pathology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Oregon State University. Since then I have had a varied career of teaching, research, and extension, all revolving around the theme of sustainable agriculture, and applying ecological understanding to food systems. I have worked at a wide range of institutions, from the small liberal arts setting of Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina, where I coordinated the sustainable agriculture program, to my own consulting business, where I led an effort to develop organic peanut production in the Southeast. At large land-grant universities (North Carolina State University and the University of Georgia) I worked on climate change effects on natural and farming systems. I have had international experience through graduate work in Kenya, a sabbatical at Imperial University-Wye campus in the U.K., and as co-leader of a course on sustainability to Bolivia.
I began at Penn State Brandywine as an instructor in 2013, supporting the biology education effort through course contributions involving plants, ecology, and human-environment interactions. I am currently an Associate Teaching Professor and represent the department as Biology Liaison. My research interest is in creating agricultural resilience through diversification, and my passion is to communicate climate science in a way that makes it the engaging opportunity it is . . . a challenge that can bring out our most outside-the-box innovations, greatest ideas, and better angels. Nothing could be more compelling than this unprecedented existential crisis.
Select Publications
Boudreau, M.A., B.B. Shew, and L.E. Duffie Andrako. 2016. Impact of Intercropping on Epidemics of Groundnut Leaf Spots: Defining Constraints and Opportunities through a Seven-year Field Study. Plant Pathology 65:601-611. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ppa.12440
Boudreau, M.A. 2013. Diseases in Intercropping Systems. Annual Review of Phytopathology 51:499-519. doi: http://10.1146/annurev-phyto-082712-102246
Boudreau, M.A., C.A. Furman, L. Darby, and C. McNutt. 2012, rev. 2017. Anticipating Drought on Rainfed Farms in the Southeast. University of Georgia Extension Bulletin 1403. doi:http://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=B1403.
Furman, C.A., C. Roncoli, W. Bartels, M.A. Boudreau, H. Crockett, and H. Grey. 2014. Social Justice in Climate Services: Engaging African American Farmers in the American South. Climate Risk Management 2:11-25. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2014.02.002
Pelini, S.L., M.A. Boudreau, N. McCoy, A.M. Ellison, N.J. Gotelli, N.J. Sanders, and R.P. Dunn. 2011. Effects of short-term warming on low and high latitude forest ant communities. EcoSphere 2:art62. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES11-00097.1
Boudreau, M.A., and Mundt, C.C. 1992. Mechanisms of alteration in bean rust epidemiology due to intercropping with maize. Phytopathology 82:1051-1060.