DATE: January 11, 2008
CONTACT:
Dr. Robert J. Dufault, (843) 402-5389
bdflt@clemson.edu
WRITER:
Tom Lollis, (803) 284-3343, ext. 241
tlollis@clemson.edu
Clemson names Dufault Coastal REC interim head
CHARLESTON – Clemson University has named Bob Dufault interim director for the Coastal Research and Education Center.
Dufault succeeds Jim Rushing, who recently retired.
“Bob will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Clemson University portion of the USDA facility, the farm area and the general administration of all programs,” said George Askew, interim associate director for agriculture and natural resources.
A native of Springfield, Mass., Dufault earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Norwich University in 1976, a master's in plant science at the University of Vermont in 1979 and a Ph. D. in horticulture from Kansas State University in 1982.
Prior to coming to Clemson University in1986 he was a research scientist at the University of Minnesota from 1982 to 1984 and an assistant professor at Texas A & M University from 1984 to 1986.
Dufault’s area of expertise is specialty crop production and whole plant physiology. One of his main efforts in the last eight years has been medicinal plant production, especially feverfew. He has been working on how to translate small-scale production to commercial scale before transferring the technology to farmers.
Other areas of interest are organic vegetable production and “forced” strawberries for the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday market.
END