Welcome to the Schmale Lab at Virginia Tech

We explore how pests and pathogens travel through the air and water, threatening crops, ecosystems, and public health along the way. Using drone-based sampling systems, we track airborne microbes hundreds of meters above the ground, uncovering how they move across farms, regions, and even continents. Our research is helping to forecast disease outbreaks and shape the future of biosurveillance. You can find our work featured in PNAS, Annual Review of Phytopathology, Scientific American, and Popular Science.

Our curiosity extends to aquatic environments, where we use robots to monitor the movement of hazardous agents in water. On land, we focus on detecting mycotoxins—harmful compounds produced by fungi that can contaminate food and feed. As one of the national diagnostic labs for the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative (USWBSI), we analyze grain samples for DON (deoxynivalenol) using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. These efforts support the development of more resilient crops and safer farming practices.

Our work has been supported by more than $24 million in funding from NSF, USDA, NASA, and other federal and state partners. We welcome new questions, bold ideas, and future collaborators.

Find Dr. Schmale on Google Scholar, LinkedIn, Twitter, Kudos, ORCID, Loop, and ResearchGate.