Dr. Zhou is an Associate Professor of Plant Pathology at Texas A & M University, specializing in disease management in conventional and organic rice. He earned his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Oklahoma State University.  After his postdoctoral research on the development of innovative management strategies for watermelon diseases at the University of Maryland College Park, he joined the Texas A&M. He maintains a strong research and outreach program on the management of sheath blight, kernel smut, blast, bacterial panicle blight, narrow brown leaf spot, seedling diseases and other economically important diseases of rice. His research focuses on better understanding epidemiology of rice diseases and on developing improved host resistance and chemical control, and innovative biocontrol practices (biofumigation cover crops, PGPR, endophytes and other beneficial microorganisms) and management tools (UAVs) for integrated control of rice diseases. He has been working with other scientists with aiming at developing profitable and sustainable rice disease, weed and insect pest management practices in the southern United States. He has served as a senior editor of Plant Disease and Plant Health Progress and a section editor of Plant Disease Management Reports.