Francesco Di Gioia is Assistant Professor of Vegetable Crop Science in the Department of Plant Science at The Pennsylvania State University. With a 50% research and 50% extension appointment, his integrated research and extension program focuses on developing sustainable vegetable production systems and enhancing vegetable quality. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Agricultural Science and Technology and his Ph.D. in Mediterranean Agronomy working on nutrient management of vegetable crops from the University of Bari in Italy. Before starting his position at Penn State in June 2018, he worked on vegetable crops as a post-doc at the University of Florida from 2015 to 2018 and at the University of Bari from 2012 to 2015.