Chelsea J. Harbach

Chelsea Harbach is the plant disease diagnostician in the Plant & Insect Diagnostic Clinic. She is passionate about plant pathology and helping people, which makes a career as a literal plant doctor a perfect fit.

Initially from a family farm in the very most northwest corner of Illinois, Chelsea found her passion for plant pathology after switching to the Crop Sciences Department at the University of Illinois her junior year. She received her M.S. with Dr. Glen Hartman (retired USDA-ARS) at the University of Illinois and continued to earn her Ph.D. with Dr. Greg Tylka at Iowa State University. Chelsea fell in love with Ames and Iowa State University. After completing her Ph.D., she worked for three years as a Commercial Agriculture Extension Educator with University of Illinois Extension in western Illinois, where she had the opportunity for continued collaborative work with Extension educators at Iowa State University. The opportunity to return to Ames to work in the Plant & Insect Diagnostic Clinic is a dream come true.

In her free time, Chelsea enjoys spending time with her partner and three-legged corgi, reading books, playing TTRPGs, riding bikes, and more. She also enjoys creating art through hand embroidery and polymer clay.