Esmaeil Nasrollahiazar

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Viticulture Extension Educator
Grand Traverse County Extension Office

Biography

Esmaeil Nasrollahiazar is a Viticulture Extension Educator with Michigan State University Extension, bridging higher education, research centers, industry members, and stakeholders across Michigan’s grape and wine sector. Since 2020, he has worked closely with growers to deliver practical, science-based solutions through workshops, field days, scouting reports, and publications. His extension priorities include vineyard, canopy management, cold hardiness, precision sensing, and crop protection, with sustainability and resilience at the core.

Alongside his extension work, Esmaeil leads research that integrates new technologies into cool-climate viticulture, including laser-based bird deterrents paired with AI acoustic monitoring, early detection of powdery mildew using spectroscopy and remote sensing, cold hardiness assessment and modeling, and studies on gene expression related to color development in red wine grapes. He holds a Master’s in Agricultural Engineering and an M.Sc. in Viticulture & Enology from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy). His goal is to equip Michigan’s grape industry with tools and knowledge that improve productivity, fruit quality, and long-term environmental stewardship.

Education

November, 2018	Master’s degree in Viticulture and Enology, the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy Supervisor: Prof. Stefano Poni
February 2013	Master’s degree in Agricultural Engineering - Agronomy, Islamic Azad University Karaj Branch, Iran. Thesis Title: An image analysis for the determination of genetic purity of different wheat varieties. Supervisors: G. Tohidloo, M. Dehghanshoar and S. Mobasser
February 2003	Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering - Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Islamic Azad University Karaj Branch, Iran.

Professional experience

June 2020 – Current	Viticulture Extension Educator Michigan State University Extension 8527 E-Government Center Dr, Suttons Bay, USA
July, 2018 – June 2020	Scholar Visitor/Research Assistant Paolo Sabbatini Lab (Viticulture) and Todd Einhorn Lab (Pomology). College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, Department of Horticulture, East Lansing, USA
January, 2016 – 2017	Seed Bank Coordinator Seed bank of Department of Plant Variety Registration (PVR) of the Seed and Plant Certification & Registration Institute (SPCRI) Karaj, Iran.
Sep, 2009 – 2016	Image Analysis Lab Coordinator Image Analysis Lab of the Department of Plant Variety Registration (PVR) of the Seed and Plant Certification & Registration Institute (SPCRI), Karaj, Iran.
2005 – 2017	Plant Variety Protection Examiner (DUS Exams)^{^[1]} Seed and Plant Certification & Registration Institute (SPCRI) Plant Variety Registration (PVR) Dep, Karaj, Iran.

[1] Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) exams are tests used to evaluate a new plant variety's novelty, consistency, and stability. They assess the unique features that distinguish the new variety from existing ones, ensure the consistency of these features across different plants, and verify the variety's ability to maintain these characteristics over time. These tests are crucial in plant variety protection and are used to determine legal protection for the new variety.

Recent publications and presentations

VanderWeide, J; Del Zozzo,, F; Nasrollahiazar, E; Kennedy, JA; Peterlunger, E; Rustioni, L; Sabbatini, P. 2022. Influence of freezing and heating conditions on grape seed flavan-3-ol extractability, oxidation, and galloylation pattern, nature Scientific Reports, 12, Article number: 3838

Del Zozzo, F; VanderWeide, J; Nasrollahiazar, E; Peterlunger,E; Rustioni, L; Sabbatini, P. 2022. Artificial ripening of grape seed phenolics in Pinot noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. BIO Web Conf, doi: 10.1051/bioconf/20224406002

VanderWeide, J; Del Zozzo,, F; Nasrollahiazar, E; Kennedy, JA; Peterlunger, E; Sabbatini, P. 2021. Natural and Artificial Oxidation of Grape Seed Phenolics are Influenced by Extractability and Galloylation Pattern. Research Square, doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-1027782/v1

VanderWeide, J; Gottschalk, C; Schultze, SR; Nasrollahiazar, E; Poni, S; Sabbatini, P. 2021. Impacts of pre-bloom leaf removal on wine grape production and quality parameters: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in plant science, doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.621585

Moslemkhani, C; Hassani, F; Nasrollahiazar, E; Khelgatibana, F. 2019. Potential of spectroscopy for discrimination of PVY infected potato from healthy plants. Journal of Crop Protection. Vol.8 No.2 pp.143-151 ref.16

Van-Timmeren, S., Perkins, J., Sloan, C., García-Salazar, C., Reinke, M., Nasrollahiazar, E., Irish-Brown, A., Vandenberg, L., Plotkowski, D., Isaacs, R., M. 2022. Understanding the risk of Oriental beetle to Michigan blueberries Completed. Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo & Michigan Greenhouse Growers Expo, Grand Rapids, Michigan.