Auburn University Small Fruit Breeding

Team members

Principal Investigator

Sushan Ru

Assistant Professor of Small Fruit Breeding & Genetics, Auburn University

Sushan obtained her bachelor’s degree from the Southwest University in China studying Horticulture. After that, she devoted her PhD to studying tree fruit genetics and molecular breeding at the Washington State University. During her postdoc at the University of Minnesota, she worked on modeling genetic gains from targeted recombination in self-pollinated species. In 2021, Sushan joined the Auburn University to establish the first small fruit breeding program in Alabama. She is passionate about improving blueberry germplasm to better serve local growers and the small fruit industry, solving scientific questions with interdisciplinary tools, and teaching and mentoring students. Outside of her work, Sushan spends most of her time with her kids and family. If she has free time, she enjoys watching TV shows/movies, exercising, and cooking for family and friends.

Research Assistants

Alex Lauhue

Research Assistant (Spring 2026-present)

Email: sal0062@auburn.edu

Alex received both her B.S. and M.S. in Horticulture at Auburn University in 2022 and 2025, respectively. While her research was previously focused on hop production strategies for Alabama, she joined the team in early 2026 with an interest in small fruits and plant breeding. Alex works primarily as a database curator for the Genomic Database for Rosaceae and the Genomic Database for Vaccinium under Drs. Sushan Ru, Sook Jung, and Dorrie Main, in which she extracts, verifies, organizes, and integrates a variety of important genomic data. In her free time, Alex enjoys painting, playing video games, and snuggling with her cat.

Meliza Sandoval

Research Assistant | M.S. student (Fall 2024–present)

Email: mes0330@auburn.edu

Meliza joined the lab in spring 2024 as an intern and fall 2024 as a M.S. student to work on strawberry cultivar evaluation in central Alabama. After completing her M.S. degree in spring 2024, Meliza stays in the program as an Research Assistant to assist with small fruit breeding and research. Prior to coming to Auburn, Meliza graduated from the Agricultural Pan-American School, also known as Zamorano, in Honduras with a bachelor’s degree in environmental and development engineering. Meliza grew up from El Salvador. In addition to her academic and professional pursuits, Meliza enjoys a variety of recreational activities. She is an avid fan of outdoor adventures, video games, and table tennis.

Graduate Students

Sakshi Pathania

PhD student (Spring 2024–present)

Email: szp0215@auburn.edu

Sakshi Pathania is a PhD student working on evaluating blueberry germplasm in multiple environments of Alabama and Southeastern United States. She earned her MS Horticulture degree from University of Georgia and bachelor’s in agriculture from Punjab Agricultural University, India. Passionate to learn new techniques and breeding Horticultural crops, in her free time, she enjoys listening to music, cooking, evening walks and watching Kdramas!

Savannah Busby

PhD student (Fall 2024–present) | Master's student (Fall 2022–Summer 2024)

Email: seb0192@auburn.edu

Savannah received her B.S. in Biology from Birmingham-Southern College in 2021. Before coming to Auburn, Savannah spent some time working as a farm intern for The Good Earth Farm in Lennox, SD. After a very tough but rewarding growing season, she knew it was time to go back to school, and began furthering her education at Auburn in the Fall of 2022. She currently studies the physiological and transcriptomic factors affecting drought tolerance in southern highbush and rabbiteye blueberries. Savannah is one of few people in the lab that plays piano, but is the only one classically trained in voice!

Samarpana (Rachel) Mathangi

M.S. student (Fall 2025–present)

Email: mas0382@auburn.edu

Rachel joined the lab in August 2025. She earned her bachelor's degree from Sri Konda Laxman Telangana State Horticultural University in India. Her current research focuses on evaluating the aggressiveness of Neopestalotiopsis and other fungal pathogens in causing strawberry fruit rot, assessing disease tolerance in common strawberry cultivars, while exploring the potential of tissue culture techniques for strawberry propagation. Outside of her academic work, Rachel enjoys cooking, exercising, learning new languages, and spending time with friends.