Stefano Musacchi is a Professor and Endowed Chair of Tree Fruit Physiology and Management at WSU. Dr. Musacchi’s academic training is in Pomology (MS and Ph.D.). He taught for 13 years at the University of Bologna, Italy, and 6 years at the University of Bolzano. He joined Washington State University in 2013, and he has established a broad research program that covers orchard management and fruit quality. In more detail, his research program aims to develop advanced orchard management practices to improve the yield, fruit quality, and profitability of apple, pear, and cherry. His areas of specialization are orchard planting systems, rootstocks, pruning and training, pollination, precision crop load management, netting, and light interception.

Several agencies have supported his research, and he had 27 projects funded as PI or co-PI in the last 9 years. A special mention is for the “Identifying and Managing Sources of Quarantine-Significant Post Harvest Diseases in Pacific Northwest Apple and Pear Orchards” project funded by the USDA (United State Department of Agriculture) Foreign Agricultural Service’s Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) and the USDA - Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) – “Precision Crop Load Management for Apples.” Dr. Musacchi’s program attracts over $5,5M in competitive grants over 9 years of activity in the USA. 

In Italy, he was the National Coordinator of the “Management and Crop Innovations for High-Quality Pear Production” project (€3.5 million). He supervises the “Pear Breeding Rootstocks and Cultivars” project based in Bologna (€350,000). In 2014, Dr. Musacchi patented 4 new pear cultivars. He has published 187 scientific publications (90 peer-reviewed in English) and given 194 presentations at scientific conferences (100 international and 94 in the USA) in 26 countries. Dr. Musacchi has also published 23 videos online with total views of over 209K (updated to December 2021). He serves on the editorial board of some important Journals: Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395),  eJHS (European Journal of Horticultural Science) (ISSN: 1611-4426).