Yu-Chen is the Plant Pathology Advisor serving Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties. Her educational background includes a M.S. in Agriculture with a focus in Plant Protection from California Polytechnic State University, SLO and a M.S. in Horticultural Crop Science from National Taiwan University. She previously worked for Nematology lab at UC Kearney ag center and that sparked her an interest in soilborne pathogens. At Cal Poly SLO, her research focused on strawberry disease management for Macrophomina root rot and Botrytis Fruit rot. In her role as Plant Pathology Advisor, she implements an applied research and extension program in plant pathology to develop and extend practical, science-based knowledge to the agricultural community in the tri-county areas. Her program provides diagnostic service for California leafy greens producers and conducts research on the identification and management of vegetable and strawberry diseases.