James P. Stack was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He received a BS degree in plant pathology in 1976 and an MS degree in plant pathology in 1978—both from the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. He received his PhD in plant pathology from Cornell University in 1984. Stack was a post-doctoral research associate and then an assistant professor at Texas A&M University through 1989, at which point he left academia to work for a small company, EcoScience Corporation. There, he advanced from project manager and scientist to director of applied research and technology.
While at EcoScience Corporation, Stack applied his expertise in biological control—enhanced through collaborations with Steve Jeffers of Clemson, Charles Kennerley of Texas A&M, Guy Knudsen of the University of Idaho, and Baruch Sneh of Tel Aviv University—to development of the highly successful biological fungicide Bio-Save for protecting fruits and vegetables from postharvest decays. He led the discovery, development, and successful commercial introduction of BioSave, which uses Pseudomonas syringae as a biocontrol agent to prevent growth of deleterious fungi. Stack is the first author on the foundational patent for this product line (number 5,554,3680), which was issued in 1996. The Bio-Save product line has been in continuous commercial use since 1995 on oranges, lemons, pears, apples, sweetpotatoes, and potatoes and to a limited extent on cherries.
In 1997, Stack moved to the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Nebraska as an assistant professor and extension specialist. He became an associate professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at Kansas State University (KSU) in 2003 and professor in the same department in 2006. He is passionate about plant biosecurity and served as director of KSU's Biosecurity Research Institute (BRI)—a state-of-the-art biocontainment facility for plant , animal, and human health—from 2006 to 2008.
Stack provided leadership in development of the National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN) and became regional director of the Great Plains Diagnostic Network (GPDN), one of the five regional networks, soon after it was formed. The shape, form, and function of the NPDN are stamped with the vision of Stack and those that worked with him through the early years, including Raymond Hammerschmidt, Richard Bostock, Rosemary Loria, George Hudler, and Kitty Cardwell. Bob Ziegler was the initial director of the GPDN but passed on this task to Stack soon after his hiring at KSU and before the network became functional. Stack's impact on the NPDN was immediate, and his regional director peers selected him to serve as the first NPDN executive director—a role he is currently serving in again. Stack's vision shaped the network from the start and is influencing a strategic effort to rethink how the network can best serve its purpose today. Recent resource limitations have forced the NPDN to reconsider its roles, reach, and activities. Through the changes, Stack and Hammerschmidt have advocated that the NPDN's core mission is diagnostics and that any other activity must complement that mission. Stack's vision and effort have helped stabilize the NPDN to assure that diagnostic services in the land-grant system can find their best opportunities for contribution and weather their individual obstacles.
Stack is an internationally recognized leader in the field of plant biosecurity. His status is demonstrated by his many international speaking invitations, which included presentations in 2017 at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island (“Food Insecurity: Implications for National and Global Security, Rising Tides Symposium"), and in 2016 at the National Forum on Climate and Pests, National Academy of Sciences, in Washington, DC (“Plant Biosecurity and Climate Change: Policy Challenges for the 21st Century"). Additional presentations have included the keynote address for the Plant Biosecurity CRC Science Exchange in Victoria, Australia, in 2016; the Microbial Forensics and Agricultural Biosecurity Symposium at the annual meeting of The American Phytopathological Society (APS) in Tampa, Florida, in 2016; and the keynote address for the Gordon Research Conference in Ventura, California, in 2015. Stack chaired the APS Advisory Committee on Plant Biosecurity and is the long-time APS liaison to the National Plant Disease Recovery System. His collaborations on detection of plant pathogens have reached Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Bolivia, and Israel. The Australian Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre recognized Stack in 2016 with its Science Impact Award, and at KSU, he was named the Peine Professor of Biosecurity and a Marty Vanier and Bob Krause Fellow of the BRI.
Stack's laboratory and field research also focuses on important problems in plant biosecurity. His lab develops genome-informed diagnostics for plant-pathogenic bacteria to the subspecific and population levels of discrimination, as well as research on the epidemiology and ecology of toxigenic fungi and bacteria. Currently, Stack has ongoing research on the select agent Rathayibacter toxicus, which is performed in a dedicated BSL-3 laboratory in KSU's BRI. He has been a key member of the wheat blast research team, formed with the goal of keeping this dangerous wheat disease from becoming established in the United States. Stack's research also features design and development of biologically secure systems and identification of attributes associated with agricultural system resilience, stability, and recovery with respect to high-risk pathogens.
Stack's passion for plant biosecurity issues extends to training and attracting new students to the field. He created a highly successful 5-day short course entitled “Plant Biosecurity in Theory and Practice." Delivered at KSU's BRI, this unique course has brought together approximately 32 participants from 10 to 16 countries each year since 2015. Participants have included undergraduate and graduate students, as well as post-docs and experienced researchers, from government, industry, and academia. The course includes lectures, hands-on training in a biocontainment laboratory, biosecurity plan working groups, and a forensics desktop exercise. Taking the course was a life-changing event for at least two undergraduate students from The Ohio State University: One student translated this experience to a job at the Battelle Memorial Institute, where she is now working on invasive species, and another will be working on plant biosecurity problems at the Fort Detrick National Labs.
