This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117- 2) The fungus Magnaporthe oryzae causes a highly destructive disease of cultivated rice and wheat, called blast, which poses an ongoing threat to food security around the world. In the field, blast is combatted using a limited range of fungicides, and the emergence of resistance to these chemistries is a looming threat. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop new strategies to control blast, but this demands a more complete mechanistic understanding of M. oryzae infection biology. To infect plants, M. oryzae produces a specialized pressure-generating infection cell, called an appressorium, which it uses to break inside of leaves. This research focuses on gaining a better understanding of how these infection cells are built and how they work, and therefore the outcomes may help to safeguard global food security and enhance agricultural productivity. The proposed activities will provide improved training and education in bioimaging for the study of plants, microbes and their interactions, and will provide enhanced opportunities for low-income, and first-generation high school students to gain hands-on research experience in cutting-edge fungal cell biology, therein promoting their participation in higher-education and science. Communication of these research outcomes at local events will provide enhanced opportunities for public engagement, leading to increased scientific l