HONOLULU (AP) -- The University of Hawaii is naming a Florida sugarcane biotechnology expert to be the new dean of its College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.

The university said Monday Maria Gallo will assume her new position at the Manoa campus in July. She's currently professor and chair of the Agronomy Department at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

In Florida, Gallo leads a research program aimed at improving the performance and quality of tropical energy and agronomic crops.

She is the founder of the world's pioneering programs for sugarcane biotechnology. Her research team's main focus has been enhancing sugarcane as a bioenergy crop.

The College of Tropical Agriculture has also been studying how to use crops to produce fuel.

Copyright 2012 The AP.