She received her Master's degree in Applied Botany in 1983 at the University of Muenster, Germany, and her Ph.D. in Genetics in 1987 at the University of Cologne, Germany. Dr. Rossbach was a research associate at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zuerich, Switzerland. Before coming to Western Michigan University, she was with the Center for Microbial Ecology and the DOE-MSU Plant Research Laboratory at Michigan State University. Silvia Rossbach is a member of the American Society for Microbiology and the International Society for Microbial Ecology.