Former Lab Members

Graduate Students

Habib Widyawan

M. Habib Widyawan
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, University of Georgia
M.S. in Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, IPB University
B.S. in Agronomy, Universitas Gadjah Mada
Employment: Lecturer, Universitas Gadjah Mada

Nathaniel Burner

Nathaniel Burner
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics
M.S. in Crop Science, North Carolina State University
B.S. in Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Employment: Corn Breeder, AgReliant, Sioux Falls, SD

Renan Souza

Renan Souza
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, Univ. of Georgia
M.S. in Plant Breeding and Genetics, Univ. of Sao Paulo-ESALQ
Employment: Postdoc, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology

Sam McDonald

Sam McDonald
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, University of Georgia
B.S. in Plant Sciences, University of Missouri
Employment: Product Development Scientist, Bayer Crop Science, MO

Mark Miller

Mark Miller
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, University of Georgia
B.A. in Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California-Berkeley Employment: Program Manager, United Soybean Board, St. Louis, MO

Alexandra Ostezan

Alexandra Ostezan
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics , and Genomics, University of Georgia
B.S. in Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
Employment: Research Scientist/Corn Breeder, Corteva, KS

Ethan Menke

Ethan Menke
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics , and Genomics, University of Georgia
M.S. in Agronomy, Kansas State University
Employment:Product Placement Scientist, Syngenta, IN

Ivy Tran

Dung “Ivy” Tran, Ph.D
Ph.D. and MS in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, Univ. of Georgia
Employment: Postdoc. Research Fellow, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Brooks Arnold

Brooks Arnold, M.S.
M.S. in Plant Breeding, Genetics , and Genomics, University of Georgia
Employment: Operations Lead, Bayer Crop Science, Mason, MI

Elizabeth Prenger

Elizabeth Prenger, M.S.
M.S. in Plant Breeding, Genetics , and Genomics, University of Georgia
Employment: Senior Research Specialist, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO

Clinton Steketee

Clinton Steketee, Ph.D
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics , and Genomics, University of Georgia
Employment: Corn Breeder, Syngenta, IL

Benjamin Stewart-Brown

Benjamin Stewart-Brown, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, University of Georgia
Employment: Soybean Product Design Scientist, Bayer Crop Science, IA

Silas Childs

Silas Childs, MS
M.S. in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, University of Georgia
Employment: Growing and Operations Associate. Micro Genesis, Morgantown, WV

Mary Campbell

Mary Allison Campbell, MS
M.S. in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, University of Georgia
Employment: Plant Breeder, Ofi, Hanford, CA

Zachary King

Zachary King, Ph.D
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics & Genomics, University of Georgia
Employment: Northern Corn Market Segment Lead and Corn Breeder, Syngenta, MN

Donna Harris

Donna Harris, Ph.D
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, University of Georgia
Employment: Assistant Professor of Plant Breeding & Genetics, University of Wyoming

Postdoctoral Researchers

Joyce Morris

Joyce Morris
Ph.D. in Crop Sciences, University of Kentucky


Shizhe Liang

Shizhe Liang
Ph.D. in Mathematics, Brandeis University

Jeffrey Boehm

Jeffrey Boehm, Ph.D
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, and Genetics, Washington State University, USA
Employment: USDA-ARS

Miles Ingwers

Miles Ingwers, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Plant Physiology and Genetics, University of Georgia, USA
University of California, Davis, Morgantown

Rebecca Tashiro

Rebecca Tashiro, Ph.D
Ph.D. in Plant Genetics, Lincoln University, New Zealand
Employment: Ornamental Breeder, Ball Seed, CA

Justin Vaughn

Justin N. Vaughn, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Plant Genetics, University of Tennessee, TN
Employment: Computational Biologist, USDA ARS, Athens, GA

Zi Shi

Zi Shi, Ph.D
Ph.D. in Plant Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, PA
Employment: Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, China

Anh Pham

Anh Pham, Ph.D
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics, University of Missouri, USA
Employment: Soybean Breeder, University of Adrelaide, Australia

Visiting Scholar/Scientist

Rüstem Üstün

Rüstem Üstün, Ph. D. Visiting scholar from Akdeniz University, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarla Bitkileri, Turkey

Gustavo Zimmer

Gustavo Zimmer
Visiting PH.D. student from Federal University of Pelotas, Capão do Leão, RS, Brazil

Cecila Giordano

Cecila Giordano
Visiting PH.D. student from Federal University of Pelotas, Capão do Leão, RS, Brazil

Jun Zhang

Jun Zhang, Ph.D. Visiting scholar from Jilin Agricultural University, Jilin, China

Like Liu

Like Liu, Ph.D. Visiting Scholar from University of Liaocheng, Shandong, China

Shuzhen Zhang

Shuzhen Zhang, Ph.D. Visiting scholar from Northeast Agricultural University, Heilongjiang, China

Sushil Kumar Yadav

Sushil Kumar Yadav, Ph.D.
Norman Borlaug Research Fellow Ph.D. in Biochemistry Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), India

Professional Research Staff

Joseph Hromalik

Joseph Hromalik

Greg Gokalp

Greg Gokalp

Brice Wilson

Brice Wilson

Breanna Sorg

Breanna Sorg

Nicole Bachleda

Nicole Bachleda

Earl Baxter

Earl Baxter

E. Dale Wood

E. Dale Wood

Ben Averitt

Ben Averitt

Gina Bishop

Gina Bishop

Undergraduate Students

Kierstyn Smith
Summer 2025

Madhuri Smith
Summer 2025

Troy Loggins
2024-2025

Reid C. Robertson
2024-2025

Martin Nguyen
Fall 2024

Russell Mills
2023-2024

Grant Sullivan
2023-2024

Cabe Corbitt
2023

Jack Vaught
Summer 2023

Dalton Beasely
2022

Tiffany Vo
Summer 2022

Brianna Johnson
2021-2022

Abigail Griffin
2021-2022

Nicholas Butzow
Summer 2021

Matthew Geisler
Summer 2021

Chinny Okonkwo
Fall 2020

Seth Currie
Summer 2019

Temporary Staff

Chase Wade
2023-2024

Carlie Howington
2020

Eleruja Emmanuel
2019-2020