Senior Personnel
Current Students and Visitors
Lab Visitors and Alumni
Dr. Juan Ferre Manzanero
Visiting Professor –
University of Valencia
(2007)
Jonathan D. Willis
MS Student
(2007 – 2009)
Now at: PhD Student (UT)
Angeles Cancino Rodezno
PhD Student (UNAM)
(2007 – 2009)
Angelina Billinger
Undergrad Lab Assistant
(2008)
Dr. Weibing Shi
CSC Visiting Professor
(2008 – 2009)
Now at: Roche
Chuck Gouffon
Research Assistant
(2008 – 2009)
Caryn Carter
Undergrad Lab Assistant
(2009-2010)
Dr. Leo Poorvin
Postdoc
(2010-2011)
Now at: Arch Chemicals Inc.
Munawar Saleem Ahmad
HEC Visiting PhD student, University of the Punjab
(2010-11)
Cristina Crava
Visiting PhD student,
University of Valencia
(2011)
Derek Shirley
MS Student
(2009 – 2011)
Anais S. Castagnola
PhD Student
(2007-2011)
Now at: Postdoc at University of Arizona
Dawn Sikora
MS Student
(2010 – 2012)
Dr. Cris Oppert
Postdoctoral Associate Assistant Research Professor
(2007 – 2013)
Now at: Bayer CropScience
Siva R. K. Jakka
PhD Student
(2009 – 2013)
Now at: Valent
Liang Gong
CSC PhD Visiting Student
(2011 – 2013)
Dr. Lanzhi Han
CSC Visiting Scholar,
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
(2012 – 2013)
Victoria Knight
Undergrad Lab Assistant
(2011 – 2014)
Diego Villanueva Mejia
PhD Visiting Student,
EAFIT and Universidad Nacional (Columbia)
(2014)
Can Zhao
PhD Visiting Student,
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Jilin University (China)
(2013 – 2015)
Nilson Rodrigues Da Silva
CAPES PhD Visiting Student,
University of Vicosa (Brazil)
(2014 – 2015)
Jerreme Jackson
PhD Student
(2008 – 2015)
Now at: Assistant Professor at University of Northern Iowa
Dr. Likun Long
CSC Visiting Scholar,
Jilin Academy of Agricultural Science
(2014 – 2015)
Dr. Tamer A. Mashtoly
Visiting Scholar,
Ain Shams University (Egypt)
(2015)
Dr. Ping Song
CSC Visiting Scholar,
Agricultural University of Hebei
(2015 – 2016)
Philip Moore
Research Associate
(2015 – 2016)
Now at: Eurofins Agrosciences Services
Camila Soares Figueiredo
CAPES PhD Visiting Student,
Universidade Estadual Paulista Sao Paulo (Brazil)
(2016)
Rubina Mushtaq
HEC PhD Visiting Student,
University of the Punjab (Pakistan)
(2016)
Nicholas Gladstone
Undergrad Lab Assistant
(2014 – 2016)
Amy Michael
Lab Research Assistant
(2016)
Lin Niu
CSC PhD Visiting Student,
Huazhong Agricultural University (China)
(2016 – 2017)
Dr. Rongmei Liu
Visiting Associate Professor,
Northeast Agricultural University of Harbin (China)
(2016 – 2017)
Saxon McDonald
Lab Research Assistant
(2016 – 2017)
Joaquin Gomis Cebolla
Visiting PhD Student,
Universitat de Valencia (Spain)
2017
Dr. Rahul Banerjee
PhD Student and Postdoctoral Research Associate
(2012)
Now at: Corteva
Lucas Hietala
MS Graduate Research Assistant
(2016 – 2018)
Ahmad Raza
Visiting PhD Student,
National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (Pakistan)
(2017 – 2018)
Rashini Beragama Arachchi
Visiting PhD Student,
Industrial Technology Institute University of Colombo (Sri Lanka)
(2018)
Dr. Jianfeng Zhong
Visiting Scholar,
Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (China)
(2018)
Naymã Dias
Visiting PhD Student,
Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil
(2019)
Ratnasri Mallipeddi (Pothula)
EPP PhD Graduate Research Assistant
(2015 – 2018)
Luciana Belmont
CAPES Visiting PhD Student,
Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil
(2018 – 2019)
Matheus Montefusco de Oliveira
Volunteer Lab Research Assistant
(2018 – 2019)
Giordano Assirati
Volunteer Lab Research Assistant
(2019)
Mulundu Mwila
USAID Borlaug Fellow Zambia Agricultural Research Institute
(2019)
James (Jim) Dee
Research Associate
(2018 – 2019)
Dylan Parker
Research Assistant
(2018 – 2019)
Dr. Sergio de Bortoli
Visiting Professor,
Sao Paulo State University, Brazil
(2020)
Dr. Haitao Li
Visiting Scholar,
Northeast Agricultural University, China
(2019 – 2020)
Tejas Rao
PhD Graduate Research Assistant (EPP)
Now at: Mammoth Biosciences
Aria Deluna
MS Graduate Research Assistant (EPP)
Now at: University of Florida
Dr. Jason Burris
Postdoctoral Research Associate
(2020 – 2021)
Now at: Head of R&D, McCracken’s Nursery
Dr. Rafael Ferreira dos Santos
Postdoctoral Research Associate
(2019 – 2022)
Dr. Sawsan Ammar
Postdoctoral Research Associate
(2022)
Now at: University of Calgary
Dr. Diego Herman Sauka
Visiting Scholar,
INTA Castelar, Argentine
(2023)
Dr. Valeria Lopes Caitar
Postdoctoral Research Associate
(2022 – 2023)
Now at: Elemental Enzymes
Matheus Moreira Pinto
Visiting Scholar,
Sao Paulo State University, Brazil
(2022 – 2023)
Selina Brown
Lab Research Assistant
(2020 – 2023)
Now at: Graduate Student at UTCVM
Arshita Sharma
Khorana Scholar
(2023)
Dawson Kerns
PhD Graduate Research Assistant (EPP)
Now at: Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University
Dr. Caroline Placidi de Bortoli
Postdoctoral Research Associate
(2017 – 2024)
Swati Mishra
MS and PhD Graduate research Assistant (EPP)
Now at: Trillium Ag
Rajeev Roy
PhD Graduate Research Assistant (EPP)
Now at: IMBB-FORTH, Greece