Expert Directory

Pandemic Prevention Consortium Announces New Leadership Team

Gender-Based Research Project Provides African Women Farmers with Access to Livestock Vaccines

Dr. Hellen Amuguni is a veterinarian with doctoral training in Infectious Diseases. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Infectious Disease and Global Health at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Her doctoral dissertation was conducted under the supervision of Professor Saul Tzipori, a renowned scientist in the field of infectious diseases and vaccine research where she investigated sublingual immunization as an alternative delivery route for vaccines. The project, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Challenges for Global Health initiative, developed an effective heat stable non-injectable tetanus vaccine that does not require a cold chain and can be used in developing countries.
She has many years of experience working as a Veterinarian and Gender specialist among pastoralist communities in the horn of Africa, developing gender programs, conducting gender assessment studies among livestock projects in Kenya, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan and Somalia. She also facilitates in the International Veterinary Medicine forums and Problem Based Learning courses and is the Co-Director of the Human Dimensions of Conservation Medicine course for graduate students in the masters in Conservation Medicine program.
Dr. Amuguni is the technical advisor for the USAID RESPOND project Africa. She coordinates projects across six African countries including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo working with 14 institutions of public health and veterinary medicine to build the capacity of partner African countries using a One Health approach to investigate, respond to, and counter existing and future emerging infectious disease outbreaks.

Markey Cancer Center study provides valuable insights into drivers of cancer risk

Dr. Yasminka Jakubek is an assistant professor in the Division of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Kentucky and an associate member of the UK Markey Cancer Center. 
She has led and contributed to several genomic studies of tumors, pre-malignant lesions, and genetic mosaicism in pathologically normal samples. Her work includes methods developments for the study of intra-tumor heterogeneity and copy number changes. Dr. Jakubek’s research program aims to advance our understanding of the earliest stages in disease development by studying somatic mutations and clonal dynamics across tissue types.
Dr. Jakubek obtained her B.A. from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and her Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlanta, GA. She completed her postdoctoral training at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX

Mosaic chromosomal alterations in blood across ancestries using whole-genome sequencing

Markey study provides valuable insights into drivers of cancer risk

Mosaic chromosomal alterations study provides valuable insights into drivers of cancer risk

Research Scholars Program welcomes 3rd cohort, continuing to foster inclusion, research success

COVID-19 infection in crucial brain regions may lead to accelerated brain aging

Dr. Hegde earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Neurosciences from the University of Mysore, India in 2006. He performed his graduate research at the Max-Planck Institute of Biophysical Chemistry, Gottingen, Germany as a DST-DAAD visiting fellow, and at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India. He held an Assistant Professor appointment at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas, USA before becoming a member of the Houston Methodist Research Institute in 2013. As a member of the Research Institute cancer and neuroscience research programs, he directs a research program focusing on understanding the role of genome damage repair in cell death (neurodegenerative diseases) and cell proliferation (cancer) and its potential exploitation in therapeutics. Dr. Hegde has also been a member of grant review boards for the Alzheimer’s Association, USA, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, French Scientific Grants (FMRM) and the Motor Neuron Disease Association, UK, in addition to NIH and DOD-CDMRP study sections. He is a Deputy Chief Editor for the Springer Journal Metabolic Brain Disease and Associate Editor for the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Jacobs Journal of Radiation Oncology and Research, Journal Neuroscience Research and Therapeutics, the Chinese Journal of Biology, and a peer-reviewer for more than 30 international journals.
Dr. Hegde has published over 90 peer-reviewed publications including more than a dozen as senior author. He has also published five book chapters, edited a book on ALS and four journal special issue collections.  These articles have received nearly 3000 citations. He has received several awards including gold medals in Masters, New Investigator awards from the Alzheimer’s Association, the Environmental Mutagenesis Society, Researcher of the Month (May 2011) at UTMB and prestigious Gopal Krishna Memorial Young Scientist award from ASIOA. He has recently been awarded the Career Cornerstone award from Houston Methodist for outstanding translational research contributions.



Description of Research

Dr. Hegde’s research program focuses on delineating the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases with a primary emphasis on genome damage and their repair inhibitions/deficiencies in neurons. His laboratory is interested in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Stroke. He showed that DNA repair inhibitions/deficiencies play a key role in the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases. He demonstrated that transition metals, iron and copper, act as a ‘double whammy’ by both inducing DNA damage and by inhibiting their repair via direct binding and oxidation of NEIL enzymes involved in oxidized DNA base repair. These studies were funded by American Parkinson’s Disease Association. His current studies focus on characterizing the role of ALS-linked RNA binding protein TDP-43 in DNA double-strand break repair and testing the hypothesis that TDP-43’s nuclear clearance and aggregation in ALS (and other neurodegenerative diseases) cause deficient DNA double-strand repair and contributes significantly to cell death. In another project funded by Alzheimer’s Association’s New Investigator grant, he is delineating the mechanism of genotoxicity of amyloid proteins and exploring its prevention by natural compounds. In collaboration with Dr. Sankar Mitra, he is also exploring the potential of genome repair inhibitions in cancer therapeutics. Dr. Hegde’s research program is supported by NIH/NINDS R01, Muscular Dystrophy Association, ALS Association, Alzheimer’s Association and Melo Foundation.

 


Areas Of Expertise
Genome damage response, DNA repair, Neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Stroke


Education & Training

Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
MS, Karnataka University
PhD, University of Mysore, Karnataka
BS, Karnataka University

Next 20-30 years will be the era of brain research: Dr. Muralidhar Hegde

Neuroscientists find molecular clue in ALS suggesting potential new drug target

Neuroscientists find molecular clue in ALS, suggesting potential new drug target

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Fungal infections are an underappreciated global public health crisis, with over 300 million people globally afflicted with serious fungal infections, and 25 million of them at risk of dying or suffering life-long sequelae. These infections are among the most difficult-to-treat diseases, not only due to a lack of effective antifungals but also due to an incomplete understanding of their pathogenesis, resulting in ~1.6 million deaths yearly. I study one of the most common culprits, the ubiquitous environmental fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, which in 2020 was responsible for 120,000 deaths in the HIV population alone. More concerningly, due to medical advances such as organ transplants or steroid treatments, cryptococcal infection is steadily increasing in the non-HIV population. Because this fungus is present in the environment, we all will be exposed to it at some point in our lives. I specifically study and address questions related to how this pathogenic fungus establishes an infection and disseminates to cause life-threatening disease. I am specifically interested in the unique cell biology of this fungus, such as its ability to grow intracellularly, cross cellular barriers, and secrete immunomodulatory molecules, all of which are the main drivers of the disease.

Scientists engineer the first light-powered yeast

Fatal Fungi Threaten Global Health, WHO Says

Cases of Candida auris — a highly contagious, deadly and drug-resistant fungus — are on the rise in US healthcare facilities

Reducing Inequitable Health Outcomes Requires Reducing Residential Segregation

This Gun Policy Platform Could Help Reduce Gun Violence by 28%, Researchers Say

Michael Siegel is a Professor in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. His research focuses in the areas of guns/firearms, alcohol and tobacco as they relate to public health. Tying this work together is the study of corporate influences on health--especially advertising and marketing--and strategies to counteract them. More recently, his research has focused on racial inequities in health and the role of structural racism in causing these inequities. His teaching has primarily been in the areas of public health advocacy, social and behavioral sciences in public health, social marketing, and health communication. 

U.S v. Rahimi Expert: Domestic violence victims deserve to be protected

Christine M. Scartz is the director of the University of Georgia School of Law's Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic. She also teaches Family Law and a course for undergraduates titled Law and Social Justice: Strategic Advocacy.
Scartz has been an active member of the Western Judicial Circuit Domestic Violence Task Force and Athens-Clarke County Fatality Review Panel since 2015. She previously served as an Executive Board member of the task force, and she currently chairs the Firearms Surrender Protocol Committee.
Scartz is a 2021-22 Georgia Women’s Policy Institute Fellow. She also served as a UGA Service-Learning Fellow in 2020-2021 and as a university Center for Teaching and Learning Fellow for Innovative Teaching during 2019-20. 
In 1994, after graduating from the School of Law, Scartz established the Protective Order Project for students in the law school’s Public Interest Practicum to provide free representation to low- and no-income victims of domestic violence and stalking in Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties. She received a National Association of Public Interest Law Equal Justice Fellowship, which provided two years of support for her to continue developing the Protective Order Project. During that time, she also served as an adjunct instructor with the school's Public Interest Practicum and Civil Clinics.
Scartz joined the law school's faculty in August 2015. Previously, she was an associate attorney in a private firm in Lawrenceville, Georgia, where she handled a domestic relations and criminal law practice. She also served as an appointed attorney for criminal appeals in the Gwinnett County Superior Court.
She earned her bachelor's degree in history and French, with distinction, from the University of Virginia. She obtained her law degree magna cum laude from UGA, where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif and received the William K. Meadow Award, which recognizes outstanding public interest law students.

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Dr. Jessica Rutkoski (she/her) studies the principles and techniques of quantitative genetics in applied plant breeding to accelerate genetic progress in ways that benefit people and the environment. Her work focuses on making winter wheat more profitable for farmers in the North Central Midwest, promoting cropping system diversity, and, ultimately, environmental sustainability.
More information:
Rutkoski is a small grains breeder and quantitative geneticist with a passion for putting the principles and techniques of quantitative genetics and statistics to use in applied breeding in order to accelerate rates of genetic gain. In pursuit of this passion, Rutkoski aims to increase the profitability of winter wheat while improving the levels of quantitative disease resistance in small grains. Rutkoski is also working to develop and deploy new breeding methods that will accelerate rates of genetic gain for wheat and other self-pollinated crops. Prior to joining the University of Illinois, Rutkoski received her Bachelor of Science degree in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and went on to complete her Ph.D. at Cornell University under the direction of Small Grains Breeder Dr. Mark Sorrells. After receiving her Ph.D., she stayed at Cornell University as an assistant professor, where her mission was to innovate and transfer advanced breeding methods like genomic selection to wheat breeding programs globally. Rutkoski has also conducted research in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), headquartered in Mexico, where she worked as an Adjunct Associate Scientist in the Global Wheat Breeding Program. In 2016, she began working as a Scientist in the plant breeding division at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), located in the Philippines, where she improved rice breeding efficiency through more effective use of data and analytical techniques.
Affiliations:
Dr. Rutkoski is an assistant professor in the Department of Crop Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

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Dr. Nicholas Seiter (he/him) studies, develops, and evaluates management strategies for insect pests of field crops. His research includes developing economic decision-making tools, identifying natural enemies of insect pests, and assessing insect control methods for their effectiveness and fit within management systems. His overall goal is to provide management recommendations that improve the economic returns and environmental profile of insect management practices.
More information:
Seiter is a research assistant professor at the University of Illinois, passionate about developing effective insect control methods within crop management systems, contributing to improving economic returns and management practices. Seiter's most recent studies concern soil health indications linked to maize yield and tile drain nitrate losses, as well as the resistance of lepidopteran pests to transgenic corn and cotton, indicating the need for better pest and resistance management practices for crops. Just a few of his most recent studies also include the control of waterhemp, the efficacy of HearNPV as pest and insect control in soybeans, and insecticide risks to honey bees' declining feral colonies. Before joining the University of Illinois faculty, Seiter attended Purdue University, where he got his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Entomology while working as a research assistant. At Clemson University, he received his Ph.D. as a postdoctoral research assistant before becoming an assistant professor and extension entomologist at the University of Arkansas.
Affiliations:
Dr. Seiter is an assistant professor in the Department of Crop Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is also a Faculty Extension Specialist with Illinois Extension.
 

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Dr. Raffaela Lesch started her scientific career at the University of Vienna as an undergraduate student in a biology program with a focus on zoology, the study of animals. Lesch continued on this path during her Master of Science studies in Behavioral, Neuro- and Cognitive Biology. During her Ph.D., Lesch deepened her focus on animals and began research on acoustic communication in domesticated animals.
After receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Vienna, she began work as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Animal Welfare at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna. Here at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, her lab, the Urban Domestication Lab, works on research questions related to animal domestication. They are currently establishing both field and laboratory research as well as citizen science projects.

The 'Puss in Boots' effect: How a dog's eye size changes a woman's voice pitch

‘The Puss in Boots Effect:’ Women use infant-directed speech when addressing dogs with larger eyes

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Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr., holds a Ph.D. degree from Oklahoma State University and was a college classroom teacher from 1960 to 2005. He has been a faculty member at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock since 1970, and from 1983 to 2005, while teaching, he was director of the American Native Press Archives, the world’s largest archival repository of Native American newspapers and periodicals. In 2005, he left teaching and became director of the Sequoyah National Research Center, which houses the archives and other major collections.
 

179th anniversary of the Cherokee Advocate is Sept. 26

THE WORLD-RENOWNED SEQUOYAH NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER IN LITTLE ROCK

LITTLE ROCK TO CELEBRATE 300 YEARS SINCE NAMESAKE DISCOVERY IN APRIL

Native American Heritage Month Observance and Black Indian and Native American Month Fair to be held at Arkansas Post this Saturday

Cherokee Nation Faces Scrutiny For Expelling Blacks

How well do you know the history of the Northside?

UA Little Rock Receives $5 Million to Advance Cybersecurity Education and Innovation

UA Little to develop free cybersecurity curriculum for high school students through new partnership with Arkansas Department of Education

Dr. Philip Huff is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock and Director of Cybersecurity Research in the Emerging Analytics Center. He has a 15-year history of working in the electric industry managing cybersecurity operations and has co-founded the cybersecurity AI startup, Bastazo, Inc.
After a 15-year career in the electric sector managing cybersecurity operations, Dr. Huff came to UA Little Rock to prepare the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. Dr. Huff completed his master’s degree at James Madison University in Computer Science with Infosec specialization and his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Arkansas. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
His career interests are to develop security professionals and to advance innovative solutions to improve the security of our nation’s critical infrastructure.

Men on a Mission 2023: Philip Huff

University Startup Collaborates on $2.2 Million, AI-Driven Cybersecurity Project

UA Little Rock part of $2.2 million grant for AI-driven cybersecurity project

Optimistic future

Ransom for data approved by Little Rock School Board

WATCH | Local man helps expand UALR Cyber Arena

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Dr. Rebecca A. Glazier is an associate professor of political science in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Her research agenda addresses issues of religion, political communication, and U.S. foreign policy. She is particularly interested in how religion motivates political action, and has published research on the role of providential religious beliefs in the process. She also studies the scholarship of teaching and learning and has published articles on the efficacy of various teaching strategies, including simulations, satire, and smartphone apps.

Mitchell Williams Selig Gates & Woodyard PLLC Hired 3 Attorneys (Movers & Shakers)

ASU Department Chair Selected to Lead AACOM Educational Council (Movers & Shakers)

Rebecca A. Glazier Receives the 2023 APSA Distinguished Award of Civic and Community Engagement

Survey: churches, nonprofits can link more

Pew research: UALR professor’s congregational study finds link between church, community service

Agarwal Presents Research on Countering Cognitive Threats in the Digital Age at NATO Symposium

Dr. Nitin Agarwal is the Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor of Information Science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, director of the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS), and faculty fellow for the International Computer Science Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Nitin Agarwal’s research aims to push the boundaries of our understanding of digital and cyber social behaviors that emerge and evolve constantly in modern information and communication platforms. At COSMOS, he leads projects with a combined funding of over $25 million from an array of U.S. federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, DARPA, Department of State, and National Science Foundation. He plays a significant role in the long-term partnership between UA Little Rock and the Department of Homeland Security. He developed publicly available social media analysis tools (Blogtracker and VTracker), assisting NATO Strategic Communications and Public Affairs, European Defense agencies, Australian Defense Science and Technology agency’s strategic policy group, Singapore government, Arkansas Attorney General’s office, among others. Dr. Agarwal participates in the National Tech Innovation Hub launched by the U.S. Department of State to defeat foreign-based propaganda.
Dr. Agarwal’s research contributions lie at the intersection of social computing, behavior-cultural modeling, collective action, social cyber forensics, artificial intelligence, data mining, machine learning, smart health, and privacy. From Saudi Arabian women’s right to drive cyber campaigns to Autism awareness campaigns to ISIS’ and anti-West/anti-NATO disinformation campaigns, he is directing several projects that have made foundational and applicational contributions to social and computational sciences at COSMOS, particularly in understanding coordinated cyber campaigns. He has published 11 books and over 300 articles in top-tier, peer-reviewed forums, including NATO’s Defense StratCom Journal, Army University Press, CANSOFCOM’s Future Conflict journal, and Baltic Security, among others, with several best paper awards and nominations. His most recent book explores deviant behaviors on the Internet and is published by Springer in their series on cybersecurity. Local, national, and international media, including Bloomberg, US News, KUAR, Arkansas Business, Arkansas Times, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and many others, have covered his work. Over the last several years, Dr. Agarwal has spoken at various public and professional, national and international forums such as NATO’s StratCom COE (Riga, Latvia), DARPA, US Department of State, US Naval Space and Warfare (SPAWAR), US Pentagon’s Strategic Multilevel Assessment groups, US National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine, US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Facebook Asia Pacific HQ, Twitter Asia Pacific HQ, US Embassy in Singapore, Singapore Ministry of Communication and Information, NATO Senior Leadership meetings, USIP, among others. He serves as technical advisor to Little Rock-based firms, including through the FinTech Accelerator.
Dr. Agarwal obtained a Ph.D. from Arizona State University with outstanding dissertation recognition in 2009. He was recognized as one of ‘The New Influentials: 20 In Their 20s’ by Arkansas Business in 2012. He was recognized with the universitywide Faculty Excellence Award in Research and Creative Endeavors by UA Little Rock in 2015 and 2021. Dr. Agarwal received the Social Media Educator of the Year Award at the 21st International Education and Technology Conference in 2015. In 2017 the Arkansas Times featured Dr. Agarwal in their special issue on “Visionary Arkansans.”
Dr. Agarwal was nominated as International Academy, Research and Industry Association (IARIA) Fellow in 2017, an Arkansas Academy of Computing (AAoC) Fellow in 2018, and an Arkansas Research Alliance (ARA) Fellow in 2018. In 2021, his research was recognized as one of the top 10 solutions for “Countering Cognitive Warfare: The invisible Threat” by NATO’s Innovation Hub out of 132 teams from the 30 NATO member nations. In 2022, his COVID-19 Misinformation tracker was recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the key technological innovations globally to address the COVID-19 pandemic. IEEE, the world’s premier electrical and electronic engineering professional organization, recognized Dr. Agarwal as a senior member in 2022.

UA trustees OK 2 for much higher pay

UALR hub of misinformation study

UA Little Rock Announces $750,000 Grant for Bone Regeneration Technology During Sen. Boozman’s Visit To Review Research Innovations

UA Little Rock's Nitin Agarwal Pioneering ‘Social Computing'

UA Little Rock Selects Silverstein, Siraj, Kirk as 2022 Faculty Excellence Award Winners

Dr. John A. Kirk is the George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History and director of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He was born and educated in the United Kingdom, where he taught at the University of Wales and the University of London before moving to UA Little Rock in the summer of 2010.
Dr. Kirk’s research focuses on the history of the civil rights movement in the United States, the South, and Arkansas. He has published eight books, five on the civil rights movement in Arkansas, and three on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. He has also written in a wide variety of journals, edited book collections and newspapers and magazines, and he has won a number of prizes and held a number of grants and fellowships in both Europe and in the United States.
His areas of expertise: Civil Rights Movement, African American history, Martin Luther King, Jr., Winthrop Rockefeller, Southern politics, society and culture, Arkansas history.

John Kirk Presents "Winthrop Rockefeller: From New Yorker to Arkansawyer, 1912-1956"

Students, professor at University of Arkansas at Little Rock recognized by historical association for research

Professor originally from Rochdale receives faculty excellence award in social justice

Redefining The Color Line

Meadors Named Director of Arkansas Space Grant Consortium

Meadors brings a diverse portfolio of space research and NASA experience, including a NASA graduate fellow. She served as the first NASA Intergovernmental Personnel Assignee (IPA) – Minority Serving Institution (MSI) STEM Engagement Liaison-Faculty Fellow at Kennedy Space Center in the STEM Engagement office. She established and led the NASA EPSCoR advisory council.
She was part of the team to develop the first Predominantly Black Institution (PBI)/Historically Black College or University (HBCU) Minority University Research Education Program (MUREP) solicitation, Diversity Equity Accessibility Priority for Research and Education (DEAP). She created MUREP Kennedy Space Center Courageous Conversations.
She hosted the first NASA Juneteenth Celebration, one day before it became a national holiday. Meadors’ research includes hybrid rockets, combustion, micro-thrusters and biomedical engineering, making her a literal “rocket scientist.”
Her academic experiences include K-12, community college, private and public institutions. She has served as associate dean of arts and sciences, dean of applied science technology, chair of electronics, director of electronics engineering technology and held many STEM teaching positions.
Meadors earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Grambling State University as well as a Master of Science in Applied Science with a focus on instrumentation and a Ph.D. in Applied Science Engineering Science and Systems from UA Little Rock.
She holds the distinction of being the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in Engineering Science and Systems from UA Little Rock and the first African American and female to teach mechanical engineering at Harding University.

Business people

Arkansas' 'CubeSat' Launched Aboard SpaceX Falcon 9, a Mission to the International Space Station

Students use small budget to create 'out of this world' museum

NASA Selects Arkansas' First CubeSat

Poachers beware: New online tool traces illegal lion products back to source

Dr. Alfred Roca conducts genetic studies on wildlife and domesticated animals. He uses DNA from elephants to determine conservation priorities for the species and to establish the geographic origins of confiscated ivory. He also studies “endogenous” retroviruses, which are retroviral copies that have become permanent components of the DNA of humans and animals, and can impact their health.
Affiliations: Roca is a professor in the Department of Animal Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is also affiliated with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology; the School of Information Sciences; and the Illinois Natural History Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute.  

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Dr. Martin Bohn (he/him) breeds corn lines that contribute to economically efficient and sustainable, high-yielding production. He studies the genetic basis of biotic and abiotic stress responses, root development, and grain processing characteristics of corn using innovative, high-throughput phenotyping tools and genomic information.
More information:
Bohn is a crop breeder and researcher passionate about developing and studying innovative and sustainable maize production. As an associate professor at the University of Illinois, Bohn leads a maize breeding program focused on developing improved maize germplasm that contributes to economically efficient and sustainable maize production under restricted and “organic” growing conditions. He develops and employs innovative high-throughput phenotyping tools, quantitative genetic theory, and deep genomic information to study the genetic basis of biotic and abiotic stress responses, root development, and grain processing in maize as well. Before joining the University of Illinois faculty, Bohn grew up in West Germany, where he studied agronomy at the Universities of Bonn and Hohenheim in Germany, motivated by the growing ecological movement in Europe. After spending a year working on a very diverse dairy family farm, Bohn received his MSc at the University of Hohenheim and continued his studies there, completing his Ph.D. in plant breeding and genetics. For his thesis research, Bohn spent two years in Mexico, working at the International Center for Wheat and Maize Improvement. Soon after, he also became assistant professor and Habilitant at the University of Hohenheim.
Affiliations:
Dr. Bohn is an associate professor in the Department of Crop Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

New study finds corn genome can gang up on multiple pathogens at once

Dr. Tiffany Jamann (she/her) is a researcher seeking to improve crop productivity in food and energy crops by improving disease resistance to pathogens. Her research provides the foundation for the deployment of resistant varieties, which is an effective disease management strategy that will provide long-term solutions to producers and industry. This work serves the wider community by helping improve productivity in an agronomically and environmentally sustainable fashion.
More information:
Jamann is a researcher and associate professor at the University of Illinois who is passionate about studying genetic variation for crop disease resistance with the goal of understanding how specific genes function within plants, influencing the interactions between genes and disease resistance. In Jamann's research program at the University of Illinois, she focuses on host-microbe interactions in maize and sorghum, taking a multi-faceted approach utilizing genetics, genomics, molecular biology, and evolutionary biology to develop more resistant crop varieties. Before joining the University of Illinois, she received her Bachelor of Science in Biology and Bachelor of Art in German from Moravian College. Jamann then went on to receive her Ph.D. from Cornell University in Plant Pathology, writing her dissertation on disease resistance investigating genes, genetic architecture, and pleiotropy in maize. After receiving her Ph.D., Jamann also became a postdoctoral scholar at NC State University.
Affiliations:
Dr. Jamann is an associate professor in the Department of Crop Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

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Dr. Kris Lambert (he/him) develops sustainable strategies to manage plant nematodes. He studies the molecular and biochemical basis of plant-nematode interactions in order to determine how plant parasitic nematodes evade plant resistance mechanisms.
More information:
Lambert is the Director of Undergraduate Programs and an associate professor in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois who's passionate about studying and developing sustainable methods to manage plant nematodes in crops. Lambert's latest research contribution investigates the methods and ability to express single-stranded RNA constructs transiently as a method to evaluate nematode and foreign genes for their biological significance and potential role in nematode management. Just a few more of his most recent research endeavors also include the discovery of a new member of the Carlavirus genus from randomly collected soybean leaves in Illinois, methods for measuring virulence in soybean cyst nematode, and the investigation of a new response mechanism towards plant nematode resistance involving haplotype compatibility, gene dosage, and hormone signaling.
Affiliations:
Dr. Lambert is an associate professor in the Department of Crop Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is also the Director of Undergraduate Programs.
 

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Dr. Alexander Lipka (he/him) is a research and associate professor who studies and develops methods to accelerate the development of high-performing crops by identifying specific DNA regions associated with agronomically important traits. He uses statistical approaches for quantitative genetic analyses in crops as well.
More information:
Lipka is a researcher and associate professor passionate about the development of sustainable and high-performing crop practices. In pursuit of this passion, he leads the Lipka Lab at the University of Illinois with the research aim of creating statistical approaches to analyze quantitative genetics data. Lipka's research interests include multidisciplinary collaborations that focus on various genomic-related issues, including the contributions of nonadditive effects to phenotypic variation and the identification of genomic variants associated with agronomic and health-related traits. Some of his research endeavors include the investigation of crop productivity based on the activity of meristems to facilitate further genetic studies and the study into the diversity, genomic complexity, population structure, phylogeny, phylogeography, ploidy, and evolutionary dynamics of switchgrass. Lipka also led a study that developed an R package called Genome Association and Prediction Integrated Tool to handle larger datasets for genome-wide association studies and genomic prediction and selection studies. Prior to joining the University of Illinois, Lipka received his Bachelor of Science in Statistics at the University of Flordia and went on to get his Master of Science and Ph.D. at Purdue University. Lipka was also a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University.
Affiliations:
Dr. Lipka is an associate professor in the Department of Crop Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.