Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding

Summary of Plant Breeding at Iowa State University Past 5 Years ( PDF 51 KB)

Center Report 2004-2005 (PDF 590 KB)
Center Report 2006 (PDF 994 KB)

In the News

Plant Breeding Lecture Series Set for May 27-28, 2008

The 2008 Plant Breeding Lecture Series is scheduled for May 27-28 and will be held at the Iowa State Memorial Union. The theme of this year's series is Breeding Lignocellulosic Crops for the Bioeconomy. The lecture series is partially funded through a grant from the Plant Sciences Institute. To learn about the lecture series and to register, see here.

Silvia Cianzio named CSSA Fellow

Dr. Silvia Cianzio, agronomy professor and member of the Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding, has been named a Fellow to the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA). This honor recognizes individuals for their professional achievements and meritorious service. Cianzio's research program focuses on breeding soybeans with resistance to disease, pests, and abiotic stress. She has served as associate editor for Crop Science and is active in the CSSA and the Puerto Rico Seed Research Association. More

Thomas Lübberstedt Named Center Director

Dr. Thomas Lübberstedt was named the new Director for the Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding. He recently joined the Agronomy faculty and was also named to the Kenneth J. Frey Endowed Chair. Dr. Lübberstedt succeeds Dr. Kendall Lamkey who served as Director from 2002-2007.

C. R. Weber Award to Shengqiang Zhong

The 2007 C. R. Weber Award for Excellence in Plant Science has been granted to Iowa State University student, Shengqiang Zhong. Zhong is a graduate student in the Agronomy Department and studying genetics and plant breeding with former ISU Associate Professor, Jean-Luc Jannink. The award is given to outstanding Ph.D. candidates studying plant breeding and is named for Dr. C. R. Weber, a soybean breeder with the USDA and a long-time member of the faculty at Iowa State University. More

Plant Breeding Book Released

Breeding Major Food Staples, a book describing plant breeding methods in major food crops, was published by Blackwell Publishing in November 2007. Silvia Cianzio, soybean breeder and a member of the Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding, wrote a chapter included in the book called "Soybean Breeding Achievements and Challenges." More

Agronomy Department Announces New Endowed Chairs

The Department of Agronomy has named two new endowed chairs in the areas of crop genomics and biorenewable crop research. The George F. Sprague Endowed Chair will be filled by William Beavis, chief science officer at the National Center for Genome Resources. The Kenneth J. Frey Endowed Chair will be filled by Thomas Lübberstedt, senior scientist at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Genetics and Biotechnology. They will join the agronomy faculty at the beginning of the fall semester. Read the full story here.