Opening remarks
Dr. Adam Davis
Head of Department, Department of Crop Science
Dr. Adam Davis is professor and head of the University of Illinois Department of Crop Sciences. He is internationally known as a scholar of agroecology, with an emphasis on ecological weed management. His research makes use of both experimental and modeling approaches to solve applied weed ecology problems in field crop production systems. Research foci include modeling the evolution and spread of herbicide resistant weeds, developing multi-tactic integrated weed management systems for organic and low-external-input farms, predicting changing distributions of weedy and invasive plant species under global change and conducting risk analysis of bioenergy crop invasion potential.
Dr. Davis has a strong interest in participatory research and extension through stakeholder networks, and is committed to delivering world class educational programs to train the next generation of agricultural innovators and leaders.
Dr. Tabare Abadie
Senior Research Manager and Distinguished Laureate at Corteva Agriscience
Tabare E. Abadie is a Distinguished Research Laureate at Corteva Agrisciences. During his >45 year career in plant breeding he has made contributions in research, education, extension, outreach, and advocacy. He is the founder and developer of the Plant Sciences Symposia Series, a student driven program that includes more than 60 Universities around the world, dedicated to advance higher education and empowering future plant scientists. Dr. Abadie provides leadership for several national and international organizations, most notably currently serving in the Board of the American Society of Agronomy, and as a Trustee of the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP). Dr Abadie has mentored many students and professionals along his career and is a recognized advocate of IDE being a member of several minority serving organizations and committees. Tabare is originally from Uruguay, where he was a Wheat Breeder and University Professor for more than 20 years before joining then Pioneer Hi-Bred International in 2003 in the United States. He obtained is B.S. in Agronomy from U de la República, Uruguay in 1982, and M.S. (1992) and Ph.D. (1994) from University of Minnesota, and a post doc at UC Davis (1999-2001).
He has received several recognitions such as the University of Minnesota Alumni Service Award (2018), the Corteva World-Wide Outstanding Leadership Award (2019), the ISU Raymond Baker Plant Breeding Award (2023), the NAPB Private Sector Plant Breeding Impact Award (2023), and the HENAAC Lifetime Achievement Award (2024). He was elected to CSSA Fellow in 2021 and Distinguished Alumni of the University of Minnesota in 2024.
Invited speakers
Dr. Brian Diers
Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois
Dr. Brian Diers is a professor emeritus in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University
of Illinois. He is currently part of a USAID project focused on the development of the
soybean industry in Africa and he is mentoring soybean breeders in several countries
on the continent. Prior to his retirement, he was the Charles Adlai Ewing Endowed Chair
of Soybean Genetics and Breeding and he taught plant breeding and conducted
research on soybean breeding and genetics. His research focused on improving
disease and pest resistance, seed quality, and yield potential of soybean. His breeding
program developed non-GMO varieties for commodity and specialty markets with an
emphasis on developing varieties with high oleic acid and low linolenic acid oil. He is a
fellow of the Crop Science Society of America, the American Society of Agronomy and
the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Tracy C. Leskey
Supervisory Research Entomologist, USDA-ARS
Dr. Tracy Leskey holds a Ph.D. degree in Entomology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, MA; a M.S. degree in Ecology from the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA; and a B.S. degree in Biology from Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA. She serves as Director/Research Leader and Research Entomologist at the USDA-ARS Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, WV. Her research has focused on development of sustainable management tactics for invasive and persistent native pests of fruit crops. She has published over 190 pee-reviewed journal articles and secured over $21 million in extramural support as a project director. She has served as a liaison to the House Agricultural Appropriations Committee, providing numerous research progress updates on the invasive brown marmorated stink bug. She has served as a co-advisor or committee member for over 19 graduate students and 11 post-docs. Dr. Leskey has been interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and NPR and appeared live on Fox News and C-SPAN and has done several stories with National Geographic. She has served as Eastern Branch President for and on the Governing Board of the Entomological Society of America.
Dr. Mitch Tuinstra
Professor, Purdue University
Dr. Tuinstra joined the faculty at
Purdue University as Professor of Plant Breeding
and Genetics and Wickersham Chair of Excellence
in Agricultural Research in 2007. He coordinates
crop improvement programs for maize and
sorghum to enhance the performance of these
crops in stress-prone environments. He is an
academic advisor for students in plant breeding
and was recognized with the David C. Pfendler
Outstanding Undergraduate Counselor Award in
2023. He also serves as Scientific Director of the
Institute for Plant Sciences and leads efforts to
deliver innovative, forward-looking approaches to
crop production. He contributes to numerous
professional societies including the American
Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, National Association
of Plant Breeders, North American Plant Phenotyping Network, and the
Sorghum Improvement Conference of North America
Corteva speaker
Dr. Tara Tarnowski
Technology Lead at Corteva Agriscience
Tara Tarnowski received her PhD from University of Florida in Plant Pathology. She began here career at Corteva in 2011, working as a Corn Discovery Breeding Scientist. Since 2019, she has worked as a Technology Deployment Lead in wheat, sorghum, canola and corn. In her current role, she leads a team of scientists to evaluate, optimize and deploy new technologies to breeding teams in many different areas – including Genomic Selection, Advanced Phenotyping, Native Trait Discovery, and Decision Science. The Technology Deployment team plays an important role in ushering in advancements to breeding strategy, systems, and analytics. Tara is motivated and energized by collaborating with Corteva’s talented scientists across functions to make impactful improvements to breeding.
Student speakers
Manwinder Singh Brar
Clemson University
Manwinder Singh Brar is a PhD candidate in the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry at Clemson University. Originally from India, Manwinder completed his BSc in Agriculture, focusing on Plant Breeding and Genetics, at Punjab Agricultural University. After graduation, he moved to the U.S. to pursue his passion for plant genetics. His doctoral research is centered on unraveling the genetic architecture of leaf senescence in maize, with a specific emphasis on identifying genes responsible for nitrogen remobilization—a critical factor in enhancing crop efficiency and sustainability. Manwinder is passionate about tackling climate change by utilizing cutting-edge genetics and breeding strategies to develop high-yielding and climate-resilient crops. He has co-authored three research publications, including one in Plant Physiology, and recently shared his findings at the Maize Genetics Conference. When he's not in the lab, Manwinder enjoys listening to music and staying active with cricket and badminton.
Satinderpal Kaur
University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign
Satinderpal Kaur is a Ph.D. student in the Entomology department at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. Her research work focuses on understanding the impacts of flooding stress of maize on the growth and development of plants and on plant- insect interactions. A major part of her research project involves utilizing metabolomics techniques to figure out how flooding stress is modifying the plant defensive secondary metabolites and what does this modification depicts in terms of feeding damage by insect pests.
Before coming to UIUC, Satinder did her MS in Biology from University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where her research focused on the physical defenses of tomato plants (including trichomes and wax layer) against insect pest, Manduca sexta. She has done BS in agriculture from Punjab Agricultural University, India.
Apart from science, Satinder takes a great interest in henna art and finds joy in traditional Punjabi dance.
Swas Kaushal
South Dakota State University
Swas Kaushal is a researcher with deep roots in the agricultural heritage of rural Punjab, India. He earned his M.S. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Punjab Agricultural University, where he focused on the genetic characterization of irradiated B-genome introgression lines of Brassica napus. Currently, he is pursuing a Ph.D. at South Dakota State University (SDSU), specializing in hard winter wheat breeding under the mentorship of Dr. Sunish Sehgal.
As a certified UAS pilot, Swas is at the forefront of agricultural innovation, utilizing High-throughput Phenotyping (HTP) with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and machine learning to revolutionize the selection of complex agronomic traits. His research is advancing both phenomic and genomic prediction in winter wheat, aiming to enhance the precision and efficiency of the wheat breeding program at SDSU. In addition to his research, Swas plays cricket on the SDSU team and is committed to making a significant contribution to global food security.