Principal Investigators

Susan R. McCouch

Principal Investigator

Susan McCouch is a Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics and of Plant Biology at Cornell University. She received her PhD from Cornell in 1990 and spent 5 years with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines before joining the Cornell faculty in 1995. Her research focuses on rice and includes publication of the first molecular map of the rice genome in 1988, early QTL studies on disease resistance, drought tolerance, maturity and yield, development of the essential repertoire of SSR markers now used globally as a genomic resource in rice genetics and breeding, and cloning of genes underlying critical traits for rice improvement. Her current work focuses on the identification and characterization of genes and quantitative trait loci (QTL) from low-yielding wild and exotic Oryza species that enhance the performance of modern rice cultivars. She has trained scores of young scientists throughout the world and was recently elected a fellow of the AAAS and has received numerous teaching and faculty awards.

162 Emerson Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853
Email: srm4@cornell.edu

Georgia C. Eizenga

CoPrincipal Investigator

Georgia Eizenga is a Research Geneticist at the USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center near Stuttgart Arkansas and an Adjunct Assoc. Professor in the U. Arkansas, Crop, Soils and Environmental Sciences Dept. Her current research includes identification of pest resistance and other useful traits in rice wild relatives and introgression of the selected traits into U.S. rice cultivars for use by the rice breeding community; and understanding the molecular genetic relationships between the wild Oryza species and cultivated rice, O. sativa. Georgia has the primary responsibility for managing the NSF-TV project at Stuttgart which includes phenotyping the 400 O. sativa and 100 O. rufipogon accessions, and developing the CSSLs in the indica background with the IR64 cultivar.

Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center
2890 Hwy, 130 East
Stuttgart, Arkansas 72160-1090
Tel: 870-672-9300 ext 225
Fax: 870-673-7581
Email: georgia.eizenga@ars.usda.gov

Anna M. McClung

CoPrincipal Investigator

Dr. McClung has 20 years experience in rice breeding and has developed 16 long grain rice cultivars. She has participated in team research to develop genetic markers for disease resistance and grain quality traits that are now being widely used by US breeding programs in marker assisted selection. She is responsible for evaluating the Jefferson/O. rufipogon NILs in various field trials throughout the southern US to determine the impact of introgressions on yield, yield components, agronomic traits, grain quality, and disease resistance. Promising materials identified in this research will be directly released to breeders as germplasm or further crossed to pyramid yield QTL into new genetic resources.

Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center
2890 Hwy, 130 East
Stuttgart, Arkansas
Tel: 870-672-9300 ext 275
Fax: 870-673-7581
Email: anna.mcclung@ars.usda.gov

Jason G. Mezey

CoPrincipal Investigator

101 Biotechnology Building
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853
Email: jgm45@cornell.edu