Professor Valerio Hoyos-Villegas receives early career scientist award
Congratulations to 不良研究所 Plant Science Professor聽Valerio Hoyos-Villegas, 2024 winner of the聽North American Plant Phenotyping Network (NAPPN)'s Early Career Scientist Award!聽This award recognizes an early career scientist making important contributions to plant phenotyping. It highlights leaders in novel research, increasing the visibility of plant phenotyping, supporting research between public and private sectors, developing (or following) data standard best management practices, and/or transdisciplinary engagement, consistent with .
Professor Hoyos-Villegas obtained his MS in Crop Physiology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2011 and his PhD from Michigan State University in Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology in 2015. As Assistant Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics at 不良研究所, he leads the . He started two breeding programs, one in common beans and another in chickpeas, co-developed by creating partnerships with the industry, enabling a path-to-market for variety releases.
Professor Hoyos-Villegas' research group focuses on understanding and improving quantitative traits in crop plants. His contributions to science have focused on 1) identifying genomic signals using association panels and linkage mapping populations; 2) developing pre-breeding populations and characterizing germplasm; 3) understanding the impact of artificial selection systems on genetic gain in breeding populations; 4) designing quantitative genetics software for plant breeding program simulation; and 5) creating field phenomics tools for plant breeding program applications.聽
A passionate advocate for plant breeding education and the mentoring of future scientists, Professor Hoyos-Villegas developed and teaches undergraduate and graduate-level plant breeding and genetics courses. Valerio is associate and technical editor in multiple scientific journals (including The Plant Phenome Journal) and serves in leadership roles at the NAPPN and the National Association of Plant Breeders. Valerio has been involved with NAPPN since 2021 and has served on the NAPPN executive board since 2023.