Sunil K. Kenchanmane Raju
Assistant Professor and Plant Geneticist
University of California – Riverside
Full Bio
Sunil comes from the Sahyadri region (the benevolent mountains) in Karnataka, India. He is a postdoc at Michigan State University studying epigenome variation across plant species through an evolutionary perspective using comparative epigenomics. His research focuses on identifying epigenomic variation regulating differential cold stress response in maize and its wild relative Tripsacum dactyloides. Sunil’s Ph.D. dissertation work provided valuable insights into the potential use of induced epigenetic variation in plant breeding for yield and stability related traits. His research showed increased yield and reduced GxE in epigenetically modified soybean lines. Sunil is an active member of American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) since 2012 and currently vice-chair of the ASPB-Ambassador Alliance overseeing the Ambassador program.
Arjun Krishnan
Assistant Professor
Dept. Computational Math, Science & Engineering & Dept. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology.
Michigan State University
Full Bio
Arjun Krishnan is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University and is a part of two departments: Dept. Computational Math, Science & Engineering and Dept. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. His team works broadly in the areas of computational genomics and biomedical data science. Before coming to MSU, Arjun completed his bachelor degree in Biotechnology in India before moving to the US for his PhD in Computational Biology at Virginia Tech. Following that, he completed his postdoctoral research at Princeton University.
Erin Sparks
Associate Professor in the Division of Plant Science and Technology,
University of Missouri
Associate Member and Principal Investigator, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Full Bio
Erin Sparks is an Associate Professor in the Division of Plant Science and Technology at the University of Missouri and an Associate Member and Principal Investigator at tje Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. She has a B.S in Biomedical Engineering, a Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology, and Postdoctoral experience in Plant Molecular Biology. Erin is a co-founder of the GreenPI Slack channel to connect new faculty working on plants, and she is passionate about community building and career development. Erin’s lab works on understanding the development and function of aerial roots in cereal crops.
Moi Exposito-Alonso
Assistant Professor
Integrative Biology
University of California – Berkeley
Full Bio
Evolutionary ecologist and geneticist Moises (Moi) Exposito-Alonso is a Staff Associate at the Carnegie Departments of Plant Biology and Global Ecology, and Assistant Professor (by courtesy) of Biology at Stanford University. Moi received a BSc. in biology from the University of Seville, Spain, working as an ecologist in the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC). After he earned his Ph.D. in plant genomics supervised by Detlef Weigel at the Max Planck Institute, Germany, he conducted a short postdoc in statistical evolutionary genetics at the University of California Berkeley. His group at Carnegie combines experimental ecology, computational genomics, and evolution-inspired gene editing to understand whether and how plants will evolve to keep pace with climate change.
Mariano Alvarez
Chief Science Officer
Avalo
Full Bio
Mariano is the Chief Science Officer at Avalo, a plant biology company focused on the use of artificial intelligence in plant breeding and sustainable agriculture. His team is broadly interested in interpretable machine learning, association mapping, and phenotypic plasticity. Before cofounding Avalo, Mariano completed his PhD in Ecology and Evolution at the University of South Florida before completing his postdoctoral research at Duke University.
Susana Wadgymar
Associate Professor of Biology
Davidson College
Full Bio
Susana Wadgymar is an associate professor in the Biology Department at Davidson College, a liberal arts institution for undergraduates in North Carolina. Her research group examines how genes and the environment influence adaptation in plants, often in the context of climate change or conservation management. Susana has a B.S. and Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Toronto and was a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Georgia.
Phil Taylor
Open Innovation Lead for Crop Science R&D
Bayer Crop Science
Full Bio
With over 15 years AgTech industry experience, Phil currently serves as the Open Innovation Lead for Crop Science R&D at Bayer, based in St. Louis, MO. He plays a central role in fostering strategic relationships around the globe and developing programs to enable novel ways of accelerating innovation to support Bayer’s R&D pipeline and drive external innovation ecosystems.
A strong champion for both external and pre-competitive partnering as a driving force for innovation and change, Phil has held multiple leadership roles at Bayer focused on delivering collaborative approaches to enable R&D and enhance the company’s position as an action leader in open innovation and partnering. He was appointed a Bayer Science Fellow in 2020.
Before joining industry, Phil trained as a Plant Cell Biologist, receiving his Ph.D. from the John Innes Centre in Norwich, U.K., and held post-doctoral positions at The University of Leeds and The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, as well as a British Council Fellowship at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Outside of Bayer, Phil is active in the academic and global innovation communities as a member of multiple advisory boards and professional society committees.
A native of the UK, Phil now lives in St. Charles, Missouri, with his wife Amanda and their four children, Jack (14), Hugh (12), Owen (9) and Meredith (7).
Plant Postdocs 