Contributors
Editors
Walter Suza
Walter P. Suza is the George Washington Carver Endowed Chair and an Adjunct Professor at Iowa State University. He holds a Ph.D. in plant sciences, specializing in molecular physiology, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where his doctoral research identified the role of the JASMONATE RESISTANT 1 (JAR1) gene in the production of jasmonoyl-isoleucine (JA-Ile) in wound response signaling in Arabidopsis and tomato. His postdoctoral work includes elucidating the spatial and temporal regulation of sterol biosynthesis in Nicotiana benthamiana. His current research applies genetic, physiological, molecular, and biochemical approaches to understand how phytosterols modulate cellular metabolism in maize and soybean. He teaches courses in Genetics and Biotechnology, Crop Physiology, and World Food Issues in the Department of Agronomy. In addition to co-developing courses for Iowa State’s Distance Master’s Program in Plant Breeding, he served for eight years as Director of Plant Breeding E-Learning in Africa (PBEA), expanding access to open educational resources in crop genetic improvement. His international experience includes work in central and southern Africa with the World Food Programme in Angola and UNICEF in Zimbabwe, where he focused on food security assessment, mapping vulnerable households, drought evaluation, and coordination of food aid projects. In 2024, he received the World Food Prize Top Agri-Food Pioneer Award.
Kendall Lamkey
Lamkey is the Associate Dean for Facilities and Operations for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. He works in collaboration with the dean, associate deans, department chairs, college-level centers, and other unit leaders to ensure that operations directly advance the mission of the college and that resources are deployed wisely and efficiently. Previously, he served as the chair for the Department of Agronomy at Iowa State University, where, in addition to advocating for research and the PBEA program, he oversaw the Agronomy Department’s educational direction, its faculty, and Agronomy Extension and Outreach. Dr. Lamkey is a corn breeder and quantitative geneticist and conducts research on the quantitative genetics of selection response, inbreeding depression, and heterosis. He holds a Ph.D. in plant breeding from Iowa State University and a master’s in plant breeding from the University of Illinois. Lamkey is a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America and has served as an associate editor, technical editor, and editor for Crop Science.
Chapter Authors
William Beavis, Ursula Frei, M. L. Harbur, Reka Howard, Kendra Meade, Laura Merrick, Ken Moore, Ron Mowers, and Dennis Todey
Contributors
Anthony A. Mahama, Gretchen Anderson, Todd Hartnell, Andy Rohrback, Tyler Price, Glenn Wiedenhoeft, and Abbey K. Elder
