A Note from the Director

From the Director

Dear friends of IPBGG,

The year 2024 ended with a very special milestone for the Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics. We graduated our 100th student!  

The number of students has increased steadily since the Institute opened its doors in 2008. Back then, we said having 25 graduate students would indicate having a successful program. Yet, we finished 2024 with an all-time high graduate student number of 66 graduate students! There is no doubt that the IPBGG has exceeded all our initial hopes and expectations.

We’ve experienced growth in faculty members. We now have 32 graduate faculty, along with 2 adjunct faculty who also help train graduate students. In addition, we count with 12 allied faculty. The graduate faculty can all serve as major professors for graduate students, while the allied faculty lend their expertise by serving on student committees and lending facilities. Collectively, they allow us to offer a well-rounded program to our students. Case in point, our faculty are working on 22 crops or crop groups (e.g., turfgrasses or ornamentals). Few other programs can match this number.

To finish, I leave you with a photo (below) of the Institute’s membership, taken at the last retreat in Lake Chatuge, Georgia.  As highly qualified as our students are, it is their energy, enthusiasm, excitement, and initiative that never ceases to amaze me.

Wayne Parrott, 
Director, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics & Genomics