Emerging Leader

Amy Jacobson earned her B.S. in Plant Sciences from Cornell University and her Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from the University of Minnesota. Amy joined Corteva Agriscience in 2014 as a discovery corn breeder focusing on genomic selection and diversity breeding. In 2020, Amy transitioned to a breeder analyst role, focusing on predictive breeding and improving selection methodologies. In 2025, she became a corn breeder focusing on 108 maturity located in Marion, Iowa.

Dr. Aaron Lorenz is a professor in soybean breeding and genetics at the University of Minnesota. Aaron traces his interest in plant breeding all the way back to his childhood on the farm where he learned firsthand how useful new crop varieties are for improving yield and providing resistance to various pests and other stresses.

Dr. Vance Whitaker is a Professor at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) at the University of Florida. His breeding program focuses on developing strawberry varieties and is enhanced through genetic research and through collaborations with the GCREC faculty team and Florida industry. Dr. Whitaker works closely with Florida Foundation Seed Producers, the Florida Strawberry Growers Association and Ekland Marketing Company to license and market UF/IFAS varieties in Florida and around the world. 

Addie Thompson is an Assistant Professor in the Plant, Soil & Microbial Sciences Department at the Michigan State University, and affiliated with the Plant Resilience Institute and NRT-IMPACTS. She earned a BS in Genetics from Iowa State University in 2008 and a PhD in Plant Breeding and Molecular Genetics from the University of Minnesota in 2014, working in the lab of Dr. Gary Muehlbauer.

Dr. Mary Rogers is an Associate Professor in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota. Mary earned her B.S. in Environmental Horticulture and M.S. in Entomology from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. in Plants, Soils and Insects with a specialization in integrated pest management from the University of Tennessee. Her research program investigates plant‐insect interactions and biological and environmental strategies to improve the production of vegetables and fruit in the upper Midwest.

Robert Stupar is currently a professor in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota. He received his Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from the University of Wisconsin. He is a graduate faculty in Applied Plant Sciences, Plant and Microbial Biology, and Bioinformatics and Computation Biology. In 2012 he was awarded the American Society of Agronomy Early Career Profession Award and in 2015 he was awarded the Crop Science Society of America Young Crop Scientist Award.

Michael Kantar is currently an assistant professor at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa where he was appointed in 2016. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 2013 and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia 2013-2015. In 2019-2020 he was the chair of the Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee. In 2019 He was a senior BARD research fellow. He was a 2018 AAAS Leshner Leadership Institute Public Engagement Fellow.

Emily Ziemke (Combs) is a germplasm discovery breeder for Corteva AgriscienceTM the Agriculture Division of DowDuPontTM in Mankato, MN. She also serves as a representative from Corteva to the Excellence in Breeding program and is active in the GreenSeam, a Southern MN agriculture advocacy organization.  Dr. Ziemke is the vice-chair of the advocacy committee in the National Association of Plant Breeders where she works to inform the public and legislators about the importance of plant breeding.  She received her Ph.D.

Plant pathologist Dr. Matthew Rouse works at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service’s Cereal Disease Laboratory (CDL) and serves as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota. Matt joined the CDL in 2010 immediately after completing a PhD at the University of Minnesota and was appointed to the University of Minnesota faculty in 2011. As part of the CDL, Matt’s research mission is to reduce losses in wheat and barley to major diseases including stem rust and leaf rust.

Nathan Springer is a McKnight Presidential Endowed Professor in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Minnesota. He received a PhD from the University of Minnesota in 2000 and his thesis research in Dr. Ron Phillips lab involved cloning of DNA methyltransferases from maize and analysis of anueploid-induced syndromes. Nathan was a post-doctoral research in Shawn Kaeppler’s group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison working on functional genomics of maize chromatin. He joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 2003.