Tom Clemente
Eugene W. Price Distinguished Professor of Biotechnology, Center for Plant Science Innovation, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture
Tom Clemente received a bachelor's degree in biology with a minor in chemistry from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1985. He earned an master's degree in plant pathology from Oklahoma State University in 1989 and a Ph.D. in plant pathology from North Carolina State University in 1993. Following his doctorate program, he did postdoctoral training at Monsanto Company from 1993 to 1996.
Clemente currently serves as the Director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Plant Transformation Core Research Facility, where he holds an appointment within the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture. He has over 30 years of experience in plant transformation technologies. His program has established an agriculture biotechnology pipeline at Nebraska, which enables researchers to evaluate transgenic events from the bench to the field with procedures emphasizing identity preservation and stewardship of the biologicals. This infrastructure was instrumental during the development of the dicamba tolerance technology, currently marketed as Roundup Ready® Xtend crop system. His program is currently actively engaged in several transdisciplinary, multi-institutional team-based projects, targeting feedstock development for sustainable aquaculture feeds, designing genetic approaches to protect yield from both biotic and abiotic stresses along with enhancing phenotypic outcomes of C4 grass feedstocks for the bioeconomy.
Thelma F. Madzima
1855 Associate Professor, Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University
Thelma Madzima received her Bachelor’s degree in plant science/biotechnology in 2004 from Fort Valley State University and her Ph.D. in 2009 in plant molecular and cellular biology from the University of Florida. Upon completion of her graduate training, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Karen McGinnis at Florida State University as a postdoctoral scholar, where her interest in the mechanisms of epigenetic regulation began.
The overarching goal of her research program is to understand how epigenetic mechanisms facilitate growth, development, and response to abiotic stress stimuli in crop plants. Her research interests stem from her upbringing in Zimbabwe, where she witnessed firsthand the devastating impacts of drought on agricultural productivity and human livelihood.
Madzima is dedicated to broadening the participation of individuals from groups underrepresented in STEM and is involved in several minority recruitment and retention activities within the scientific community. In recognition of her service efforts, she was awarded the 2021 University of Washington Bothell School of STEM Inclusive Service Award, the 2022 Maize Genetics Cooperation Leadership Award, the 2022 American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award, and the 2022 ASPB Excellence in Education Award.
Jianming Yu
Professor, Pioneer Distinguished Chair in Maize Breeding, and Director of Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding, Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University.
Yu earned his bachelor's degree from Northwest A&F University in 1994, master's degree from Kansas State University in 2000, and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2003. He completed a one-year postdoc position at the University of Minnesota and another two-year term at Cornell University. He worked at Kansas State University from 2006 to 2012 and has been at Iowa State University since 2013.
Yu's research investigates the genetic architecture of quantitative and qualitative traits with evolutionary and agricultural importance; the interplay of genes, environment, and development underlying phenotypic variation; and the strategies to enhance crop improvement by design optimization and prediction. Among other honors, Yu was elected to Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2018. Yu is passionate about learning, teaching, and exercising.
Workshop Presenters
Tisha Gilreath Mullen
Tisha Gilreath Mullen is the Director of Proposal Development at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where she leads a four-member team within the Office of Research and Innovation charged with helping faculty enhance the competitiveness of their grant proposals. Beyond UNL, Tisha served as a Co-PI on a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) aimed at enhancing research capacity and grant-getting capacity among universities and colleges in the Northern Great Plains. She was recognized in 2024 by the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) with a Mentoring Award for her contributions in helping grow talent in the field of research development, and she was part of the team recognized with the NORDP 2023 Innovation Award for UNL’s innovative NSF CAREER Club program, which enhances faculty success in obtaining NSF CAREER grants. Tisha co-authored the article "Leveraging the ARIS BI Toolkit to Equip Faculty for Career—and CAREER—Success," published in the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship.
Amanda Bohlin
Amanda Bohlin serves as a Proposal Development Coordinator at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Office of Proposal Development, where she plays a pivotal role in assisting faculty with securing research funding. She was part of the team recognized with the 2023 Innovation Award by the National Organization of Research Development Professionals for UNL’s innovative NSF CAREER Club program, which enhances faculty success in obtaining NSF CAREER grants. Amanda co-authored the article "Leveraging the ARIS BI Toolkit to Equip Faculty for Career—and CAREER—Success," published in the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, reflecting her commitment to advancing research development practices.