Leigha Fullerton Email & Phone Number

Arlington, Wisconsin, United States

• Managing and coordinating experiments for carrot and table beet breeding advancements in both the greenhouse and the field, including trial design, trait evaluation, crop maintenance, pollination strategy, and harvest.• Collecting, summarizing, and analyzing data for target traits in root vegetable breeding nurseries and hybrid trials.• Developing new strategies and equipment for enhancing small-scale hybrid seed production for the root vegetable breeding program.• Collaborating in breeding and product advancement decisions for carrot, table beet, and Swiss chard.• Providing technical expertise to production teams and clients through trial visits.• Leading tissue sampling and phenotypic data collection for marker projects and genetic purity assessment.• Managing field and greenhouse maintenance.• Directing summer labor to complete field research tasks.

Janesville, Wisconsin, United States

• Flying drones as a licensed pilot and processing flight data for remote phenotyping operations on corn and soy.• Collecting and conducting quality checks on various field data for corn and soy.• Scouting fields throughout the growing season for disease or experimental variation.• Mapping experimental fields using various software.• Leading and training crews of 10+ seasonal employees in corn pollination.• Operating silage choppers and collecting corresponding silage field data.• Operating research combines for corn grain harvest.

Madison, Wisconsin, United States

• Enhancing potato breeding efforts by collecting data on tuber and true seed production.• Overseeing a greenhouse room by irrigating, staking, pruning, transplanting plants, and scouting for disease presence.• Assisting with image analysis using RStudio.

Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, United States

• Assisting with sweet corn breeding evaluations and scoring silk development. Pollinating, harvesting, and collecting data on sweet corn for breeding and yield trials. • Planting fields using planting machine equipment.• Supervising and training groups of seasonal employees through various tasks.• Maintaining general order of research sites by irrigating greenhouses, operating autoclaves, weeding, and troubleshooting lab equipment.

Sun Prairie, Wisconsin

• Executing and evaluating a marker project for breeding virus resistance in summer squash, including sowing, inoculating, transplanting, tissue sampling, data collection, phenotyping, and data analysis. • Regularly rating 300+ plants in the field for virus symptoms.• Formatting data and attending meetings for data evaluation.• Supporting the plant pathology department by preparing inoculum and chemical solutions, completing inoculations, and organizing pathogen collections.

Middleton, Wisconsin, United States