The principal duties and responsibilities assigned to this position are:- To manage the molecular blackberry breeding program in Watsonville, CA- To coordinate molecular blackberry breeding efforts with global breeding efforts- To develop and implement tactical plans for short-term and long-term predictive breeding strategies and ensure that project portfolio is aligned with the blackberry breeding strategy- To help build the molecular breeding and SNP genotyping platform to support predictive breeding, genomic and trait introgression- To design and implement an appropriate hybridization and selection program to develop molecular breeding strategies- To provide leadership for selection and/or population evaluation of molecular breeding trials at test plots globally- To recommend and coordinate research to improve program efficiency- To identify and curate the appropriate pre-breeding resources necessary for long-term advancement of the Driscoll’s blackberry breeding program

- To conduct and publish novel research in strawberry genetics and breeding, in particular on the genes responsible for disease resistance traits in the UF strawberry breeding population- To contribute to mentoring other scientists in the lab- To conduct extension activities, and writing extension publications- To support other aspects of the research in the UF strawberry lab as needed

Field - Planned and analyzed experiments to evaluate disease resistance in strawberry - Leaded a 6-8 people team to run experiments in the field- Inoculated strawberry transplants with pathogen fungus - Scored mortality and disease incidence by fungal diseases in strawberry - Helped in strawberry sorting and planting- Collected fruit quality data and yield in the field - Assisted in transplanting and culling of seedlings in the greenhouseLab- Extracted DNA from strawberry leaves for genotyping using the IStraw35 SNP array- Designed HRM primers for seedling selection- Genotyped seedlings and cultivars using HRM primers- Maintained strawberry BAC clones- Screened and genotypes strawberry BAC clonesOffice- Used statistical tools (FlexQTLTM, Visual FlexQTLTM and R 3.6.1) to analyze genotypic and phenotypic data previously obtained- Wrote manuscripts reporting results of experiments- Perform DNA sequencing analysis using CLC Genomics Workbench 11.0.1 and Geneious 6.1Teaching- Tutored under-grad students about DNA extraction, PCR protocols and BAC library screening- Taught new employees about fungal inoculation and disease resistance scoring - Instructed new students about research presentations Projects• Detection and validation of QTL for resistance to Colletotricum acutatum in strawberry Fragaria× ananassa • Characterization of QTL effects on resistance to root necrosis and other important economic traits• Characterization of candidate genes for a major QTL associated with resistance to Colletotricum acutatum in strawberry Fragaria× ananassa

Field- Collected phenotypic data from strawberry plants grown at the field- Scored perpetual flowering and counter number of flowers and runners weekly Lab- Collected and extracted DNA from strawberry leaves - Amplified DNA fragments using microsatellites associated with perpetual flowering and soluble solids content- Prepared genotyping by sequencing plates to sequence Office- Used statistical tools (R 3.0.3, SAS 13.1) to find association between genotypic data and phenotypic data - Wrote dissertation and papers- Reported results to lab members and workers at the repositoryProjects• Validation of molecular markers associated with perpetual flowering in octoploid Fragaria germplasm• Linkage mapping using genotyping-by-sequencing in three octoploid cultivated strawberry families

Class- Taught conventional, molecular and evolutionist genetics, and cellular biology to undergraduate students from Level 5 and Level 1, respectively- Conducted genetic projects with undergraduate students Lab- Guided lab practices using mutants of Drosophila melanogaster Office- Graded exams, projects, lab reports and homework

Teacher- Taught basic biology, chemistry, ecology and English to students from 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th level- Graded exams, projects, and homework