Steve Todd Email & Phone Number

Madison, Wi, Us

Austin, Tx, Us

Helping people and families in the Triangle achieve their dream by finding the right home or selling their home to achieve the next dream.

Raleigh, Nc, Us

Conduct data analysis and engineering work to help our state’s education and job training programs more effectively carry out their missions and serve the people of North Carolina. Collaborate with other members of the NC Department of Commerce and other state education and workforce agencies.

Denver, Colorado, Us

I developed and used data tools to help our customers transition into their new software system. As a member of a startup, I identified business pain points and merged my data and critical thinking training with the ideas of colleagues to resolve problems for our business and customers. I learned to develop processes that make work more effective rather than simply for the sake of developing processes.

Washington, Dc, Us

I coordinated external collaborations, upgraded research capacity, and distributed research knowledge for the southern USA’s leading team for soybean genetic diversity. As a coordinator of multi-institutional projects, I kept in touch with collaborators in 8 states to set up trials, share results, answer questions, and resolve complications. To improve field data collection, I learned VBA programming and created a system to enter data into Excel via user-friendly popup windows with error checking and field mapping algorithms. I have been consulted by breeding teams across the country to implement new solutions for data collection. In addition, I upgraded seed packing by securing electronic seed counters at a significant discount and incorporating them into our planting preparation system. As a public research program, we share our discoveries widely. I carried out this key mission by creating brochures that describe our advances to the industry and public, giving talks at scientific conferences, emailing with interested parties, and publishing articles in scientific journals.

Washington, Dc, Us

While analyzing my PhD data and writing my dissertation, I began transitioning from sweetpotato to soybean breeding. I learned a new crop and new breeding goals quickly by leading part-time workers during seed processing, coordinating a regional collaborative test, and presenting at field days. These activities paved the way toward a postdoc with the team after earning a PhD.

Raleigh, North Carolina, Us

While earning my PhD, I created a breeding system to help sweetpotato growers access emerging markets for chips and fries with varieties of distinct composition traits and gained a thorough understanding of breeding, cultivar development, and genetics research. I worked with teammates to adapt near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to sweetpotato breeding for rapid measurement of 6 composition traits.I proposed a nested mating design that bypassed many challenges in sweetpotato genetics research and created a population to expand the genetic diversity of sweetpotato. This experiment increased the number of parents in a genetic study from ~10 (traditionally) to >100. By combining our NIRS system with the nested mating design, I recommended new crossing methods and identified underutilized varieties for both yield and composition, and laid the groundwork to develop cultivars especially suited for the processing market. While the above was my main mission, I also carried out nearly every other aspect of the breeding program. My cultivar development work in the field included crossing, selection, and multi-location trials. I marketed our research by presenting to growers, scientists, and the general public and writing scientific manuscripts. I also developed protocols in the lab and managed part-time employees.

St. Louis, Missouri, Us

After earning a master’s degree, this was both my first position in industry and my first as a field breeder. I contributed my knowledge of genetics and desire for continual improvement and learning to the team. I participated in the breeding cycle through collecting and analyzing field data, leading a field crew, and organizing and shipping seed packets. Working alongside experienced industry breeders; I learned to distinguish between market needs and scientific curiosity, how to focus a breeding program on product development, and to use multidisciplinary teamwork and technology to overcome bottlenecks in agricultural R&D.I supported the industry culture of teamwork, product development pipelines, and safety. As a field crew leader, I volunteered to get first aid training and joined the site emergency response team so I would be better prepared to handle a possible emergency in the field.

College Station, Tx, Us

Used SSR molecular markers to advance radiation hybrid mapping in cotton.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Horticultural Science

Ms, Plant Sciences

Ba, Biochemistry