May 1, 2014
'A Scientific Career in the Private Sector' lecture today
Submitted by Stephanie Alvord-Albanese
Rollie Sears, head of breeding for North American Cereals with Syngenta, will present "A Scientific Career in the Private Sector" at 3:45 p.m. May 1, in 4031 Throckmorton Hall.
Sears joined AgriPro as a senior manager of the wheat business and leader of the central plains wheat-breeding unit in 1999. Before joining AgriPro, Sears was a professor at K-State. He earned his degrees at Montana State University and Oregon State University. His research focuses on improved wheat production efficiency through the release of improved wheat cultivars.
Sears has been able to combine both high yield and improved milling and baking properties into widely adapted wheat cultivars in North America. In 2005, he was recognized as a Syngenta senior fellow. He has received the Kansas Farm Bureau's Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award, the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers Wheat Man of the Year award, Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award from K-State, the American Society of Agronomy Agronomic Research Award and the 2007 Oregon State University Distinguished Service Award. Oregon State University's School of Agriculture recognized him with its Alumni Legacy award in 2013.
Sears is a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America.