PERSONNEL

Prasanta SubudhiDr. Subudhi brings with him experience and expertise on conventional plant breeding, molecular breeding, and genomics in four important food crops, wheat, Brassica, rice and sorghum. His current research interests are development of abiotic stress tolerant rice varieties, genetics of aflatoxin resistance, development of corn inbred and hybrids with resistance to aflatoxin accumulation, genetics of domestication traits in US weedy rice as model, germplasm characterization. The ultimate goal of his research projects is to apply novel genomics tools to develop improved field crops with superior agronomic attributes and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses.


Sandeep Chappagain

Sandeep Chapagain

Sandeep joined the Coastal Plants Genetics Laboratory in Aug 2018 to work on pyramiding of salt tolerant QTLs from exotic germplasm to adapted US rice varieties.

Lovepreet Singh

Lovepreet Singh

Lovepreet joined the Coastal Plants Genetics Laboratory as a graduate student in August 2018 to work on alkalinity and drought stress tolerance in rice.

Rajat Pruthi

Rajat Pruthi

Rajat joined the Coastal Plants Genetics Laboratory in August 2019 to research on the molecular genetic basis of salinity tolerance in rice.


Richard Garcia

Richard Garcia

Richard joined the Coastal Plants Genetics Laboratory in January 2018 to work on abiotic stress tolerance in rice.

Jonathan Concepcion

Jonathan Concepcion

Jonathan joined the Coastal Plants Genetics Laboratory in July 2019 to work on abiotic stress tolerance in rice.

Sapphire Coronejo

Sapphire Coronejo

Sapphire joined the Coastal Plants Genetics Laboratory in January 2018 to research on the molecular genetic basis of salinity tolerance in rice.


  • Dr. Shofiq Islam, Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr. Chenglin Chai, Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr. Ratna Karan, Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr. Niranjan Baisakh, Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr. Arnold Parco, Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr. Pradeep K. Singh, Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr. Venkata Ramana Rao, Raman Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow from India
  • Dr. Uttam Bhattarai, Graduate Student (Ph.D.)
  • Dr. Teresa De Leon, Graduate Student (Ph.D.)
  • Dr. Ramesh Dhakal, Graduate student (Ph.D.)
  • Dr. Hanamareddy Biradar, Graduate Student (Ph.D.)
  • Dr. Alicia Ryan, Graduate Student (Ph.D.)
  • Ms. Diptimayee Sahoo, Graduate Student (M.S.)
  • Mr. Neil Parami, Graduate Student (M.S.)
  • Mr. Xiaobing Fang, Graduate Student (M.S.)
  • Mr. Pramod Kumar Panda, Graduate Student (M.S.)
  • Mr. Ronaldo Tapia, Research Associate
  • Mr. John Ontoy, Research Associate
  • Ms. Nongluk Teinsree, 2005 Summer Intern from Kesetsart University, Thailand
  • Ms. Kansinee Panwanitdumrong, 2008 Summer Intern from Kesetsart University
  • Ms. Carmin Beasley and Ms. Jackie Broussard: BEST Teacher Student Pair 2003
  • Ms. Patricia Beaudion and Ms. Valerie Traylor: BEST Teacher Student Pair 2005
  • Ms. Ruth Marisol Orellana, 2013 Summer Visiting Scholar from the Universidad Nacional de Agricultura, Honduras
  • Ms. Ana Borjas Artica, 2013 Summer Visiting Scholar from the Earth University, Costarica
  • Dr. Mohammad Mehfuz Hasan Saikat, 2015 USDA Borlaug Fellow, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Bangladesh
  • Ms. Ade Nena Nurhasanah, 2016 USDA Borlaug Fellow, Indonesian Institute of Science, Indonesia.
  • Ms. Marissa yurasit, Visiting Research Scholar from the Agricultural Research Development Agency of Thailand (January 2016 to December 2016)
  • Ms. Kanokon Yaodam, Visiting Research Scholar from the Agricultural Research Development Agency of Thailand (April 2017 to March 2018)
  • Mr.Juan David Jimenez Pardo, an undergraduate Visiting Research Scholar at Zamorano University of Honduras (January to April 2018)
  • Dr. Abdelghany Sobhy Saban, Visiting Research Fellow from Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt (May to November 2022)