Gary
Atlin

Biography

Plant breeder, geneticist, and agricultural development specialist with 30 years of experience in the management of research programs in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Senior Program Officer in the Agricultural Development Initiative, R&D team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Consultant on cultivar development, breeding program optimization, seed and plant biotechnology investment analysis.

Specialties: Rice, maize, and wheat cultivar development, breeding for abiotic stress tolerance, quantitative genetics and applications of genomic selection, optimization of cultivar and trait development pipelines, agricultural development in Canada, South and Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. A leader in the field of management of genotype x environment interaction and the detection and deployment of genes for drought tolerance in plant breeding programs. Extensive experience in management of plant breeding programs, and in planning and coordinating agricultural research projects in developing countries. Guiding the development of accountability and breeding and genomic information management systems for public plant breeding programs in Africa and South Asia.

Projects