James Brewbaker to receive crop science society award

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Miles Hakoda, (808) 956-3093
Communication Services Director, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resource
Susan Fisk, (608) 273-8091
Public Relations Manager, Crop Science Society of America
Posted: Oct 4, 2013

Dr. James Brewbaker
Dr. James Brewbaker

Veteran University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa plant breeder and corn expert James Brewbaker has been selected to receive the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) Presidential Award. Brewbaker is a member of the Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Science in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR).

The CSSA Presidential Award recognizes outstanding contributions to crop science through education, national and international service, and research. CTAHR Dean Maria Gallo will receive the award on Brewbaker’s behalf November 6, 2013, during the science society’s annual meeting in Tampa, Florida.

For more than 60 years, Brewbaker has developed new varieties of crops for improved nutrition, yields, and pest and disease resistance. Recruited by UH Mānoa's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources to establish a sweet corn improvement program, he was instrumental in developing the seed corn industry into the state’s most lucrative agricultural crop. He has also done extensive work on tropical legume trees, and he established Hawai‘i Foundation Seeds to manage parent seed stocks. Nearly half his graduate students have become agronomists or foresters.

Brewbaker has authored more than 280 publications (including Agricultural Genetics, which was translated into seven languages) and regularly sends his "Dr. B Newsletter" to dozens of former students, postdocs and colleagues. An American Society of Agronomy fellow, he is a founding member and fellow of CSSA and recipient of its Crop Science Research, DeKab Distinguished Career and Seed Science awards. His many other honors include the 2010 National Association of Plant Breeders inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award.

A Navy veteran and second-generation plant breeder, he received a B.S. from the University of Colorado and Ph.D. from Cornell University. He studied with Nobel laureate George Beedle at Caltech, did postdocs in Sweden and the Philippines, and worked for the Atomic Energy Commission before joining the UH faculty.

Photos of recipients receiving their awards will be posted at acsmeetings.org/newsroom/award-news-releases following the meeting. The CSSA news release is available at www.crops.org/news-media/releases/2013/1001/599/

About CSSA: The Crop Science Society of America is a 6,000+ member international scientific society founded in 1955 and headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Members advance the discipline by acquiring and disseminating information about crop breeding and genetics; crop physiology; crop ecology, management, and quality; seed physiology, production, and technology; turfgrass science; forage and grazing lands; genomics, molecular genetics, and biotechnology; and biomedical and enhanced plants. More information at www.crops.org

About CTAHR: The founding college of the University of Hawai‘i, the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources is integral to UH Mānoa’s Carnegie designation as a very-high activity Research University and works extensively with the citizens of Hawai‘i in fulfilling the university’s federally mandated Land Grant mission of instruction, scientific research and outreach to address state needs. More at www.ctahr.hawaii.edu.