Our Team
The Dry Bean Breeding & Computational Biology Program thrives thanks to our diverse, passionate team. Together, we’re cultivating innovation in agriculture.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Mohsen Yoosefzadeh Najafabadi
Principal Investigator
2024–Present
Overseeing the dry bean breeding and computational biology program.
Staff
Lyndsay Schram
Lead Technician
2021–Present
Overseeing crossings, field trials, technician management, and breeding program operations.
Alexander Schaefer
Technician
2023–Present
Assisting with technical tasks.
Sajal Ahlawat
Research Assistant
Exploring Advanced Breeding Techniques.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Masoud Maleki
Post Doctoral Researcher
2025–Present
Graduate Students
Aashvi Patel
Master Student
Researching Genomics-Based Selection for Anthracnose Resistance.
Philip Lorenc
Master Student
Researching Phenomics-Based Selection for Anthracnose Resistance.
Mehdi Babaei
PhD Student
Co-advised with Dr. Davoud Torkamaneh.
Sarika Saini
PhD Student
Co-advised with Dr. Istvan Rajcan.
Undergraduate Students
Ryan Male
Undergraduate Student
Participate in field work and provide support to the technicians.
Kiarash Mirkamandari
Undergraduate Student
Contributing to BeanGPT development.
Abrienna Mills
Undergraduate Student
Developing an Image Processing Pipeline for High-Throughput Analysis of Drone Images.
Collaborators and Volunteers
Dr. Alexandros Kouretsis
External Collaborator
Developing AllInOne Genomics R Shiny App.
Dr. Hosna Miladi
Volunteer
Developing high-throughput techniques to accelerate the dry bean breeding program.
Koosha Rokhzadi
Volunteer
Developing Predictive AI algorithms for the dry bean breeding program.
Niki Esmaeili
Volunteer
Developing Predictive AI algorithms for the dry bean breeding program.
Cyrus Lysander Chrakyan
Volunteer
Assisting with field and lab research.
Alumni
Trinity Solinger
Former Undergraduate Student
2025
Shania Van Herk
Former Technician
2021-2025
Madison Taylor
Former Undergraduate Student
2024
Christian Alloway
Former Undergraduate Student
2024
Anna Collins
Former Undergraduate Student
2025