Jim Holland is a Research Geneticist for the USDA and Associate Professor, NC State University.  Born in Massachusetts and resident of many other places, he graduated in 1989 from Johns Hopkins U. with a BA in Biology.  He received an MS from Univ. of Wisconsin and a PhD from NCSU, then worked as an Assistant Prof. in oat breeding and genetcs at Iowa State U.  In 1999, he moved to his current job as maize phenomicist in Raleigh, NC.  Besides corn, he mainly likes music (Messiaen to Monk to Minutemen and more), literature (Dante, Borges, Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, O’Connor, Tolstoy et al.), and food.

Jim Holland

Josie Bloom is a Biological Science Technician for USDA/ARS.  She manages the DNA marker/genotyping laboratory for the maize breeding and genetics group and is pursuing a Ph.D. in maize genetics. Josie is originally from Havelock, NC.  She has B.S. and M.S. degrees in Molecular Biology/Biotechnology from East Carolina University. She is an accomplished graphic artist, but had nothing to do with this web page layout so don’t blame her for that!

Josie Bloom

Team Corn ARS-NCSU

Dramatis Personae:

The Comically Inept and Distracted Boss — Jim Holland

The Minister of Laboratory Management — Josie Bloom

The Minister of Agricultural Field Experimentation — Magen Eller

The Graduate Students Hoping This Does Not Ruin Their Careers—

                 Kristen Kump

                 Hsiaoyi Hung

                 Charlie Zila

The Cheerfully Laboring Undergraduate and Peasant Help:

                 Kathleen Starr

                 Teagen Gray

                 Bradsher Wilkins

                 Harry Wilson

And we shall not soon forget the members of the Hall of Fame

Magen is a USDA Biological Science Technician who makes the field program happen. She is also working on her Ph.D., conducting breeding experiments to improve  resistance to Fusarium ear rot and fumonisin contamination.  She grew up on a farm somewhere in the hinterlands of Illinois and received her B.S. in Crop Science from U. of Illinois. When not harvesting, she likes coffee, chatting, and chocolate. 

Magen Starr Eller

Kristen grew up in New York and Illinois and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was introduced to plant breeding in Jack Staub’s lab. Realizing that cucumbers are no match for corn, she came to NCSU in June, 2007. She is working with Peter Balint-Kurti and Jim on a project to fine-map QTL for Southern Leaf Blight Resistance. She is curiously less interested in food than the rest of us.

Kristen Kump

Hsiaoyi is from Taiwan and received an M.S. in plant breeding from Texas A&M. He traded in hot Texan wheat fields for hot Carolina corn fields.  He is working on complex trait analysis with the Nested Association Mapping population and on fumonisin contamination resistance. He cooks really good food that we cannot easily pronounce and can spike a volleyball like nobody’s business.

Hsiaoyi Hung

Charlie is from Indiana and received his B.S. in Plant Genetics and Plant Breeding from Purdue U.  He spent a year as an intern plant breeder for Monsanto Co. and learned a lot about plant breeding and safety. He is working on breeding for improved resistance to Fusarium ear rot and fumonisin contamination and fine-mapping a photoperiod response gene. He is our closest link to the youth culture of America, God bless ‘im.

Charlie Zila

USDA-ARS Maize Breeding and Genetics at NCSU Presents:

Kathleen is one of our two former-Starr sisters.  She graduated from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in May, 2006, and is working in corn part time while studying for a Master’s degree in Child Development and Family Relations.  She received her Master Pollinator and Inoculator certificate this summer; she has attitude in spades.  She also likes food, but can only afford to buy in bulk and mete out tiny aliquots of food for each meal.

Kathleen Hamby

Teagen Gray

Teagen graduated from NCSU with a B.S. in Zoology in December, 2007 and joined Team Corn while she looks for her dream job, which will apparently involve the ocean, boats, and lots of fish guts.  Not corn. Oh, well, you can’t win them all. She is a great worker, so all you fish gut job bosses out there, you should hire her!

Bradsher Wilkins is a native North Carolinean, working on his B.S. in Crop Science. He is a U.S. Army veteran and continues to proudly serve his nation through corn pollination, seed counting, and harvesting. After completing his degree, he plans to farm.

Bradsher Wilkins

Harry Wilson is a descendant of a long line of Johnston County, NC, royalty. He fits in corn breeding between working on his multiple Asociate’s degrees and helicopter pilot training.

Harry Wilson