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Asheesh Singh is a distinguished Professor of Agronomy in Agricultural and Veterinary Science at Iowa State University, where he serves as Soybean and Millets Breeder, holder of the G.F. Sprague Chair in Agronomy, Associate Dean for Research and Discovery in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Associate Director of the Experiment Station. He earned his Ph.D. in Plant Genetics and Breeding from the University of Guelph in 2007, M.Sc. in Plant Science from the University of Saskatchewan in 2001, and B.Sc. in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in 1998. Singh's professional trajectory includes serving as Research Scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada from 2007 to 2013, followed by appointments at Iowa State University starting as Assistant Professor in 2013, advancing to Associate Professor in 2017, and full Professor in 2020 with an 80% research and 20% teaching allocation. Additional roles encompass Associate Chair for Discovery and Engagement, Director of Graduate Education in Plant Breeding, and courtesy Professor in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.
Singh's research focuses on soybean and millets breeding, genetics, genomics, phenomics, AI applications, and cyber-agricultural systems to develop superior cultivars and germplasm benefiting farmers and the agriculture industry. His efforts have led to the release of over 75 cultivars cultivated annually on more than 10 million acres, with over 180 peer-reviewed publications, including the co-authored textbook Plant Breeding and Cultivar Development (Academic Press, 2021), Deep learning for plant stress phenotyping: trends and future perspectives (Trends in Plant Science, 2018), Bringing consistency to plant stress phenotyping through an explainable deep machine vision framework (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018), and UAS-Based Plant Phenotyping for Research and Breeding Applications (Plant Phenomics, 2021). He has delivered over 75 invited talks nationally and internationally and served as PI or co-PI on more than 70 funded projects. Notable awards include the Iowa State University Award for Mid-Career Achievement in Research (2020), College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Mid-Career Achievement in Research Award (2020), Raymond and Mary Baker Agronomic Excellence Award (2020), and CALS Team Award for the Soynomics team (2021). Singh has also held editorial roles as Associate Editor for Science Partner Journal Plant Phenomics (2018-2021).
