Ali Soltani, an incoming doctoral student in the Department of Plant Sciences, was selected as one of the first recipients of the prestigious Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program Award. Soltani is working with the Wheat Germplasm Enhancement and Hard Red Spring Wheat Breeding Projects under the direction of Shahryar Kinian and Mohamed Mergoum.

Soltani was ranked in the top 10 among the candidates evaluated for a joint project between NDSU and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, titled “Analysis of Nuclear-Mitochondrial Communication Defects: A Critical Step to Increase Wheat and Rice Productivity.”

The NDSU Department of Plant Sciences has an applied planting breeding program with breeding efforts in 15 different crops. The Wheat Germplasm Enhancement Program and the Red Spring Wheat Breeding Project are recognized worldwide as outstanding programs.

Monsanto established the program in 2009 in honor of two of the world’s most pre-eminent rice and wheat breeders, Henry Beachell and Norman Borlaug. Their lifelong work laid the foundation for the increases in rice and wheat production that continues to help feed the world today.