Assistant Professor of Plant Breeding, Phenomics and Genomics

Position Title: Assistant Professor of Plant Breeding, Phenomics and Genomics

Employee Classification: LC Faculty TT/TN 9m

College/Division: Agricultural,Consumer & Env Sci Col

Department: 301400-PLANT AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Internal or External Search: External - Open to all applicants

Location: Las Cruces

Offsite Location (if applicable):

Target Hourly/Salary Rate:  Commensurate on experience

Appointment Full-time Equivalency:  1.0

Exempt or Non-Exempt:  Exempt

Summary:  The Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences (PES) at New Mexico State University (NMSU) seeks an Assistant Professor of Plant Breeding, Phenomics and Genomics with a focus on high-throughput phenotyping, breeding for crop improvement, genomics, and artificial intelligence (Al) analysis.

Classification Summary:
The Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences (PES) at New Mexico State University (NMSU) seeks an Assistant Professor of Plant Breeding, Phenomics and Genomics with a focus on high-throughput phenotyping, breeding for crop improvement, genomics, and artificial intelligence (Al) analysis. The Department of PES maintains critical expertise in emerging plant biochemistry, molecular biology, genomic and genetic technologies
to benefit New Mexico producers, and national and international arid land agriculture. The plant genetics and crop breeding program at NMSU has nationally recognized facilities for field, greenhouse, and laboratory-based research that integrates genetics, genomics, molecular breeding, and high-throughput phenotyping technologies.

Classification Standard Duties:
Develop an innovative crop improvement research program that integrates automated high-throughput phenotyping, breeding, advanced genomics, and machine learning algorithms to enhance crop improvement efforts. Teach undergraduate and graduate courses in plant genetics, crop breeding, and molecular genetics that reflect the critical needs of the department

Required Education, Experience, Certification/License, Equivalency
Ph.D. (awarded by hire date) in plant genetics, plant genomics, plant breeding, or related disciplines. The successful candidate will show a commitment to excellence and specific evidence of interest and expertise in crop improvement using traditional and modern approaches, such as high-throughput phenotyping, genomics assisted breeding,

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
Demonstrated ability to communicate with diverse stakeholders (students, academic, industry, and policy stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to publish research in leading research and academic outlets and success (or potential for success) in competing for external research funding.
Ability to contribute to undergraduate and graduate education and mentor diverse graduate students.
The department student community is diverse and multicultural and the ability to enjoy and thrive in this team-oriented environment will be necessary.

Job Duties and Responsibilities
The position is 60% research and 40% teaching.

The successful candidate will be expected to develop an innovative crop improvement research program that integrates automated high-throughput phenotyping, breeding, advanced genomics, and machine learning algorithms to enhance crop improvement efforts. The successful candidate will also be encouraged to explore crop traits important to value-added products such as enhancing product quality, high-value co-products, and
improving nutritional and industrial traits. The candidate will have opportunities to engage in collaborative research with multiple plant breeders (currently including alfalfa, chile pepper, onion, peanut), plant and microbial biologists, and robotics engineers working on the development of field robots. The ideal new Plant Breeding, Phenomics and Genomics faculty member will bring critical new research and teaching expertise supporting our Genetics, Agronomy, and Horticulture academic undergraduate and graduate programs.
The focus of the candidate's research should be to integrate breeding and crop improvement with emerging phenomics, Al and machine learning phenotyping techniques to enhance crop production under abiotic and biotic stress, increasing water and/or nutrient use efficiency, and increasing growth and yield in crops of economic importance to the southwest and other arid regions. Examples of relevant research/instruction themes could include quantitative genetics, plant breeding, marker-assisted selection, genomic and/or phenomic selection, with applied expertise in