MAS 2025-2028 Leadership
Chair: Dr. Daniel Rodriguez Leal
I was born in the city of Los Mochis, in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico. Considered one of the top producers and exporters of tomato and other vegetables, I was always interested in learning about plant biology and agriculture. I obtained my BSc in Biology focused in plant ecology and evolution, then my MSc and PhD in Plant Biotechnology were focused in developmental genetics and evolution in plant reproductive biology. Afterwards, I came to the USA for my postdoc in the Lippman lab at CSHL, working in genome editing in tomato. After my postdoc, I spent close to 6 years in industry working with multiple crops (corn, soybeans, vegetables and flowers) managing or contributing to teams working in trait development, focused on implementation of both forward and reverse genetics strategies for trait discovery and deployment.
PhD in Plant Biotechnology (2010-2015).
Postdoc at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (2015-2017).
Sr. Scientist, Trait Development, Inari (2018-2021).
Trait Development Lead, Syngenta Vegetables (2021-2023).
Assistant Professor at University of Maryland College Park (2023-present).
Link to Research group: https://sites.google.com/umd.edu/tomatolab-umd/home
Vice-Chair: Dr. Nidhi Rawat
Dr. Nidhi Rawat is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and Landscape Architecture at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research focuses on the molecular genetics and genomics of plant–pathogen interactions, with particular emphasis on developing durable Fusarium head blight resistance in wheat and barley. Her lab integrates genomics-enabled tools, molecular breeding, and biotechnology to enhance crop resilience and productivity. Her research excellence has been recognized through multiple awards, including the NSF CAREER Award (2020), the AGNR Junior Faculty Award (2020), and the Dean’s Grantmanship Award (2021).
At the University of Maryland, Dr. Rawat teaches Principles of Plant Pathology (PLSC420) and Special Problems in Plant Science (PLSC399) and mentors both undergraduate and graduate students. Since 2021, she has led a six-week summer internship program for high school students—to provide experiential training in plant sciences. Dr. Rawat plays an active leadership role in the scientific community. She organizes the annual “New Approaches for Developing Disease Resistance in Cereals” workshop at the International Plant and Animal Genome Conference, attended by over 200 researchers worldwide. She has served as Guest Editor for the Biotic Interactions section of Current Opinion in Plant Biology (2021–2022). As Co-chair of the Gene Discovery and Engineering Resistance Section of the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative (USWBSI), she oversees proposal reviews and funding recommendations for research on FHB resistance. Additionally, she serves on the organizing committee for the annual joint UMD Plant Biology Symposium and ASPB Mid-Atlantic Section meeting, where she chairs the Plant Biotic Interactions session.
Secretary/Treasurer: Dr. Xingyun Qi
Dr. Xingyun Qi earned her doctoral degree in 2012 from McGill University (Canada), where she investigated the membrane trafficking system in plant cells with Dr. Hugo Zheng. She then conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. Keiko Torii at the University of Washington, focusing on the signaling pathway regulating stomatal development. In 2019, Dr. Qi joined the Department of Biology at Rutgers University—Camden as an Assistant Professor. Her current research is focused on the mechanism of environmental regulation of stomatal development in Arabidopsis thaliana, with particular emphasis on osmotic stress.
Rep to Council and MemCom: Dr. Courtney Leisner
I joined the faculty at Auburn University in 2018 in the Department of Biological Sciences. In 2023 I moved the lab to the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech. My research group works to understand plant responses to their environment, with an emphasis on abiotic stress imposed by future climate change and their impacts on plant nutritional quality in diverse cropping systems. The overarching theme of my research program is to investigate how our changing climate and associated annual weather patterns impact our ability to produce a sufficient quantity of nutritious food for a growing world population. When I am not doing science I love spending time with my husband, two beagles, and three young children!
I am also an affiliate faculty in the Translational Plant Science Center (https://translationalplantsci.fralinlifesci.vt.edu), the Center for Advanced Innovation in Agriculture (https://caia.cals.vt.edu), and the Global Change Center (https://globalchange.vt.edu/).