Peanuts : Genetics, Processing, and Utilization

H. Thomas Stalker, a Professor of Crop Science and Biotechnology and former Head of the Crop Science Department at North Carolina State University, received undergraduate degrees in Agronomy from the University of Arizona and the Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Illinois. Dr. Stalker has pioneered the characterization of genetic resources and strategies to move disease resistance genes from wild species into cultivated peanut. His work led to construction of the first molecular map in the genus Arachis, association of the first molecular marker with a disease-resistance trait in peanut, and a large peanut species collection. Dr. Stalker has released 18 germplasm lines with high levels of multiple disease and insect resistances which are widely used for cultivar development in international programs to improve peanut production in the U.S., Asia, South America and Africa. His work is evidenced in more than 100 journal articles, 29 book chapters, and 7 books on topics related to peanut speciation, germplasm enhancement, gene introgression, molecular genetics, and plant breeding.

Dr. Wilson served the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) for 32 years. He led the USDA Soybean & Nitrogen Fixation Research Unit at Raleigh, North Carolina until 2002 when he became the USDA-ARS National Program Leader for all oilseed research. Dr. Wilson holds the rank of Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University. His personal research helped pioneer breakthroughs in biochemical and genetic regulation of soybean seed composition, with emphasis on improved oil quality traits that provided the foundation for commercial production of high-oleic soybeans. His direction of national USDA research projects enabled the development of high-oleic peanuts, and chromosomal scale sequences of the soybean, dry bean, cacao and peanut genomes.