Dr. Russell Jessup, Texas A&M University

Dr. Russell W. Jessup is the Associate Professor of Perennial Grass & Industrial Hemp Breeding of the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on conventional, cytogenetic, and genomic strategies towards development of improved perennial grasses as biorefinery platforms for biofuels, turfgrasses, forage, ornamentals, phytoremediators and renewable bio-based products.  This includes developing molecular tools to assist marker-assisted breeding programs for value-added traits such as: net primary productivity, carbon sequestration, perenniality, photoperiodism, hybrid sterility, and apomixis.  Feedstocks are further selected for resource use efficiency, stress tolerance, and novel seeded-yet-sterile hybrid systems.He has developed the Industrial Hemp Breeding Program at Texas A&M where they are doing extensive research on genetics that can be grown in the Texas soil & climate.