Legume Breeder

Faculty Position – Legume Breeder

Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky

Lexington, KY

TITLE:

Assistant or Associate Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences, Regular Title Series

RESPONSIBILITIES:
This is a tenure eligible position with a 12-month appointment and approximately 85% research, 10% instruction, and 5% service responsibilities. The annual distribution of effort will be aligned with this colleague’s strengths and college/department needs. The anticipated start date is July 1, 2027.

Research:
This faculty member will use genomic approaches, coupled with field and greenhouse research, to develop novel germplasm and genomic resources and/or databases for under-resourced legume forage and cover crops relevant to pasture, hayfields, and cropping systems of Kentucky. This person will also have complementary innovative multi-disciplinary research on topics such as the plant-animal health interface, novel grassland/forage management approaches, breeding for climate resilience, and the integration of the improved germplasm into sustainable production systems.

Collaboration with the USDA-ARS-Forage Animal Production Research Unit is expected, particularly in the arena of breeding for legume isoflavone optimization and use in forage systems. The incumbent will pursue cutting edge research on breeding for crop mixtures, or crop systems as a whole versus the plant in isolation. This may involve advanced statistical approaches and/or machine learning or AI. The successful applicant will contribute to graduate student education by advising students and serving on graduate committees.

Instruction:
The successful applicant will contribute to the instructional mission of the department by teaching classes that support multiple undergraduate degree programs (e.g., Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology or Agricultural Ecosystem Science) and/or the Integrated Plant & Soil Sciences graduate degree program.

Service:
As a land‑grant university, service to department, college, university, professional society, and/or society at large is expected.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Applicants must have an earned doctorate in plant breeding, plant biology, genetics, agronomy, or related areas. Post‑doctoral or faculty experience in modern and classical plant breeding, as well as in aspects of genome‑scale plant biology, is desirable. Evidence of strong written and oral communication skills is required and it is expected that the incumbent will obtain extramural funding to support a vigorous research program.

Applicants for appointment at the Associate Professor level should demonstrate a record of accomplishment appropriate for that rank.

RANK AND SALARY:
The rank of this position is at the Assistant or Associate Professor level. Salary is negotiable and is commensurate with training and experience. Employment at Employment at UK is subject to fund availability and comes with diverse rewards, focusing on your total well‑being and career development, with leadership striving to provide a strong work‑life integration. The university generously contributes to employees’ retirement plans, medical coverage, and life insurance.

In addition, UK offers optional benefits such as dental and vision insurance, additional retirement plans and much more. To learn more about these benefits, please visit: https://hr.uky.edu/employment/our-benefits.

THE ENVIRONMENT:
The Martin‑Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (M‑G CAFE) is fulfilling the land‑grant promise of educational excellence, civic leadership, transformational research, and shared knowledge serving the common good. We serve the people of the Commonwealth and across the world through education, outreach, service, and research by finding solutions…