Istvan Rajcan | University of Guelph | Canada
Dr. Istvan Rajcan is a Professor of Soybean Genetics and Breeding in the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph. He joined the faculty at the University of Guelph in 1998 and teaches courses in plant genetics and breeding. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Guelph and a B.Sc. from the University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Rajcan leads a large, dynamic and well-funded research program in soybean breeding and genetics. His research focuses on seed compositional traits (e.g., modified fatty acids, isoflavones, vitamin E) for food and industrial uses, and exploration of genetic variation for yield and disease resistance traits using exotic germplasm. He collaborates widely with Canadian, Chinese, U.S. and European scientists. He has co-edited one book, authored 4 book chapters and 60 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has graduated 23 Master’s and Ph.D. students and currently advises nine. Dr. Rajcan is the recipient of several awards including the Presidential Distinguished Professor Award and the Seed of the Year Award for his cultivar OAC Kent. During his career, he has developed or co-developed a total of 50 soybean cultivars that are grown across Canada and in Europe. From 2011 to 20133, he served as Chair of the Soybean Genetics Committee, which has a world-wide mandate for approving soybean gene and allele names and symbols. He has served as the Canadian representative on the Soybean Germplasm Committee for 8 years and chaired it for two. In 2013 Rajcan was elected to the Continuing Committee for the World Soybean Research Conference. Dr. Rajcan serves on editorial boards of 5 international journals including Theoretical and Applied Genetics and Journal of Crop Improvement.
