University of Illinois Graduate Scholarship 2024

May 8, 2024May 8, 2024 press_admin 0 Comments

The Dr. Rutkoski’s research group is inviting applications for the University of Illinois Graduate Scholarship from international students to study in the USA.

Dr. Rutkoski is currently seeking a Master’s or PhD student to work on research that will improve the profitability of wheat production in the Midwest.

In addition to working on independent research, the graduate students will contribute to wheat cultivar development by taking leadership of some applied breeding or phenotyping activities and by participating in selection decisions in the University of Illinois soft red winter wheat breeding program.

In line with this long term goal, the graduate students that will be hired will develop independent research in the area of plant breeding and quantitative genetics. They will specifically focus on one of two topics:

improved phenotyping and selection methods for traits in wheat that are critical for profitability of the wheat-soybean double-crop system, or
predictive breeding methodologies that can use advancements in genomic prediction and high-throughput phenotyping to accelerate improvement in grain yield in wheat.

Eligibility Criteria:

have a strong interest in conducting scientific research
be ready to take up tasks such as reading scientific publications, designing experiments, collecting data, analyzing data, and writing manuscripts for publication.
have a strong interest in applied plant breeding and working as a team.
Preference will be given to applicants with work or internship experience in a field research program or applied breeding program.
Prior experience with data analysis and/or statistical programming would be a plus.
For applicants seeking a PhD, successful completion of a Masters is highly preferred.

Benefits:

Graduate students will be hired on a Research Assistantship and the cost of tuition will be covered.
Health insurance, and a stipend will be provided.
The stipend for Masters students is currently $2,453.33 per month. The stipend for PhD students is currently $2,649.60 per month.