Gerald Seiler
Gerald Seiler was born in New Rockford, ND and spent his early years in rural Wells County. After high school, he spent the next 10 years working and obtaining a B.S. Masters, and PhD in botany at NDSU. He began his career with USDA, Agricultural Research Service in 1974 working on the post-harvest physiology of sugarbeets. In 1980 he accepted a botanist position working on the wild sunflower species for the USDA at Bushland, TX until the program closed in 1988 and was transferred to the USDA Oilseed Unit at Fargo, ND where he worked for the next 34 years. Gerald spent four decades establishing the largest wild sunflower species collection in the world serving as the central repository for the sunflower industry. Through his effort with other USDA colleagues, undertook 32 explorations covering over 100,000 miles adding 1,600 accessions to the collection. Utilizing this collection, he and his colleagues developed over 150 interspecific germplasms with disease resistance to the ever-evolving races of downy mildew and rust, other pathogens, and traits. Gerald was active in research and service to the sunflower industry. He published over 300 papers, three books, one of which was published in English, Russian, and Chinese, and made numerous national and international presentations. He coordinated the global program for the FAO Research Networks in Agriculture, Sunflower Working Group on the evaluation of the wild sunflowers for 15 years. Served for 12 years as the US Board Member for the International Sunflower Association and chaired the USDA Sunflower Crop Germplasm Committee for 30 years. Gerald spent 15 years as the organizer of the scientific program for the annual NSA Sunflower Research Forum and participated in the NSA Yield and Management Practices Survey for 30 years. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America, and recipient of the prestigious Pustovoit Award for outstanding contribution to theoretical and applied research for the global sunflower industry by the International Sunflower Association and the CSSA Frank N. Meyer Medal for Plant Genetic Resources for Plant Exploration.
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