Agriculture & Horticulture

Biography

Nnadozie Oraguzie received his PhD in Plant breeding and genetics at Lincoln University, New Zealand and worked for a year as a Post-Doctoral researcher at Canterbury University, Christchurch, New Zealand, before joining Plant and Food Research (PFR) Institute, New Zealand as Research Scientist in 1998. At PFR, he was the Manager of the national pome fruit germplasm collection and an Objective Leader in the Pome fruit breeding consortium program. With the help of a fellowship from the Science and Technology Agency (STA) of Japan in 2001, he led an international collaboration including PFR, Hirosaki University and the National Institute of Tree Fruit Science, Morioka, Japan, that first linked an allele of the Md-ACS1 gene to fruit softening in apple. He was also the recipient of an Invitation Fellowship from the Japan Ministry of Science and Technology in 2006. He joined the faculty of Washington State University (WSU) in 2008 as Associate Professor. He has authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal publications and a book, and currently serves on the editorial board of two journals.

Research Interest

His current research interests are at the interface of breeding and genomics. He leads the stone fruit breeding, genetics and extension program at WSU with emphasis on developing new sweet cherry varieties suited for growing in the PNW regions of the USA. He also has research interests in the genetics and genomics of traits that govern consumer appreciation of fresh fruit products in apple and pear.