Ph.D.
Professor of Plant Genetics and Biotechnology
Division of Plant Science and Technology
Research at a glance
Area(s) of Expertise
Research Summary
Henry Nguyen has a research program in molecular genetics, genomics, and biotechnology. His long-standing research interest is abiotic stress adaptation and tolerance in plants with a current emphasis on soybean. Specific research areas include: 1. Molecular genetics and integrated functional genomics of plant adaptation and resilience to stress environments (root system architecture, drought, flood, and temperature stress). 2. Application of pan-genomic technologies to studying natural genetic variation and inheritance of complex traits in soybean. 3. Development and application of genomics-assisted breeding strategies for crop improvement.
Dr. Henry T. Nguyen is a Distinguished Professor of Plant Genetics at the University of Missouri. He was a founder and served as Director of the National Center for Soybean Biotechnology established by the U.S. Congress for over a decade (2004-2016). Before the current position, Dr. Nguyen was a professor of genetics at Texas Tech University and Texas A&M University System for 18 years. The Board of Regents at Texas Tech University awarded him the Paul Whitfield Horn distinguished professorship. He was awarded the Curators’ distinguished professorship by the University of Missouri in 2015. He has a distinguished career in plant genetics and biotechnology and internationally recognized for his research in plant adaptation to stress environments and the application of genomic technology to crop improvement. Dr. Nguyen has gained recognition through many awards such as the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Young Investigator Award, Young Crop Scientist Award, and lifetime achievement in Crop Science Research. He was elected as a Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America, the American Society of Agronomy, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Nguyen was an elected Vice President of the Global Pant Council. He served as Chair of the Molecular Genetics, Genomics, and Biotechnology Division of the Crop Science Society of America and the Board of Directors. He has served on several editorial boards and published over 390 articles and 45 book chapters. His Google Scholar exhibited over 42,000 citations with an h-index of 107. He chairs the Abiotic Stress Workshop and Crop Genomics for Global Food Security at the International Plant and Animal Genome Conference. He coordinates a national soybean genome sequencing project to develop next-generation genomics resources for crop genetic improvement. Dr. Nguyen has extensive experience in strategic development and management of cross-functional teams as director of the Center for Biotechnology at Texas Tech University and the National Center for Soybean Biotechnology at the University of Missouri. He was elected to the India National Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 2020. Dr. Nguyen is currently Editor-in-Chief of The Plant Genome journal published by the Crop Science Society of America and Wiley Group.
Educational background
- Ph.D., Agronomy (Plant Genetics), University of Missouri
- M.S., Plant Breeding, Pennsylvania State University
- B.S., Crop Science, Pennsylvania State University
Courses taught
- Molecular Breeding and Genomic Technology