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Waqar Ali is a graduate student in the Complex Biosystems program at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), specializing in Computational Biology and Integrated Plant Biology. He holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) and M.Sc. (Hons.) in Agriculture, focusing on Plant Breeding and Genetics from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. His master’s research, under the supervision of Dr. Zaheer Ahmed at the Center for Advanced Studies (CAS), combined morphometric trait analysis and gene expression profiling to evaluate drought tolerance in wheat genotypes. Following his graduate studies, Waqar joined Certus Seeds, a subsidiary of the Evyol Group, a private agricultural R&D company in Pakistan. As a researcher and farm manager, he led breeding, screening, and adaptability trials across a range of crops, including maize, sorghum, canola, rice, and sunflower, with a primary focus on maize. His role involved managing large-scale field trials and handling high-volume genotype and phenotype datasets. In 2023, Waqar joined the Schnable Lab at UNL, where he brings both field-based breeding expertise and a strong interest in data-driven plant biology. His research is aimed at integrating classical plant breeding with modern computational approaches to address pressing challenges in agriculture, particularly those related to food security in the face of climate change.