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Mr. Chidanand Ullagaddi received an M.Sc. (Agriculture) with a specialization in Plant Biotechnology from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India. Following his graduate studies, he worked at ITC Ltd. from 2012 to 2022 as a plant breeder, where his most notable achievement was the development of globally competitive FCV tobacco hybrids, now extensively cultivated by farming communities in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In 2022, he joined the Schnable Lab as a Research Technologist in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. His current responsibilities include organizing, coordinating, and managing genetic nurseries and breeding field trials in sorghum and maize. In addition to his strong field and breeding background, Chidanand has developed expertise in CRISPR-based gene editing, particularly for validating gene models identified through GWAS and TWAS approaches. He is deeply interested in applying data science and genomic tools to modernize breeding strategies and accelerate crop improvement in cereals and pulses.