Surya Krishna Sakthivel
Rotating PhD Student
Surya Krishna Sakthivel is a Ph.D. student in Complex Biosystems at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and is currently completing a lab rotation in the Schnable Lab. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture and his Master’s degree in Genetics and Plant Breeding from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India. His research interests include quantitative and comparative genomics, the effects of domestication and selection on agronomically important traits, and the development of genomic resources for crop improvement. Outside the lab, Surya enjoys traveling, hiking, and exploring different cuisines.
In the News
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New students join for spring 2026
Welcome, Ryleigh Kirby, Surya Krishna Sakthivel, and Hira Aslam. Hira joins us as a visiting PhD student from Pakistan who is studying the regulation of seed mineral content in maize. Surya is a rotating graduate student figuring out how to optimize maize photosynthesis using genomes of crop wild relatives. Ryleigh joined our lab as a high school student, continued as an undergrad, and is now a PhD student integrating high throughput leaf phenotyping with undergraduate science education.