Prof. Gyana Ranjan Rout (b. 30 December,1962), Ph.D, D.Sc (Utkal University), Professor & Head, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology & Coordinator P.G teaching programme in Agricultural Biotechnology, Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, Bhubaneswar, India. He worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Department of Life Sciences, Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Unit, University of East London, United Kingdom, 1996. He got SERC fellowship and BOYSCAST fellowship in 1997 funded by Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India to work at Chiba University, Japan. He was selected to work at University of Leuven, Belgium under FAO/IAEA/BADA fellowship. He worked at Federal Centre for Ornamental and Plant Breeding, Ahrensburg, Germany in 2004 under the DBT Overseas fellowship funded by Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. He has made significant contributions in the field of plant improvement & propagation of various plant species including horticultural crops and genetic diversity analysis. Prof. Rout is elected as a Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc) in the field of Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology. He is awarded Samanta Chandra Shekhar award in 2005 honoured by Orissa Bigyan Academy, Govt. of Odisha for contributions to Life Sciences. He is also elected Fellow of National Academy of Agril. Sciences (NAAS) and Fellow of Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources (FISPGR). Prof. Rout has 27 years research and teaching experience in the field of Plant Biotechnology. He has published 200 research papers and 18 review articles published in National & International peer reviewed journals and 22 book chapters. He has been Principal Investigator of 10 major research projects funded by ICAR, DBT & NMPB. He is routinely reviewing papers for over 12 international journals and 4 National journals and also life members in number of learned society. He has guided 9 Ph.D students and 35 post graduate students in the field of plant sciences. Prof. K.V.Peter (b. 17th May, 1948), Ph. D. in Plant Breeding & Genetics in G.B. Pant University, Pantnagar, Director, World Noni Research Foundation, Perungudi,Chennai, India. He worked as Post Doctoral Fellow in the Vegetable laboratory BARC-W, Beltsvillae MD, USA. Prof. Peter worked assiduously in various aspects of horticultural sciences for over 35 years. He worked as a Professor of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), India; Director of Research, KAU; Director, Indian Institute of Spices Research, Calicut, India and Vice-Chancellor, Kerala Agricultural University, He has made significant contributions in the field of Horticultural Sciences. He has identified source(s) of resistance to bacterial wilt in tomato, chilli and brinjal and these sources are used globally for resistance breeding programmes. He has handled externally funded projects from ICAR and DBT. He is member of editorial board of international journals of reputes. Prof. Peter is elected as a Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc), Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), Fellow of Indian Society of Vegetable Sciences, Fellow of National Academy of Biological Sciences and Fellow of Horticulture Society of India. He has published more than 150 research papers in National & International peer reviewed journals and many edited books. He is a recipient of number of National Awards from ICAR. He has guided number of students of for PG & Ph.D degree.
