Wayne Parrott
American geneticist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wayne Allen Parrott is a professor of crop sciences in the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in Athens.[1] Since 2017, he has also been an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[2]
Wayne Parrott | |
|---|---|
| Education | University of Kentucky, University of Wisconsin-Madison |
| Known for | Work on plant genetics |
| Awards | Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2017 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Agronomy, botany |
| Institutions | University of Georgia |
| Thesis | The selection, use, and inheritance of 2n gametes in red clover (1985) |
Early life and education
Wayne Parrott was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala on February 27, 1959.[3]
Parrott became interested in the clover plant as a teenager growing up in Kentucky.[4] He received his B.S. in agronomy from the University of Kentucky, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985.[5] His thesis consisted of 5 parts (chapters) and was 124 pages in length. Of these 124 pages, 84 pages were of background information or references.[3]
Career
Parrott joined the faculty of the University of Georgia in 1988.[6]
Research
Parrott has been researching the genetic origins of the four-leaf clover, and they have come closest to discovering the plant's genetic roots.[7] He has also researched the genetic map of the soybean, with the goal of identifying genes that control its growth.[8]
Views
An outspoken advocate of biotechnology,[9] Parrott has been critical of non-genetically modified cereals, noting that they tend to have fewer nutrients than genetically modified ones.[10][11] He has also argued that the dangers of mutation breeding, as well as those about genes in genetically modified crops spreading to other crops, are small or nonexistent.[1][12]