As the global population increases, providing food, fiber and fuel to meet growing demand has become a significant challenge. We are one of the top tier U.S. universities training future plant breeders to meet this challenge and have expanded our effort through our Distance Education Program in Plant Breeding. We seek to alleviate hunger and poverty through the genetic improvement of plants while educating and developing plant breeders worldwide.

Online Graduate Program Overview

Our fully on-line plant breeding graduate degree programs offer students the flexibility to pursue a higher degree while maintaining employment, personal, and other commitments. This program is designed for busy working professionals and offers a quality alternative to traditional on-campus plant breeding programs.

Available Online Degrees

Course Delivery

Each course has been uniquely designed by the instructor to provide course content in an accessible, understandable format. All courses will be delivered on-line, completely at a distance. Students will be able to view instructional materials, interact with other students and faculty, and complete assignments and examinations. The web based nature of course delivery allows students to access and complete course material at a time convenient to them.

Much of our content is delivered through streamed video. To fully participate in class, distance students must have:

High speed internet connection and updated browser
Common plug-ins (e.g. Adobe Reader, Flash Player, Virus Protection, etc.)
Speakers
Webcam and Microphone or Headset (for communicating via Skype)

For thesis option MS and Ph.D. students, graduate advisory committee meetings, examinations, and research defense will be handled through electronic communication, including video and teleconferencing. No campus visit will be required.

Distance Co-Chair

Students enrolled in the thesis option MS and Ph.D. programs will be required to have a research committee co-chair at their location to oversee their thesis or dissertation research. This co-chair must be a Ph.D. scientist.

Costs

Tuition and fees are set by the university and will vary based on tuition rates, residency, course load and applicable fees. An estimate of current tuition and fees for a 3 hour course are:

Texas Resident Tuition and Fees: $1,500 – $1,700 per 3 hour course.

Non-resident Tuition and Fees: $3,000 – $3,400 per 3 hour course

Scholarships and financial aid are available through the Office of Financial Aid. In addition, some employers provide financial assistance for their employee’s educational expenses.

Courses

Our online courses are the same courses, taught by the same instructors, with the same content as the courses taken by our on-campus degree students. We offer a variety of rigorous plant breeding courses as well as courses in entomology, plant pathology, plant physiology, statistics, agriculture economics, human resource development, and others.

~~Available Courses with Descriptions~~

Plant Breeding Circle

The Department of Soil and Crop Sciences hosts a weekly Plant Breeding and Genetics Circle each Friday at noon during the fall and spring academic semesters. Presentations are streamed live via Zoom at: https://tamu.zoom.us/j/91468201240?pwd=UTIwOVlKRnMwTDV6eGpwMFhZaXlWQT09. Upcoming presentations and links to previous recordings are available below. Not all plant breeding circles will be recorded for public viewing due to copyright permissions.

Fall 2021 Plant Breeding Circle

Sept 3 – Dr. Bill Hendrix, Bayer Crop Sciences – Topically-induced RNAi in plants

Spring 2021 Plant Breeding Circle

April 16, 2021 – Dr. Josh Udall, USDA-ARS – Working for the USDA in Cotton Genomics
April 30, 2021 – Dr. Jessica Rutkoski, Assistant Professor, Small Grains Breeding, University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences – Breeding more profitable wheat varieties for Illinois and beyond

2020 Seminars

Sept. 4 — Dr. Addie Thompson, Michigan State University – Plant response to environmental variation
Sept. 18 —Nathalia Penna Cruzato, Texas A&M – From UAVs to Yield Modeling: The use of phenomics in a maize (Zea mays L.) breeding program
Sept. 25 — Dr. Nurul Islam-Faridi, Texas A&M Forest Science Laboratory – A novel bread-making quality trait introgression into wheat from a wild relative
Oct. 9 —Dr. Kate Evans, Washington State University – Apple Breeding for Washington State
Oct. 16 — Shakirah Nakasagga, Texas A&M – Estimating hydrogen cyanide, biomass yield, and UAS-based regrowth in perennial sorghum and Zea derived lines

Previous Seminars

March 10, 2017
“Texas A&M AgriLife Research Peanut Program Overview” – Michael Baring, Assistant Research Scientist, Peanut Breeding, TAMU
October 7, 2016
“Map construction and black spot resistance QTL detection in diploid rose” – Mandy Yan, PhD Candidate, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University
September 30, 2016
“Cowpea Breeding: A Success Story of Conventional and Molecular Plant Breeding & International Collaboration” – Dr. B.B. Singh, Visiting Scientist, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University
January 29, 2016
“Conventional and molecular breeding for resistance to spot blotch disease in barley and wheat” – Dr. Ravindra Prasad; Visiting Scientist at TAMU; Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Institute of Agricultural Science, BHU, Varanasi, India
February 12
“21st Century Seed Industry: A ‘Sharp’ Perspective” – Dr. Tony Watson; Sharp Brothers Seed Company
February 19, 2016
Plant Breeding Symposium Graduate Student Scholarship Recipient Presentations:
- “Utilizing Genetic Diversity in the national Small Grains Collection Barley Nested Association Mapping Population” – Alexandrea Ollhoff, University of Minnesota
- “Citrus: Unique Phytochemical, Human Nutrition, and Breeding Potential” – Matthew Mattia, University of Florida
- “Identifying Genetic Markers for Metabolite Levels in Potato” – Anna Levina, Cornell University
- “Genome-Wide Association Studies of Drought Tolerance Related Traits in Diverse Soybean Genotypes” – Clinton Steketee, University of Georgia
March 4, 2016
“High-Throughput Phenotyping of Drought Tolerance in Converted Gossypium Spp. Race Stocks” – Dustin Wilkerson; MS Student in Plant Breeding, TAMU Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
March 11, 2016
“Genome Characterization, Analysis and Manipulation for Genetic Improvement of Cotton and Sorghum” – Dr. David Stelly; Professor, TAMU Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
April 1, 2016
“The Search for Resistance to Rose Rosette Disease” – Ellen Roundey; MS Student in Horticulture, TAMU Department of Horticultural Science
April 8, 2016
“Plant breeding at a CGIAR center: an overview of IRRI’s rice breeding activities” – Dr. Michael Thomson; Beachell Chair and Professor, TAMU Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
September 25, 2015
“Linkage Mapping and QTL Analysis in Autotetraploid Potatoes for Horticultural Traits” – Mitchell Schumann; PhD Candidate, Cotton Improvement Laboratory, TAMU
October 2, 2015
“Impact of Natural Drought on Extra-long Staple Upland and Fiber Strength Traits in South Texas” – Drutdaman Bhangu; MS Candidate, Cotton Improvement Laboratory, TAMU
December 4, 2015 —
“Potatoes and Potato Breeding in Texas 101” – Dr. Creighton Miller, Professor, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University
January 30, 2015
“Working with Companies for Sponsored Research and IP Development” – Bob Avant, Director and Dianna Bagnall, Project Manager, Corporate Relations, Texas A&M AgriLife Research
February 6, 2015
“Death be not Proud: Modulation of Programmed Cell Death for Disease Development/Stress Tolerance in Plants” – Dr. Martin B. Dickman; Director, Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Texas A&M University
September 12, 2014
“Application of genomic prediction to selection and mate -pair allocation in pine breeding” – Dr. Matias Kirst; Associate Professor of Genetics and Genomics, School of forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida
September 19, 2014
“Plant Breeding for Stress Tolerance: Consider the Energy Balance” – Dr. James Heilman; Professor, Soil and Crop Sciences Department, Texas A&M University – Link to presentation slides
January 31, 2014
“Challenges in Breeding Warm Season Grasses” –Dr. Byron Burson; USDA-ARS, TAMU Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
February 14, 2014
“Cytogenetic and Molecular Approaches to Aid Plant Breeding of Pulses (Vigna), Okra (Abelmoschus) and Cotton (Gossypium).” – Dr. Rama Rao Satyawada, Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India and Dr. David M. Stelly, TAMU and Texas AgriLife Research
February 28, 2014
“Food Security for Africa: What Role for GMO’s?” – Dr. Gary Mullins; Regional Director, Sub Saharan Africa, Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture
March 21, 2014
“In silico optimization in plant breeding: marker-assisted backcrossing scheme for an introgression library construction” – Rupa Kanchi; Graduate Student, TAMU Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
March 21, 2014
“Classification of Maize Lines in the Texas AgriLife Corn Breeding Program Using Molecular Data” – Schuyler Smith; Graduate Student, TAMU Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
March 28, 2014
“Cotton Breeding in India – Past, Present and Future” – Vishal Saitwal; Graduate Student, TAMU Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
August 30, 2013
“Plant Breeders are the Key to Feeding the World” – Ron Smith, Editor, Southwest Farm Press
September 6, 2013
“Identification of SNP Marker for Drought Tolerance in Wheat” – Silvano Assanga; Graduate Student, TAMU Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
Sept.6, 2013
“You go to the field.” U.S. Borlaug Fellows in Global Food Security – Sean M. Thompson, Graduate Student, TAMU Department of Soil and Crop Sciences (www.precision-phenotyping.com)
September 16, 2013
“The phloem network as a whole-plant integrator of developmental signals and nutrient homeostasis: Application for breeding and crop productivity.” – Dr. Brian Ayre, University of North Texas, Department of Biological Sciences
September 20, 2013
“Rose Breeding and Genetics Research in North America” – Dr. David Byrne– Professor & Basye Endowed Chair in Rose Genetics, TAMU, Department of Horticultural Sciences
October 11, 2013
“The culture and agriculture of India from the Green Revolution to the Evergreen Revolution” – Dr. Amir Ibrahim – Professor & Small Grains Breeder, Texas A&M University, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
November 22
“International Plant Breeding Congress” – Dr. David Baltensperger; Professor and Head, TAMU Department of Soil and Crop Sciences

Departmental Seminar

The SCSC 681 Departmental Seminar recordings can be viewed here. Please note that not all seminars are available for recorded viewing due to copyright permissions. Seminars can also be viewed in “real time” on Wednesdays at 4:00 p.m. (Central Time) during the spring and fall semesters at TTVN Streams – Channel 9.

Continuing Education Overview

The Texas A&M Plant Breeding and Genetics Continuing Education (CE) Program is designed to convey knowledge about crop genetics and improvement to

industry technical and professional personnel who wish to refresh their knowledge in specific areas of plant breeding and genetics
participants who want to gain a professional certificate in plant breeding and genetics
others who simply want to know more about plant breeding and genetics.

While not required, CE participants may also pursue a Professional Certificate in Plant Breeding and Genetics. Continuing Education participation does not require enrollment at Texas A&M University, however all CE courses are taught by the same Texas A&M professors that teach those subject areas on campus. Course are delivered completely online.

Technical Requirements

High speed internet connection and updated browser
Common plug-ins (e.g. Adobe Reader, Flash Player, Virus Protection, etc.)
Speakers

Costs

Courses range from 1-4 credits. An estimate of the current tuition and fees can be found at https://tuition.tamu.edu/undergraduate

Admission

CE participants may choose from a variety of courses or course units depending on their background in plant breeding and genetics. CE participants in the Professional Certificate in Plant Breeding and Genetics program should already have a foundation in plant breeding and genetics as evidenced by collegiate course experience and must follow the guidelines for admission to the certificate program. CE participants not interested in the certificate may take courses or course units based solely on interest in the subject area by simply purchasing access to currently available courses.