Introducing Dr. Olin D. Anderson

Published in Probe Volume 4(3-4): August 1994-January 1995

Dr. Olin D. Anderson is Supervisory Research Geneticist in the Crop Improvement and Utilization Research Unit, based at the ARS Western Regional Research Center, Albany, California. In this position, which he has held since 1989, he serves as project leader for wheat bioengineering efforts. The project's mission is twofold: to develop the technology for generating wheat with improved agronomic characteristics, such as disease and pest resistance; and to diversify the crop using the improved traits.

Dr. Anderson also serves as Triticeae Database Coordinator and is a member of the Wheat Crop Advisory Council.

He began his USDA career as an Edminster Fellow (1982-84), before joining the Department as a research biologist, a position he held from 1984 to 1988. Since 1988, he has published 20 articles on wheat biology topics.

He became interested in wheat genetics for the "opportunity to improve a crop important not only to the U.S., but to the entire world," adding that wheat is the most widely grown crop in the world, and the most important source of protein in the human diet.

Before joining USDA, Dr. Anderson was a NIH Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, (1977-81), the same institution from which he graduated with a B.A. in Zoology (1971).

Dr. Anderson received his Ph.D. from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, in 1977, where he also completed a NIH Predoctoral Fellowship (1971- 75) and a David Ross Fellowship (1976).

He is also a member of several professional organizations, including American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Plant Physiologists, International Society of Plant Molecular Biologists, Crop Science Society of America, and American Association of Cereal Chemists.