Thomas A. Lumpkin, new Director General of CIMMYT

CIMMYT's seventh Director General, Dr. Thomas A. Lumpkin, took up his appointment on 15 March 2008. Lumpkin comes from Washington State, USA, were he grew up on a small farm at the boundary between the irrigated desert and the rainfed wheat lands. As a young man, he served in the US Peace Corps in the Konkan region of India, teaching the production of rice, wheat, and horticultural crops. He has a BSc from Washington State University in agronomy, and MSc and PhD degrees in agronomy from the University of Hawaii. He carried out his doctoral research in mainland China and served as a Research Scholar at IRRI. Lumpkin worked at Washington State University as a professor and later as Chair of the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. Prior to taking up his appointment at CIMMYT, he served for five years as Director General of AVRDC-The World Vegetable Center in Taiwan.