C. Robin Buell

C. Robin Buell is the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Chair in Crop Genomics and Professor of Crop and Soil Sciences at the University of Georgia. Buell’s research has transformed our understanding of plant genome structure, evolution, and function. In 2025, she was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences for her pioneering contributions to plant genome biology.

She received her Ph.D. in Biology from Utah State University (1992), following an M.Sc. in Plant Pathology from Washington State University (1988) and a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Maryland (1985). She completed postdoctoral fellowships at the U.S. Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory at Michigan State University and the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

She began her academic career at Louisiana State University before joining The Institute for Genomic Research in 1999, where she led efforts in plant genome sequencing, annotation, and comparative genomics. She later held faculty positions at Michigan State University, where she served as Director of the Plant Resilience Institute and was named University Distinguished Professor. In 2021, she joined the University of Georgia.

She is the recipient of numerous honors including the McClintock Prize for Plant Genetics and Genome Studies (2021) and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2008) and the American Society of Plant Biologists (2016). She has served on the Plant Cell and Plant Physiology editorial boards and held advisory roles for multiple international genomics initiatives.