Biography

Shitaye Homma Megerssa is a Senior Researcher in the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research. Shitaye earned her PhD in Plant breeding and Genetics from Cornell University in the USA and her MSc in Plant Science from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Her PhD study focused on identification of sources of resistance to stem rust and breeding for resistance to stem rust. Shitaye was the winner of the Women in Triticum (WIT) Award organized by the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) in 2022. She has nationally coordinated the durum wheat research sub-program for three years and got recognition for achievement of the program under her leadership. In her role as a coordinator, she has been leading several projects including MERCI, AGG, FSRP and ISVCD (breeding component) at Bishoftu Agricultural Research Center. Apart from this, Shitaye has got leadership and professional trainings from different institutions including Cornell University in the USA, Iowa, USA with the WIT awardees and women in science leadership training at the John Innes Center (JIC) in the United Kingdom. Shitaye has authored and co-authored several papers on reputable and peer-reviewed journals. She has also reviewed several papers to be published locally and internationally. Currently Shitaye is assigned as a Senior Breeder in the breeding modernization of crop research in EIAR.