Mike Pumphrey is the O.A. Vogel Endowed Chair of Spring Wheat Breeding and Genetics. As an associate professor at Washington State University (WSU), Mike embraces the BGRI mission to improve rural livelihoods through sustainable and secure global wheat production, and promotes gender parity and equity among all students pursuing careers in agriculture. Mike has been the mentor and major advisor or post-doctoral advisor to four WIT Early Career Award winners — Esraa Alwan (2010), Yukiko Narouka (2012), Kaori Ando (2013), and Weizhen Liu (2017) — as well as many other past and present female undergraduate students, graduate students, visiting scientists and colleagues. Mike received his BS from Oklahoma State, his MS from the University of Minnesota, and his PhD from Kansas State.