The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 Jeanie Borlaug Laube WIT Early Career Awards, recognizing excellence in science and leadership for a wheat-secure future.
The WIT awards celebrate the dedication and potential of early-career scientists advancing research in wheat and its closest cereal relatives. Representing Canada, France, India, Morocco, Pakistan, and the United States, the 2025 awardees reflect the global reach and diversity of talent shaping the future of wheat science and food security.
“These six extraordinary scientists are carrying forward the legacy of my father with their innovation and leadership in wheat research,” said Jeanie Borlaug Laube, chair of the BGRI and daughter of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman E. Borlaug. “Their efforts are advancing global food security and exemplify the power of agricultural science to change lives.”
The WIT Early Career Award provides opportunities for training, mentorship, and leadership development.
“I am deeply inspired by the dedication of our WIT awardees, who are making significant scientific strides while uplifting and leading their communities,” said Maricelis Acevedo, BGRI director for science and research professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Since its inception in 2010, the WIT Early Career Award has recognized 82 scientists from 33 countries, fostering a strong and diverse network of wheat researchers committed to addressing global food challenges.
2025 WIT Awardees
Lamyae Ed-Daoudy
Lamyae Ed-Daoudy, from Morocco, is a fourth-year Ph.D. student at Mohammed V University, where she studies how certain beneficial soil bacteria, called Rhizobia, interact with different types of wheat plants to help them survive drought. Her research, supported by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), uses lab and genetic tools to better understand these plant-microbe relationships. Her goal is to find ways to make wheat more resilient to harsh conditions and support more sustainable farming in dry regions.
Priyanka Gupta
Priyanka Gupta, from India, is a postdoctoral researcher at Université Laval and the Centre de Recherche sur les grains (CÉROM) in Quebec, Canada. She focuses on developing climate-resilient wheat cultivars by integrating phenotyping, genotyping, and genetic resource evaluation. She leads multi-location trials across the Americas, evaluating the International Spring Wheat Collection for broad adaptability.
Dhondup Lhamo
Dhondup Lhamo, from the United States, is a research associate within the Crop Improvement and Genetics Research Unit at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service Western Regional Research Center in Albany, California. In Dr. Steven Xu’s lab, she focuses on harnessing the genetic diversity of wild and close relatives of wheat to discover novel resistance sources, loci, and genes targeting major fungal pathogens and pests. She uses genome-wide association studies and advanced techniques including genetic engineering, molecular genetics, transcriptomics, and proteomics.
Meng Li
Meng Li, from Canada, is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems in Canada, where she also earned her M.Sc. and Ph.D. Her work, in collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and industry partners, focuses on wheat-rust genetics and developing technologies to analyze fungicide efficacy and molecular mechanisms in controlling rust diseases.
Laura Mathieu
Laura Mathieu, from France, is a postdoctoral researcher at the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), based at the Plant Health Institute of Montpellier. Her research focuses on how biodiversity influences agroecosystem services, with a special interest in how intraspecific interactions in wheat mixtures modulate disease susceptibility. She integrates ecophysiology, quantitative genetics, multi-omics, and plant-microbe interaction studies to explore belowground signaling and genetic mechanisms driving these interactions.
Khadija Sabir
Khadija Sabir, from Pakistan, is a scientist specializing in quantitative traits and digital phenotyping at KWS Saat SE & Co. KGaA. Her work combines genotype-environment interaction studies and high-throughput phenotyping to enhance yield stability and resilience in breeding programs.
