Plant Biologist Receives Early Career Award for Maize Research
Xiaosa Xu Receives UC Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Award to Advance Research on Maize Evolution
Xiaosa Xu, assistant professor of plant biology in the College of Biological Sciences, has received a UC Office of the President Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Award. The award includes $50,000 to support his research on the evolution of maize.
The UCOP Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Awards were established to advance the university's commitment to the scholarship and creative activity of early career faculty across all 10 UC campuses. This is the first year the awards have been presented.
Xu will use the funding to investigate how maize ear architecture changed during domestication from its wild ancestor, teosinte.
Maize is one of the world's most productive cereal crops. Although its ear changed dramatically during domestication from teosinte, the biological processes underlying those changes remain poorly understood.