ICAC Names Bourland as 2010 Cotton Researcher of the Year

By Jim.Robinson|May 27, 2010

The International Cotton Advisory Committee has selected Dr. Freddie M. Bourland of the University of Arkansas in the United States as its 2010 ICAC Cotton Researcher of the Year.

The ICAC honors a cotton researcher each year by awarding a certificate of recognition, a shield and an honorarium of $1,000 (U.S.). Every year applications are invited from February 1 to March 31. Eleven candidates from eight countries across five continents applied for or were nominated for the 2010 award. Just as last year, the 2010 Selection Committee was comprised of five anonymous judges from four countries.

Dr. Bourland earned his master’s degree in plant breeding from the  University of Arkansas in 1974 and Ph.D. in genetics from Texas A&M University in 1978. He worked for Mississippi State University from 1978 to 1988 and became professor. Dr. Bourland joined the University of Arkansas in 1988 where he is now a University Professor.

His program has released over 70  cotton germplasm lines and cultivars. One cultivar now being released  combines exceptional fiber quality with impressive yield and host plant  resistance traits. He led work to develop a modified plant mapping  program (named COTMAP), a program for summarizing variety test data over  multiple states (named COTVAR), and an index of cotton fiber quality (named  Q-score). In addition, he was co-leader of research team that developed COTMAN, an expert cotton management system.  

More information about his work is available here.