Meet Jessica Rutkoski, an assistant professor and soft red winter wheat breeder at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Rutkoski is currently the chair of the Variety Development and Host Resistance Northern Soft Winter Wheat Coordinated Project committee. Her research focuses on developing wheat varieties that are profitable for Illinois farmers. The main traits she concentrates on are disease resistance, yield, maturity, and test-weight. In addition, she has initiated work on developing value-added wheat varieties that target niche markets for organic and locally produced artisan bread.

Pursing Agricultural Research

Rutkoski is originally from southern California, but she grew up in a small town in southeastern Wisconsin. At a young age her parents taught her to love working in the outdoors. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for her undergraduate degree majoring in genetics. While there, she was a student worker in the sweet corn breeding program for two years. Because she was drawn to agricultural research and enjoyed the rewarding work, she decided to attend Cornell University and obtained her doctorate degree in plant breeding and genetics.

Throughout her career, Rutkoski has been inspired by many different people including her faculty mentors, Bill Tracy and Mark Sorrells, as well as their graduate students. A mentor who was particularly memorable is Mike Chandler, a graduate student who mentored Rutkoski during her time has an undergraduate. Watching him succeed as a PhD student gave her the confidence she needed to apply and attend graduate school.

Delivering Tangible Results

Rutkoski started working directly with the USWBSI in 2019 when she received her first year of research funding as a lead PI. However, she worked on her first FHB project 13 years prior, when she was a graduate student at Cornell University. Her current USWBSI project focuses on breeding soft red winter wheat varieties for FHB resistance. Among all the FHB-related research she’s involved with, this is by far her favorite.

Being a part of the USWBSI community allows Rutkoski to focus on delivering tangible results to farmers and other stakeholders. “I like how many of us are deeply involved in the day-to-day operations of our research programs and we all have a lot of great stories and information to exchange from that experience,” said Rutkoski.

Demonstrating Passion and Dedication

Rutkoski is familiar with the demands of research projects and graduate school and encourages those just starting their careers to keep doing what you are passionate about. “Passion and hard work will help you achieve great things,” said Rutkoski.

For more information about Dr. Jessica Rutkoski's research, visit her faculty page or the Small Grains Improvement website.

To learn more about others in the FHB community, check out all the previous USWBSI Featured Researchers/Advocates.