Steve M. Brown is a 1978 graduate in agronomy and soils from Auburn University and later earned MS and PhD degrees in agronomy/weed science at Auburn and Texas A&M, respectively. He worked as an assistant county agent in a cotton pest management role for a couple of years in northern Alabama and then served as a research associate in a Cotton Incorporated-funded project on no-till cotton from 1980 to 1984. From 1987 until 2008, he served as an Extension weed scientist and cotton agronomist for the University of Georgia in Tifton. He worked for a major seed and biotechnology company from 2008 until 2019, when he joined the faculty at Auburn. His entire career has focused on cotton.
Fred Bourland, University of Arkansas, has been involved in cotton breeding since 1970, when he was a graduate student. During his career, he has developed several cotton measurements to describe variation in cotton lines and developed, described, and released nearly 100 cotton lines and cultivars. He has also been directly involved with cotton variety testing since 1978.
John Snider is an associate professor of crop physiology at the University of Georgia; his official appointment is 85% research and 15% teaching. The overarching research objective of the Cotton Physiology Lab is to utilize physiological principles to solve agronomic problems and improve the productivity, efficiency, and sustainability of cotton production in Georgia. Snider is particularly focused on characterizing physiological response to yield-limiting stresses, identifying management strategies that improve water use efficiency, and identifying traits associated with improvements in seedling vigor.
