Dr. Glenn Gregorio is the 11th SEARCA Center Director, having assumed office as SEARCA Center Director on 1 May 2019. He obtained his Ph.D. in Genetics minor in Statistics, M.Sc. in Plant Breeding minor in Soil Science, and B.S. Agriculture at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).
His career was developed at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for twenty-nine years as a plant breeder researcher; during which he also served as Post-Doctoral Fellow and assumed various research positions like Post-Doctoral Fellow, Scientist, Senior Scientist, and Deputy Division Head of IRRI’s Plant Breeding Genetics and Biotechnology Division. At IRRI, he worked on Rice Breeding for tolerance to saline-prone and problem soils, and as Coordinator for varietal development pipeline-cross cutting R&D and spent four years as Rice breeder for sub-Saharan Africa based in the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) station in Nigeria. He had a three-year stint as global crop breeding manager for corn at East-West Seed Company. He is also a professor at the Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Food Science at UPLB.
His awards include the following: Ten Outstanding Youth Scientists of the Philippines (TOYS 1980) at the age of 16; Outstanding Young Scientist (OYS 2004) in the field of Genetics; Crop Science Society of the Philippines Achievement Award for Crop Science Research (2004); Honorary Foreign Scientist Award at the Rural Development Administration (RDA) of Korea (2002-2005); The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM 2004) Philippines; Ho Chi Minh Medal for "Having Great Contribution to the cause of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam" (2012); Crop Science Society of the Philippines Achievement Award in Research Management (2014) and Honorary fellow of the same Society in 2019.
Dr. Gregorio was also conferred the rank of Academician as member of NAST-Philippines in 2018.
