Ademola Aina

Education: He obtained his Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Ibadan (UI), Nigeria in full collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), a non–profit, award–winning, and research–for–development (R4D) center under the UN’s Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research. During his doctoral studies, he won the prestigious Norman E. Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program (Borlaug–LEAP) fellowship for promising African students from USAID to conduct research as a visiting research scholar at the Department of Plant Sciences & Genome Center of the University of California, Davis, USA. Prior to his current position, he worked as a research technician and research fellow (for his Ph.D. degree) at IITA between 2015 and 2019. He was also, a Co–investigator on the Global Challenges Research Fund for Peas and Chips Project, and the Cambridge–ALBORADA project on African yam bean between IITA, UI, and the University of Cambridge, UK, between 2019 and 2021.

Research Interests/Priorities: His research priorities include; the identification and use of inherent allelic diversity in plants to improve their nutritional quality, biotic and abiotic stress resistance, and yield. Currently, He is working on the collection and characterization of feral hemp across the United States for phenotypic and genotypic diversity, CBD and THC chemotype profiles, and identification of hemp genetic sequences associated with CBD, grain, and fiber.

Fun Facts: He enjoys reading the Bible, biographies, and watching Discovery & documentary movies