We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Agriculture 2021 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Carlos Guzmán.

Dr. Carlos Guzmán defended his Ph.D. in 2011 at the University of Cordoba, Spain. His Ph.D. was focused on wheat genetic resources for wheat quality improvement and was granted the Outstanding Thesis Award by his university. In 2012, Dr. Guzmán joined the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico, as a post-doc to work in the Wheat Chemistry and Quality Laboratory within the Global Wheat Program. In 2014, he obtained a scientist position to lead the laboratory and the activities related to grain quality improvement. After working for eight years at CIMMYT, he returned to the University of Cordoba in Spain in 2019 with a researcher position (Ramon y Cajal Program grant).

His work has engaged everything related to wheat quality, from better understanding the genetic control and environmental effects on the traits that determine wheat processing and end-use quality, to the development of novel methodologies that allow a more efficient integration of grain quality in wheat breeding programs. Dr. Guzmán has also participated in research projects related to the implementation of novel technologies such as genomic selection in breeding programs or to the enhancement of wheat grain nutritional quality.

Dr. Guzmán has published more than 70 articles in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, five book chapters, and two books. He has also participated in numerous international seminars and conferences (as an invited speaker, organizer, or chair) and has participated in several international initiatives related to wheat breeding and quality. He has obtained, in grants and in contracts with the private sector, close to USD 1 million. His ongoing work is focused on all aspects of wheat quality and breeding, with a special focus on understanding the relations between the phenotypic and genetic variability and on transferring quality traits of interest to commercial wheat varieties.

Dr. Carlos Guzmán in field and lab

As the awardee, Dr. Guzmán will receive an honorarium of 2000 CHF, an offer to publish a paper free of charge before 31 December 2022 in Agriculture after peer-review, and an engraved plaque.

We would like to thank all the nominators from various fields of study for their participation and all the Award Committee Members for their evaluation of the abundant excellent nominations.