Dr. Jones is a Distinguished Laureate and Pillar Leader for Ag Equity Initiatives at Corteva Agriscience™, located in Johnston, Iowa, USA. The Ag Equity Initiatives are collaborative projects, usually with external funding, that are directed at improving the lives and productivity of smallholder farmers.
Previously, Dr. Jones was the Research Director of the Crop Genome Engineering group responsible for developing transformation and genome editing in various crop species, including corn, soybean, wheat, canola, sunflower, alfalfa, sorghum, and others. This research included the development of new technologies and methods to improve the transformation and editing processes, such as the use of morphogenic genes to enhance transformation and gene editing.
Dr. Jones joined Corteva (then DuPont Pioneer) in December 2010 after 7 years with BASF Plant Science in Research Triangle Park, NC, as the Tech Center Leader for Cell Biology. Prior to that, Dr. Jones was the Director of Forest Biotechnology at Weyerhaeuser Company in Federal Way, Washington. Dr. Jones began his career as a scientist at DuPont in 1989. Dr. Jones received his Ph.D. in Plant Developmental Biology from the University of California at Davis in 1988.
