Avjinder "Avi" Singh Kaler was appointed as alternate liaison and liaison for the National Soybean Variety Review Board by the president of the Crop Science Society of America based on his commitment to the society.

This appointment is for a 3-year term effective as of Jan. 1, 2018, until Dec. 31, 2020, for the position of alternate liaison and in the following two years (2020-2021) he would serve as liaison. He will be responsible for the revision of materials submitted to the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies for accuracy and eligibility for certification. He will make certain each variety is distinctively described for positive field identification.

Avi is currently working as a professional research assistant with Larry Purcell, crop physiologist, in the Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences. He received a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Punjab Agricultural University in India and a Master of Science in Agronomy from the University of Florida. He obtained his doctorate from University of Arkansas under the supervision of Purcell.

During his doctoral studies, he conducted research on soybean drought tolerance using genomic and physiological approaches. He published several peer-reviewed manuscripts and has authored/co-authored 27 abstracts and 26 posters/oral presentations, which were presented at different national/international conferences.

Throughout his doctoral studies, he received various awards and served as a leader in several organizations. He is currently serving as the chair of the National Tri-societies Agronomy, Crop, and Soil Sciences Graduate Committee. Prior to this position, he also served as vice-chair and member of this committee. He is also serving as the vice-chair of National Bioinformatics in Crops and Soils Science community and will be chair for this community in 2018. He also served as the vice-president of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences Graduate Student organization. Kaler enjoys leadership opportunities and was recognized for his efforts by receiving the Graduate Leadership Award at ACS International Conference in November 2015.

"I am very grateful for my major adviser, Dr. Larry Purcell, who gave me every opportunity to learn and guided me to become a good plant scientist," Kaler said.