Wayne Hanna (Photo by Dorothy Kozlowski)
Wayne Hanna, a scientist in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Plant Breeders. He accepted the award at the NAPB annual meeting.
Hanna has served as a part-time professor in the crop and soil sciences department on the UGA Tifton campus since 2003. This followed a successful 32-year career as a research geneticist and research leader with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service in Tifton.
Hanna, whose specialty is crop genetics and plant breeding, has authored or co-authored more than 670 scientific papers. He’s developed and released 31 cultivars and 35 parental lines, inbreds and improved germplasms of turf, ornamental and forage genera; this includes 27 plant patents and four plant patents in final review. His cultivars are planted across the world as forage for summer grazing and on landscapes, golf courses and athletic fields, including those staging the World Cup and Olympics.