Dr. Paul Ulanch is the Executive Director of the Crop Commercialization Program at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center where he facilitates value-add opportunities to improve crops that result in increased profits for NC growers and strengthens the state’s agribusinesses. Many projects add value to the greater Southeast. Current project work is pursuing increasing feed grain production in the Mid-Atlantic region to sustain North Carolina’s production animal industry, optimize parameters for growing cellulosic biomass grasses to sustain a high-value chemicals industry, scale the use of winter oilseeds as a way to improve wheat production and attract specialty oil markets, and explore niche specialty crops that can be deployed at scale for food ingredients. He served as the Enterprise & Technology Development Director where he led efforts to support ag biotech entrepreneurs, enable partnership development, and assist companies locating to North Carolina.
He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University where he developed a process to accelerate construction of physical genome maps, and MBA from the Katz Executive Program at the University of Pittsburgh, with Beta Gamma Sigma honors. He served as Director of Technology Commercialization at the NC SBTDC and research faculty at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine, and consulted for and advised industry, commodity groups, and non-profits in areas of science, marketing, and intellectual property.
With over 25 years of research management experience, Bob leads Vestaron’s molecular biology and chemistry development teams. Management positions in Fortune 500 companies (Pfizer), academic appointments (Columbia, Michigan) and start-ups add to the leadership and technical experience he brings to Vestaron’s Research and Development success.
Joshua Haslun is an Analyst on the Agro Innovation team at Lux Research. In this role he monitors and evaluates emerging and innovative agricultural technologies from sectors including crop genetic improvement, precision agriculture, and soil microbiome management to drive future innovations, while navigating challenging regulatory frameworks.
Joshua has extensive experience across numerous scientific disciplines including quantitative genomics and transcriptomics, immunology, isotope systematics, and microbial ecology. Prior to joining Lux, Joshua was a Research Associate for the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center at Michigan State University, where he developed methods to apportion nitrogen losses among diverse soil microbial processes, fostering soil microbiome management methods to improve biofuel feedstock production.
Joshua obtained a dual-degree Ph.D. in Integrative Biology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior from Michigan State University and has contributed more than 13 publications to top peer-reviewed journals on diverse subjects. He also holds a B.S. in Biology from Siena College, and an M.S. in Biology specializing in Marine Science from Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi.
Biography Coming Soon
Melissa Johnson is the leader of Formulation Science & Technology at Corteva Agriscience. Her team is responsible for development, scale-up and launch of innovative formulated products to meet the needs of crop protection markets globally. She has over 15 years of research and leadership experience in formulations and formulation ingredients across industries, including Agriculture, Coatings, Personal Care, and Microbial Control. Melissa holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Northwestern University.
