植物育种领域鼓励在全球农业背景下对作物改良感兴趣的学生申请。教师研究领域不仅包括主要农作物的应用育种，例如谷物，饲料，马铃薯以及各种水果和蔬菜，还包括农作物的分子遗传学和基因组学。应用的育种计划涉及植物材料的开发，以提高产量，抗病性，适应性，质量等，并研究育种方法和原理。鉴定和分离农业重要基因的分子和生化研究试图将模型物种的信息与作物植物基因组联系起来，比较作物基因组，评估遗传多样性，并开发与作物改良有关的生物信息学工具。作物及其野生近缘植物的保护和进化遗传学是另外一个研究主题。许多教师在其课程中同时包括
The field of plant breeding encourages applications from students interested in crop improvement in the context of global agriculture. Faculty research areas include not only applied breeding of major crops such as cereals, forages, potato, and diverse fruits and vegetables but also molecular genetics and genomics of crop plants. The applied breeding program deals with development of plant materials for greater yield, disease resistance, adaptability, quality, etc. and with studies of breeding methods and principles. Molecular and biochemical studies to identify and isolate agriculturally important genes seek to relate information from model species to crop plant genomes, to compare crop genomes, to assess genetic diversity, and to develop bioinformatic tools relevant to crop improvement. Conservation and evolutionary genetics of crop plants and their wild relatives is an additional topic of research. Many faculty members include both applied breeding and molecular study in their programs.