Dr William (Bill)  Payne will join ICARDA as the Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Integrated and Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems for Improved Food Security and Livelihoods in Dry Areas (CRP1.1 Dryland Systems).

Bill, who is an American citizen, received his MSc and PhD degrees from Texas A&M University in Soils Science. Since 2000, Bill has held a number of positions at Texas A&M University, USA.  Prior to joining ICARDA he was Professor of Crop Physiology, Professor of Molecular and Environmental Physiology, and Assistant Director for Research at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, Texas A&M University.

Bill’s expertise includes crop physiology, systems agronomy, soil physics and hydrology, soil fertility and plant nutrition, international agricultural sustainability, agro-climatology, modeling and crop diversification, as well as research administration and planning.

From 1991 till 1996 he worked with ICRISAT, Niger, as a Principal Scientist in Crop Physiology, Global Team Leader of the Integrated Systems Project for Asia and Africa, and Agronomy Division Coordinator (Africa). He has rich experience in international agriculture, and has worked in and/or coordinated collaboration with Ghana, China, Georgia, India, Iraq, Japan, Pakistan, Senegal, Thailand, and West Africa.

Bill has advised 31 MSc and PhD students, and has published 50 ISI peer-reviewed articles and 11 books and book chapters. He is a member of the editorial board of six science publications, and has been honored with the following awards: Fellow, Soil Science Society of America; Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science; and Fellow, American Society of Agronomy.

He will assume his position on 16 June, based at ICARDA HQ, Aleppo, Syria. Initially he will be based in Amman Jordan, so that he may work with the team currently involved in the inception phase of CRp1.1, and then will be temporarily located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.