BIO: Dr. Tranel was raised on a crop and livestock farm in northwestern Illinois. He obtained a B.S. degree in Agronomy from Iowa State University, an M.S. degree in Agronomy from Washington State University, and a Ph.D. degree in Botany from Michigan State University. In 1997, after a short post-doctoral appointment with Monsanto Company, Dr. Tranel joined the faculty in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois. He remains with this department and is a Professor of Molecular Weed Science. Dr. Tranel is responsible for teaching an introductory weed science course, and his research program focuses on utilizing molecular and genomics tools to address weed science issues. Extensive collaborations with more applied weed scientists at the University of Illinois and elsewhere enable Dr. Tranel to maintain a research program that is grounded and relevant. Dr. Tranel's research has contributed much to our understanding of the evolution and underlying mechanisms of resistances to numerous herbicides in numerous weed species.