Hughes Mentor:  Susan McCouch

Department: Plant Breeding and Genetics

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Meet a Cornell Researcher: Susan McCouch

I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Susan McCouch, professor of plant breeding and genetics. Dr. McCouch studies variations in the rice genome that control phenotypic differences such as disease resistance, yield, morphology, and environmental adaptation. In addition, she is involved in the functional annotation of the rice genome and co-directs the plant genome database, Gramene. Dr. McCouch’s research has impacted rice agriculture all around the world, and she continues her outreach to other countries to support their agriculture and breeding programs.

I was particularly struck by the extent of Dr. McCouch’s travels as a young college graduate. Dr. McCouch spent two of her four undergraduate years at the University of Barcelona, where fascism dominated daily life. The death of Francisco Franco forced her to return to Smith College, from where she graduated in 1975 with a degree in Hispanic Studies. Dr. McCouch then hitchhiked from Massachusetts to Argentina out of curiosity for the South American Spanish speaking world. She spent several years in the southern cone of South America under oppressive military regimes there. She worked in a factory for a few years as only the technical fields were allowed to survive the dictatorship of the times.

Dr. McCouch returned to the U.S. in the late 1970s debating which field she wanted to pursue. She had seen much suffering during her time in South America and wanted to address it. She realized that many of the ill people she met were suffering from malnutrition and contaminated water supplies. A doctor, she reasoned, could only take care of these people after they became ill. She wanted to help people before they became ill. Thus, she found her calling in agriculture.

Dr. McCouch’s story has made me believe that we can indeed learn anything and do anything we want with enough motivation and perseverance. Several years after her bachelor’s degree, she got her master’s degree in plant pathology. Without any background in science, she took Bio 101, Physics 101, and other basic science courses along with other undergrads at the University of Massachusetts. She then came to Cornell University and worked for several years in plant pathology research. In 1986 she joined the plant breeding program as a PhD student. She was the first female student with a baby to join her department, and life as a graduate student raising children was not easy. She completed her doctorate in 1990.

Dr. McCouch’s PhD thesis involved developing the first molecular genetic map of rice. The work was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation’s program on rice biotechnology. She worked with a small team of international scholars within a tomato genetics lab. At that time, tomato was the center of attention and rice was considered an “orphan crop”. One of the tomato genetics grad students asked her why she didn’t work on tomato, commenting “Nobody’s going to care about rice!” Perhaps it was not obvious to most Americans, thought Dr. McCouch, as rice is not as prevalent in the US, but the rest of the world might care.

These were the beginnings of Dr. McCouch’s now successful career as a rice geneticist. She has furthered her field in many ways since then. She has developed most of the microsatellite markers used throughout the world in rice today, she has contributed to the annotation of the rice genome and she has pioneered novel applications of molecular breeding. She has worked to make the data and genetic resources generated by her lab freely available so that plant breeders and agriculturists around the world can move forward unhindered without intellectual property protections. She worked for several years at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines and has developed partnerships with numerous Asian and African countries that are highly dependent on rice, including the Philippines, India, and even North Korea.

Dr. McCouch hopes that science students, while pursuing their passions in science, will consider the social implications of their work. Dr. McCouch loves science and genetics, but her motivations come from her life experiences. I am impressed with how socially committed she is and how many challenges she has overcome to become the scientist she is today. I hope that I too can one day have an important impact on others through my passions in science.