Brian Smart

Background

About Brian Smart

I am a bioinformatics specialist employed at North Dakota State University to support our sunflower breeding and perennial grain domestication efforts using bioinformatic approaches. As part of my position, I maintain our sunflower SQL breeding database, use genomic and phenomic data to inform breeding decisions, and support the completion of research projects and their resulting journal publications. I completed my undergraduate degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2015 and took an internship opportunity at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service center in Fargo, ND where I learned to apply my degree to plant breeding. Because of this experience, I completed a master's of science degree in plant sciences (2022) and a master of software engineering master's degree (2021). Since 2021 I have been working in my current role as a Bioinformatics Specialist at NDSU, working in Brent Hulke's research lab at the USDA-ARS Sunflower & Plant Biology Unit in Fargo, ND. I love to bike, cross-country ski, walk with my dogs, and explore nature with my wonderful wife Taylor. To learn more, check out hulkelab.org!