Page 3 - Plant Sciences_Neat

2 | CAREERS IN AGRICULTURE 3 | CAREERS IN AGRICULTURE

Associate Professor of Ornamental

Plant Breeding

SALARY: EXPERIENCE: DR. RYAN CONTRERAS
$70,000 - $100,000 Doctoral degree to be a professor, but plant breeders may have bachelor’s, › Oregon State University
master’s or Ph.D degrees. › https://oregonstate.edu/

WHAT DO THEY DO?
Dr. Contreras teaches horticulture courses including plant
propagation, plant growth and development, and plant
identification. He is also in charge of the ornamental plant
breeding program, which conducts research on woody plants
to develop new cultivars for nursery and landscape industries.
The plants Dr. Contreras develops are used by growers and
home gardeners.

Grew as a scientist while working
independently, completing his
assistantship for a Ph.D

Completed a master’s
degree, advised by a leader

Conducted research on peanuts,
which helped him better understand
plant breeding

“ Academic freedom to pursue scientific research project who was critical Completed an
Found a mentor through this
FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB
in his career path

questions and work with cool plants. Also, I
undergraduate
get to work with amazing undergraduate and
graduate students. It’s quite a good gig. internship in a lab
and learned he
Pursued an independent
ADVICE undergraduate research project wanted to work
with plants
Hired by Wilco as a Work in production. You cannot be
Field Technician
a successful breeder without some
understanding of the end use and production Worked in various positions, which
of plants. “ helped him understand what type
of career he wanted to pursue