b'How the Promise of GeneEditing Drew Thilani Jayakody into Potato ResearchBorlaug Scholar Thilani Jayakody explains what lead to herinterest in potato breeding.BY: MARC ZIENKIEWICZTHE BORLAUG SCHOLAR program is an award program run by the National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB). They are given to students in plant breeding and genetics who have a strong desire to contribute to the improvement of plants. Each recipient receives a NAPB membership, registration and travel costs for the NAPB annual meeting and a NAPB mentor. This year potato researcher Thilani Jayakody, who is a PhD student in the plant breeding, genetics and biotechnology program at Michigan State University, was picked to as a Borlaug Scholar.Jayakodys research interests led her to join the potato breeding and genetics program of David S. Douches to address the persistent problems in the fresh and processing potato industry. She is an NSF-NRT-IMPACTS Fellow, and her research seeks to understand the relative specificities of the most popular genome editing tools when applied to complex plant genomes. In addition to being passionate about her research, she cares deeply for people. Jayakody has been a mentor to several undergraduates, serves on the curriculum committee for NSF-NRT-IMPACTS, and is the Association of Crop and Soil Sciences Recruitment Chair. Here she tells us her story.I was born and raised in the United States, but my parents immigrated to the United States from Sri Lanka so that my father could pursue a PhD in organic chemistry. Although we moved several times as I was growing up, one constant throughout my childhood was my mothers garden. She has quite the greenBorlaug Scholar Thilani Jayakody.18SPUDSMART.COM Fall 2021'