Uma Shaanker obtained his Master’s degree in Genetics and Plant Breeding and a Ph.D in Crop Physiology from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. His current research interests are in plant evolutionary biology, conservation genetics, bioprospecting, endophyte biology and data mining. After superannuation as Professor and Head, Department of Crop Physiology and School of Ecology and Conservation, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, he was an ICAR Emeritus Scientist at University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. Uma Shaanker is an elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore. He was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and an Honorary Fellow of the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore and Honorary Research Associate at the University of New Burnswick, Canada. He is currently also a Senior Fellow at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore. He has published more than 230 peer-reviewed papers, about 30 articles in books and monographs, besides authoring or editing fifteen books. He serves as an expert member on the advisory panels of the Department of Science and Technology, SERB, Department of Biotechnology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. Along with Prof. Kamal Bawa FRS and Prof. Ganeshaiah, he is one of the founding trustees of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) (www.atree.org). Uma Shaanker is recipient of the Sir CV Raman Young Scientists’ Award and the State Environment Award, Government of Karnataka.