Dr. Amaral Junior has been a recipient of a scientific productivity fellowship from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) since 2003 (Level 1A since 2014). His research focuses on popcorn maize breeding, particularly on studies related to abiotic stress, in collaboration with researchers from Brazil and abroad (USA, Spain, Australia, and Chile). He has developed 22 popcorn maize cultivars registered with the Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA), currently recommended to farmers, in addition to two cultivars in the registration process. He has supervised 34 M.Sc. and 32 Ph.D. graduates, who are now engaged in public and private institutions in Brazil, Canada, Argentina, and Denmark. He has also supervised 23 postdoctoral researchers and is currently supervising three. He currently coordinates four research projects and has coordinated four university extension projects. He has published 338 full-length articles in peer-reviewed journals. Since 2004, he has been recognized as a “Scientist of Our State” by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), since the first edition of the program. He also serves as an ad hoc reviewer for national and international scientific journals. From 2000 to 2007, he coordinated the Graduate Program in Plant Production at UENF and contributed to the establishment of the Graduate Program in Genetics and Plant Breeding at the same institution. He served as Secretary General of UENF from July 2007 to January 2011. He was a member of the board of the Sociedade Brasileira de Melhoramento de Plantas (SBMP) from 2009 to 2011 and served as Dean of Research and Graduate Studies at UENF from February 2011 to June 2015. He also served as Coordinator of the Agricultural Sciences Area at FAPERJ from August 2012 to July 2018. In 2017, he participated in the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) evaluation of graduate programs in the Biotechnology area (2013–2016 quadrennial assessment). In 2019, he received an Honorable Mention from the Sociedade Brasileira de Melhoramento de Plantas in the Alcides Carvalho Award category for a doctoral research presentation. From 2019 to 2021, he served as President of the Rio de Janeiro Regional Chapter of SBMP. In 2023, he received recognition in the “Breeding for Laypeople Award” and an Honorable Mention in the Clibas Vieira Award category, also from SBMP, for student-supervised research presented at the 12th Brazilian Congress of Plant Breeding. He is currently Head of the Plant Genetic Breeding Laboratory (LMGV) at UENF and serves as the representative of laboratory heads at the Center for Agricultural Sciences and Technologies (CCTA) on the University Council (CONSUNI). He is a Guest Editor for the journals Frontiers in Plant Science and Plants, and serves as Senior Editor and co-founder of the Functional Plant Breeding Journal.
Lattes CV: http://lattes.cnpq.br/5063486824345109
E-mail: amaraljr@uenf.br