Win Phippen

Win Phippen is a tenured full Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics in the School of Agriculture at Western Illinois University, where he teaches courses in applied genetics, crop ecology, agricultural leadership, and plant breeding. His research focuses on agronomic and breeding improvement of new and alternative crops, with particular emphasis on pennycress domestication for commercial production.

His educational background includes a Master of Science degree in plant breeding from Cornell University and a Doctor of Philosophy in the NewCrops breeding program from Purdue University. These qualifications underpin his expertise in crop domestication and genetic improvement.

Dr. Phippen's research centers on developing pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) as a viable oilseed cash cover crop through germplasm collection, field evaluation, and controlled crosses. His work addresses critical challenges in cover crop adoption, including seed persistence, stress tolerance, and integration into corn-soybean rotations. He investigates how pennycress impacts soil health, carbon sequestration, and subsequent cash crop yields while developing domestication traits through conventional and genomic approaches.

His extensive publication record reveals a dominant research trajectory focused on pennycress domestication, with significant contributions to understanding its agronomic performance, stress responses, and integration into sustainable farming systems. Recent work increasingly incorporates molecular techniques like CRISPR genome editing to accelerate domestication while examining ecological interactions and economic viability.

As Project Director for major initiatives including the $10 million USDA-NIFA Coordinated Agriculture Project (IPREFER) and the DOE-IPReP grant, Dr. Phippen secures substantial funding to advance integrated pennycress research. These projects support field trials, genomic studies, and extension activities aimed at enabling farm and energy resilience through alternative crop systems.

He directs the Alternative Crops Research Program and the Pennycress Resource Network at Western Illinois University, coordinating multi-institutional collaborations that include the IPReP Summer Internship program. These initiatives connect researchers, farmers, and industry partners to accelerate the commercialization of pennycress and other alternative crops for biofuels and sustainable agriculture applications.