Pearl Mai

Pearl Mai has a diverse work experience spanning over several decades. Pearl began their career as an Assistant Agronomist at the Sugarcane Industry Research Institute in China, where they focused on tissue culture, breeding, and germplasm collection. After working there for six years, they joined the Hawaiian Agriculture Research Center as an Experimentalist, where they worked on improving coffee somatic embryogenesis methods and optimizing transformation systems for coffee and sugarcane.

In 1995, Pearl Mai joined the United States Sugar Corp. as a Molecular Biologist. During their time there, they designed a tissue culture lab and established sugarcane and citrus transformation systems. Pearl also produced transgenic plants using various methods.

Pearl Mai then moved to Syngenta in 2008, where they held multiple roles. As a Research Scientist, they established sugarcane transformation protocols, produced transgenic plants, filed a patent for sugarcane transformation improvement, and served as a project worksteam lead. In their later role as a Senior Research Scientist, they continued to work on maize transformation, developing new methods and protocols.

Most recently, Pearl Mai joined U.S. Sugar Corp in 2016 as a Senior Project Manager/Scientist. Further details about their responsibilities in this role are not provided.

Pearl Mai received a Master's Degree in Botany/Plant Biology from California State University, Chico, from 1988 to 1992. Prior to that, they earned a Bachelor's Degree in Agronomy from South China Agricultural University, studying from 1978 to 1982.