**Meet the editors**

Kourosh Vahdati received his Ph.D. in Horticultural Science, Fruit Breeding and Biotechnology, from the University of Tehran in 2002 and is now a professor at the University of Tehran specializing in walnut research, particularly genetic transformation and rootstock breeding for resistance to abiotic stresses. He was a visiting scholar at the University of California-Davis in 2000-

2001 and returned in 2010-2011 as associate visiting professor and worked on tissue culture and genetic transformation of walnut. Dr. Vahdati teaches pomology, breeding and biotechnology of fruit and nut trees, supervises graduate students, has published more than 50 research articles and book chapters, and has served on the editorial boards of several journals. He also serves as Chairman of the ISHS Walnut Working Group and of the Iranian Center of Excellence for Walnut Improvement and Technology, and has made numerous contributions worldwide to the fields of walnut breeding and biotechnology.

Charles Leslie earned his B.S. in Zoology from Oregon State University in 1973 and his M.S. degree in Plant Physiology from the University of California – Davis in 1985. He worked in private sector forestry research as a wildlife biologist, entomologist and tissue culture specialist, has 25 years of experience at UC Davis in tissue culture, genetic engineering, and walnut breeding, and

is current Director of the UC-Davis Walnut improvement Program. His research includes application of genomics to breeding walnut scion cultivars, enhancing efficiency of in vitro walnut propagation and clonal rootstock production, and developing hybrid walnut rootstocks with resistance to soil-borne disease, pathogens and abiotic stresses. He has published more than 60 journal articles and book chapters on these topics.
