Department of Biological Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Ankara

Zeki Kaya is a professor in plant genetics in Department of Biological Sciences at Middle East Technical University (METU) is a Fulbright Scholar collaborating with Prof. David B. Neale of Plant Sciences Department of UC Davis (May 31-November 30, 2022). He received his BSc in Forestry in Istanbul University and completed his MSc and PhD in Forest Genetics at Oregon State University. He was former department head of Biological Sciences and senate member of METU. He spent his sabbatical leave in USFS-Institute of Forest genetics, Placerville (1996) working quantitative loci mapping in trees and Fulbright Scholar to Environmental Sciences and Forestry, SUNY, Syracuse, studying ancient DNA from archaeological cedar wood materials.

His research focuses on population and quantitative genetics of forest trees, plant speciation and evolution and ancient DNA studies with archaeological materials to get insights in crop domestications. As a Fulbright Scholar in Plant Sciences Department at UC Davis, he is working on comparison of genomic variation in extant grape variety with contemporary ones, using genomic and bioinformatics tools.