• Plant Breeding
• Genetics

Assistant Professor
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
217-300-7658
elianam@illinois.edu

Dr. Monteverde earned her master’s degrees in biology and genetics from PEDECIBA (Uruguay). She was an assistant professor at the School of Agronomy for Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay, where she also worked in rice and forage grass breeding and genetics. She earned her doctorate in plant breeding from Cornell University.

Dr. Monteverde is realizing her dream of being a plant breeder in her role leading the soybean breeding program at UIUC, where she also teaches undergraduate and graduate students and advises graduate students. Her research focusing on seed composition traits will help soybeans play an important role as a source of oil and protein around the globe.

Fun Facts!
A native of Uruguay and with family spread across the globe, she loves traveling to visit them and spend time near the water. She also enjoys a good road trip, especially when it involves discovering lakes and other bodies of water she’s not encountered before.