Dr S S Gosal served as Director of Research (2010-1014) at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. He obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in the discipline of Plant Breeding from the same university. He joined PAU as Assistant Breeder in 1984 and contributed towards strengthening the education and research in the area of plant biotechnology. During 1993, he was awarded a unique Biotechnology Career Fellowship by the Rockefeller Foundation, USA for 6 years, to conduct research in the area of transgenesis at University of Nottingham, England and John Innes Centre Norwich, UK for three months each year. He is elected Member/Fellow of three professional societies and member of several other scientific societies. Dr Gosal is founder Director of School of Agricultural Biotechnology at PAU, Ludhiana. To put his ideas into motion he has competitive research grants for more than 20 adhoc research projects. Besides, he has served as a member of Board of Assessors, Australian Research Council, Canberra. He has undergone a rigorous training on environment risk assessment of GM crops at Danforth Centre for Plant Science Research, St. Louis; APHIS, EPA (USDA) and USTDA, Washington DC, USA. His contributions in the field of plant biotechnology can be gauged from the volume of over 155 original research papers in refereed Indian and foreign journals. He has been the examiner, member of the advisory board and selection committees in more than 15 Universities and Institutes. Dr Gosal has co-authored a text book, two dozen chapters in books, many Practical Manuals and has supervised thesis research as major/co-major advisor/member of advisory committee of more than 70 post graduate students.