NIW (National Interest Waiver) Recommendation Letter 3

Dear USCIS Officer:

I am a professor at the Department of Agriculture at of Virginia Polytechnic and State University. It is my pleasure to support [the petitioner's] petition for immigration to the United States in the EB2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) category. I am writing this letter to provide evidence that his research and development work is in the national interest of United States.

I have not directly worked with [the petitioner] and I became aware of him through his meta-analysis paper published in Crop Science in early 2006. His method is a very useful one and our program started to apply his method to our research later in 2006. Discovery of resistance genes in wheat accessions is crucial in the development of resistant cultivars for the United States. Quantitative trait loci mapping is a major tool for discovering the genes for resistance to Fusarium head blight in wheat. Sixty-three QTLs (the genome regions where the genes may lie) have been reported in 23 studies for resistance to this disease. However, inconsistent results were reported due to the limitations of QTL mapping techniques. This inconsistency significantly hinders the use of the identified QTLs in wheat breeding. Thus, our research group is applying [the petitioner's] method to resolve this problem and we have obtained interesting results. The results from the meta-analyses can help breeders identify consistent and unique resistant genes. Therefore, breeders can combine them in new varieties to breed durable resistance. I believe that [the petitioner] has made significant contributions to plant breeding and genetics.

Not only is our research group, other researchers all over the world are citing [the petitioner's] work. Recently, a book entitled "Molecular Plant Breeding" was published. This book covers 16 chapters. In one sub-section of Chapter 7 (Molecular Dissection of Complex Traits: Theory), the author introduced and discussed [the petitioner's] method called pooled analysis which was published in 2006. After a comprehensive investigation, the author found that [the petitioner's] method is the first one for discovering genetic basis of quantitative traits, using multiple mapping population data in plant species.

[The petitioner] is also a highly productive researcher. Considering the amount of work, [the petitioner's] productivity is very unusual. Judging from [the petitioner's] record in research and his exceptional performance, I firmly believe that he will be a successful researcher in future. I strongly feel that [the petitioner] will be an important asset of the United States, and recommend that he be granted permanent residency.

I hope this letter will fully support [the petitioner's] petition for a change of his visa status, so he can continue his current research and development projects. His research is certainly in the national interest of the United States, in light of improving U.S. economy, solving the problem of starvation and improving the overall health of people living in the United States. If I can be of further assistance in support of his application, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely yours,
XXXX
Chairman of the XXXX Committee
University of XXXX