Haley Ahlers is the Project Manager for the Innovation Lab for Applied Wheat Genomics and the Wheat Genetics Resource Center (WGRC) Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC), and is the program manager for the Poland Lab. Ahlers joined the Innovation Lab in October, 2015 and provides management and communications support across a suite of interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder national and international wheat research projects. Prior to moving to Kansas, Ahlers collected over a decade of award-winning experience in higher education research design and communications, most notably as the Communications Manager for the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency Project at the University of Illinois—an over $80 million investment by the Gates Foundation, FFAR and DFID, and the Energy Biosciences Institute at the Institute for Genomic Biology—a $500 million investment through BP. She holds a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and is currently pursuing her MBA at Kansas State University.