Edward S. Buckler is a plant geneticist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and holds an adjunct appointment at Cornell University.

He originated the concept of Nested association mapping and created the first population designed for this type of quantitative genetic analysis.

Buckler began developing the initial maize Nested Association Mapping population in 2002, using twenty five maize inbreds selected to capture as many of the alleles present in the species as possible and crossing each to a common parent to generate 5,000 inbred lines (200 per family), ultimately capturing more than 100,000 genetic crossovers.

[6] Buckler's lab released the inbreds as well as the first study using them to map loci controlling a phenotype (flowering time) in 2009.

[12] In 2011 Buckler's group released a simple protocol for using the then-new technology of high throughput sequencing to genotype thousands of genetic markers across hundreds of individuals.