News Release
09-10-2009
Contacts:
Sharron Quisenberry, Vice President for Research and Economic Development, 515.294.6344, sharronq@iastate.edu
William Beavis, Department of Agronomy, 515.294.7301, wdbeavis@iastate.edu
Meg Gordon, Plant Sciences Institute Communications, 515.294.3945, mbgordon@iastate.edu
Dan Kuester, News Service, (515) 294-0704, kuester@iastate.edu
William D. Beavis named interim director of the Plant Sciences Institute at Iowa State University
AMES, Iowa -William D. Beavis, George F. Sprague Endowed Chair and professor in the department of agronomy has been named interim director for the Plant Sciences Institute (PSI) at Iowa State University, effective Sept. 15, 2009.
Prior to joining Iowa State as a faculty member in August, 2007, Beavis was chief scientific officer for the National Center for Genome Resources, in Santa Fe, NM. In this role, Beavis developed and implemented the strategic and tactical vision for this sustainable non-profit research institute, experience he will now apply to advance the PSI.
Stephen Howell, the institute's director for nearly nine years, steps down this month to become the new Director of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C.
"I am delighted that we were able to recruit such an accomplished scientist and experienced administrator to serve as interim while we conduct the search for a new director," said Sharron Quisenberry, vice president for research and economic development.
Beavis earned a bachelor's degree in range management from Humboldt State University and an interdisciplinary master's degree in biology and statistics from New Mexico State University. He received a doctorate in plant breeding from Iowa State in 1985.
Beavis was a research statistician at Pioneer Hi-Bred International from 1986 to1998, gaining extensive experience in the application of statistical genetic methods. While at Pioneer, Beavis worked on optimization of biotechnologies and became widely recognized for development of statistical methods for identification of quantitative trait loci. The latter efforts resulted in recognition that genetic effects are overestimated when evaluating genomic regions with small sample sizes of segregating families. This general result has become known as "the Beavis Effect."
The Plant Sciences Institute is dedicated to advancing fundamental discoveries of plant systems and new molecular technologies that support a sustainable biobased future. Institute researchers are Iowa State faculty, whose research efforts help feed a growing world population, strengthen human health and nutrition, improve crop quality and yield, foster environmental sustainability and expand the uses of plants for biobased products and bioenergy. The Institute supports the training of students and promotes new technologies to aid in the economic development of agricultural industries throughout Iowa. The Institute is supported through public and private funding.
