Bill Beavis

Initiative for a Carbon Negative Economy

Bill Beavis

Bill-Beavis1Most often cited for his discovery of bias in estimates of genetic effects in QTL analyses of populations with poor power (the “Beavis Effect”), Dr. William Beavis gained extensive experience in the application of statistical genetic methods during his twelve years at Pioneer Hi-Bred. Subsequent to his career at Pioneer, Bill was the CSO and COO at the National Center for Genome Resources, a private bioinformatics research institute. While at NCGR Dr. Beavis was the principal investigator for a variety of bioinformatics projects including the Legume Information System, and the GeneX and GeneX-Lite gene expression systems. Dr. Beavis joined the faculty at Iowa State University as the G.F. Sprague Chair of Crop Genomics in September 2007. His academic appointment is 75% research and 25% teaching. Bill’s research interests are to understand the limitations to Marker Assisted Breeding. These limitations can be technical, e.g., statistical bias in predicted breeding values, or biological, e.g., insufficient useful genetic diversity in the breeding population. By bringing these technical and scientific research questions together through the application of genomics and population, quantitative and statistical genetics, he intends to assure that the full genetic potential of domesticated crop species can be realized. Bill’s teaching interests are in graduate student education. Specifically, he teaches Advanced Plant Breeding through a traditional venue, applied statistics through a distance education (online) venue and is working with Dr. Thomas Lubberstedt to develop a new course in molecular plant breeding. He also advises undergraduates in Agronomy.