2025 Maize Genetics Meeting

Dr. Ivan Baxter is a Principal Investigator and Member at the Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center in St. Louis, Missouri. He received a BA in Chemistry from Goucher College and a Ph. D in Molecular and Cellular Structure and Chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute before moving on to a postdoc at Purdue University. Dr. Baxter studies how plants adapt to their abiotic environment using elemental profiling, image based phenotyping, metabolomics, quantitative genetics and bioinformatics.

Siobhan Brady received her PhD at the University of Toronto in 2005 and was a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University from 2005 – 2008 in the lab of Philip Benfey.  In 2009 she began an Assistant Professor position and became Professor in 2020 at the University of California, Davis in the Department of Plant Biology and in the Genome Center. Siobhan became a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator in 2024 and is a Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (2018, 2021, 2022), and received the American Society of Plant Biology Charles Albert Shull Award. Research in the Brady lab focuses on the global regulation of gene expression and its contribution to root morphology and development in Arabidopsis thaliana, Solanum species, Sorghum bicolor and maize.  The Brady lab is also committed to developing publicly available data and resources for the community and to the mentoring of scientists from diverse and under-represented backgrounds.

Homepage: http://www-plb.ucdavis.edu/labs/brady/

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/siobhan-brady/33/b42/71a/

Twitter: @bradylabs

Edward S. Buckler is a USDA-ARS Distinguished Research Geneticist located at Cornell University. He is recognized as a leader in the integration of quantitative and statistical genetics with genomic approaches, applying these tools to maize and other crops. This work has provided insights into how complex traits are controlled, and he has identified genetic variation useful for crop improvement. Dr. Buckler’s group has also helped lead in the development of the largest public genetic mapping resources for any species. Their research has provided insights into the genetic diversity of species, the genetic architecture of complex traits, hybrid vigor, and the genes controlling numerous traits related to plant flowering, development, starch, and pro-Vitamin A. His research now focuses on using plant genetics and machine learning in combination with researchers across the agricultural system to improve the nitrogen system in terms of efficiency and environmental impact. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and has numerous leadership positions within the crop genetics community. He is the recipient of the inaugural NAS Food and Agriculture Award.

Dr. Helen Anne Curry is Melvin Kranzberg Professor in the History of Technology at the School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, where she leads the multi-researcher project, “From Collection to Cultivation: Historical Perspectives on Crop Diversity and Food Security” with funding from the Welcome Trust. Her current research centers on the histories of seeds, crop science, and industrial agriculture. She is author of Evolution Made to Order: Plant Breeding and Technological Innovation in Twentieth Century America (University of Chicago Press, 2016) and Endangered Maize: Industrial Agriculture and the Crisis of Extinction (University of California Press, 2022).

Jonathan F. Wendel is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University. His research focuses on mechanisms underlying plant genomic and phenotypic diversify, with a special focus on the phenomenon of whole genome doubling, or polyploidy. Most of his ~340 publications focus on the cotton genus (Gossypium), in which two diploid and two polyploid species were each independently domesticated thousands of years ago. This natural evolutionary diversification, followed by parallel strong directional selection under domestication, provide a model framework for exploring the comparative basis of domestication, the origin of form and of diversity in nature, and the evolutionary consequences of genome doubling. His research has helped shape the field, as documented in citation metrics (Google Scholar 53,500 citations; h-index of 112). Professor Wendel’s contributions have been recognized in all three major domains of professorial life: Master Teacher (2005) for his role as graduate mentor and educator; Outstanding Achievement in Departmental Leadership (2009), for leadership excellence during his 16 years (2002-2017) as department chair; and Distinguished Professor (2012) for national research prominence. His work has garnered national recognition, including election as an AAAS Fellow (2010), Distinguished Fellow of the Botanical Society of America (2015), Distinguished Scholar, Crop Science Society of America, (2015), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2023), and the United States National Academy of Sciences (2023).

B.S., University of Michigan (1976); M.S., University of North Carolina (1980); Ph.D., University of North Carolina (1983)

Dr. Doreen Ware is a Molecular and Computational Biologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and an Adjunct Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. A leader in plant genomics and cyberinfrastructure, Dr. Ware is recognized for her pioneering work in advancing our understanding of genome architecture and plant adaptation through the stewardship of plant genome resources and innovative computational tools. Her integration of biology with technology continues to drive significant advancements in agricultural genomics. Her contributions, including her service as Acting Chief Scientific Information Officer (CSIO) for USDA ARS from 2014 to 2017, underscore her impact on data-driven progress in plant science.

The 2025 McClintock award recipient is Edward Buckler, and he will present his work at this year's Maize Genetics Meeting. Additionally, the MGC will be presenting an early career, mid-career, Emerson, leadership, and cooperator award.

Previous McClintock Prize Awardees

Biochemical and Molecular Genetics

Cell and Developmental Biology

Computational and Large-Scale Biology

Cytogenetics

Education & Outreach

Evolution & Population Genetics

Quantitative Genetics & Breeding

Transposons & Epigenetics