Jianming Yu, professor in agronomy, Pioneer Distinguished Chair in Maize Breeding and director of the Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding, is the recipient of the faculty 2024 Outstanding Achievement in Research Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. Yu is known as one of the top scientists in the world for quantitative genetics, which interfaces plant breeding, genomics, molecular genetics and statistics.
Yu has made seminal contributions on four fronts: complex trait dissection, breeding methodology, phenotypic plasticity and evolution. His significant research contributions include developing the integrated framework for both gene discovery underlying phenotypic plasticity and performance prediction across environments, developing the mixed model framework for genome-wide association studies, pioneering genomic selection research in crops, quantifying genic and nongenic contributions to quantitative trait variation in maize, and revealing the patterns in DNA base composition divergence and chromosome size variation across multiple species.
Yu’s publication and grant record are outstanding. During his career, he has published 110 papers, with many in the top journals in his field. He has given 113 invited presentations, 34 of which were in international venues. He has received grants from federal agencies, commodity groups and industry, and been awarded $34 million in funding, with $7.7 million coming directly to his research program.
“He has a distinguished research record and is internationally regarded by the plant genetics, breeding and genomics communities,” states a colleague. “His research accomplishments have provided fundamental analytical tools and knowledge that has led to numerous avenues for the genetic improvement of crops.”