Rooney recognized with Regents Professor Award

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Bill Rooney, 979-845-2151, wlr@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – Dr. Bill Rooney, Texas A&M AgriLife Research Faculty Fellow and sorghum breeder, has been named a Regents Professor by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.

The award was presented Feb. 10 at the 2014-2015 Regents Awards Reception and Dinner on the Texas A&M campus in College Station.

The Board established the Regents Professor Awards program in 1996 and the Regents Fellow Service Awards program in 1998 to recognize employees who have made exemplary contributions to their university or agency and to the people of Texas.

Rooney has made unprecedented headway in the area of new sorghum-based bioenergy crops that are now considered by many across the industry as one of the leading feedstocks for the future bioenergy economy, his nomination stated.

To make these endeavors successful, he has continuously engaged peers, unit heads, administration to develop interdisciplinary teams to implement strategic initiatives to strengthen AgriLife’s overall mission in these areas, while remaining true to its core value of excellence.

Rooney helped spearhead integrated programs leading to millions of dollars in sponsored research and development with industry, state and federal institutions, according to the nomination.

He has also helped lead recent transformational activities for intellectual property strategies, management and commercialization programs across AgriLife Research, in close coordination with Texas A&M University System’s Office of Technology Commercialization.

He manages an active breeding program with locations throughout Texas, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Central America with research activities in grain, forage and bioenergy sorghum biotypes. He interacts with other AgriLife Research scientists in many affiliated disciplines such as molecular genetics, plant pathologists, entomologists and agronomists, as well as sorghum researchers nationally and internationally.

The program has strong ties to the sorghum seed industry, interacting with them to test and evaluate new sorghum germplasm as well as to commercialize new and novel sorghum types for specific and unique markets, the nomination stated. The breeding program provides the basis for both genetic research and graduate student training.

The students are trained in the conduct of an applied, aggressive plant breeding program. The majority of his graduated students are employed in the plant breeding industry throughout the U.S. or in an academic career, the nomination stated.

Rooney has served as chair of the AgriLife Plant Release Committee since 2001. This committee reviews all proposed plant variety and germplasm releases to ensure the scientific merit of the release. He is member of the AgriLife Energy Grand Challenges committee and served as a member, then chair, of the College Promotion and Tenure Peer Review Committee.

As a professor in the Texas A&M soil and crops department, Rooney has focused on advising graduate students with an emphasis on plant breeding. Over his faculty career, he has served as chair for 20 master’s degree students and a committee member for an additional 13 master’s students. He has been the major advisor for 22 doctorate degrees and served on the committee of an additional 29 doctorate students.

Currently he is advising eight doctoral students and four master’s students and serves on the committee of eight doctoral students and one master’s student.

Rooney’s research has been recognized by invited presentations and recognition and service, the nomination stated. He has presented over 30 invited presentations both nationally and in China, Australia, South Korea, Greece, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Ethiopia, Zambia and El Salvador.

Rooney earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas A&M and his doctorate from the University of Minnesota. He worked for two years at Kansas State University before starting his 20-year career at Texas A&M.

He has received the Texas A&M University Office of Technology Commercialization Innovation Award, the AgriLife Research Faculty Fellow and was a Research Team Award recipient from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.