Rooney, William

William Rooney: Professor and Borlaug-Monsanto Chair for Plant Breeding and International Crop Improvement
Office:: Foundation Seed Building
Email:: wlr@tamu.edu
Phone:: 979-845-2151; Resume/CV

Graduate Education: Ph.D. University of Minnesota, 1992
Courses Taught: SCSC 481 - Senior Seminar (2-0) Credits-2 Capstone course bringing together student experiences, exams, and exercises necessary for completing and assessing curriculum program learning outcomes. Prerequisite: Senior classification.; SCSC 642. Plant Breeding II. (3-0) Credit 3 Expectations of genetic improvement for different plant breeding methods; relative efficiency for crops of different reproductive mechanisms; genetic variances, covariances and genotype-enviornment interaction components of variance used in planning selection procedures. Prerequisites: SCSC 641; GENE 613; STAT 619.

Specialty：Sorghum Breeding and Genetics

Research

The long-range goal of my sorghum improvement program is to enhance the productivity and profitability of grain, forage and bioenergy sorghum production systems. The sorghum breeding program is used as a mechanism to develop and release sorghum germplasm to meet this goal. In addition to the release of improved sorghum genotypes, research in the program emphasizes the genetic and molecular genetic inheritance of disease resistance, grain quality and agronomic productivity and adaptability. The research provides opportunities for graduate student training in fundamental and applied aspects of plant improvement. Specific research interests include the development of sorghum germplasm for bioenergy (both sweet and biomass), grain and forage Instruct SCSC 642 annually each fall semester.

Support Staff and Students