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News Release
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| Dr. Trudy Mackay |
Dr. Trudy F.C. Mackay of Raleigh, William Neal Reynolds and Distinguished University Professor of Genetics at North Carolina State University, will be honored today (May 11) with the O. Max Gardner Award, the highest faculty award presented by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.
The award is presented each year to one faculty member from the system’s 16 campuses recognized as having “made the greatest contribution to the welfare of the human race.” The award will be presented to Mackay at today’s Board of Governors meeting at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Mackay studies the genetic and environmental factors affecting variation in quantitative, or complex, traits. Her groundbreaking work in the study of quantitative trait loci, or the locations in the genome where variations occur, largely focuses on the model organism Drosophila melanongaster, the fruit fly.
Mackay has authored or co-authored more than 115 refereed publications, several books – including the principal textbook in quantitative genetics – and book chapters; and has been invited to present papers at nearly 60 conferences and symposia.
Mackay has also served on a number of professional boards and panels. She is the executive editor of the American office of Genetical Research and is on the editorial board of PloS Genetics. She also served as associate editor of Genetics for 12 years. She is treasurer of the Genetics Society of America, past president of the Drosophila Board of Directors and president-elect of the American Genetics Association.
Mackay received the Alumni Outstanding Research Award from NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2000 and has served on numerous university search and nominating committees. She has also supervised 10 Ph.D. and five master’s degree recipients at NC State. She is a member of the Genetics Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Sigma XI and the Society for the Study of Evolution.
A native of Canada, Mackay earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology from Dalhousie University and a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Edinburgh. She came to NC State as an associate professor in 1987 and was named full professor in 1993, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in 1996 and Distinguished Professor in 2006.
The award is the fifth prestigious acknowledgement of Mackay’s work in the past five years. She was named AAAS Fellow in 2003, received the Genetics Society of America Medal in 2004, was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005 and was named Fellow of the Royal Society in 2006.
Mackay is the eighth NC State faculty member to win the O. Max Gardner Award in the past 12 years. Other NC State winners are:
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Dr. Kenneth Adler, professor of cell biology, 2005
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Dr. Bruce Weir, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Statistics and Genetics, 2003
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Dr. Joseph DeSimone, William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill, 2000
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Dr. Jim Riviere, Burroughs Wellcome Fund Distinguished Professor in Veterinary Pharmacology, 1999
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Dr. B. Jayant Baliga, Distinguished University Professor of Engineering, 1998
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Dr. Wayne R. Skaggs, William Neal Reynolds Professor and Distinguished University Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, 1997
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Dr. Ernest Hodgson, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Toxicology, 1996
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