Mackay Elected to NAS

Geneticist Dr. Trudy F.C. Mackay has been elected into the National Academy of Sciences, one of the world’s most important scientific societies.

Mackay becomes the ninth current NC State faculty member to be elected into the august scientific society.

Mackay, the William Neal Reynolds and Distinguished University Professor of Genetics and Entomology, studies genetic and environmental factors affecting variation in complex traits. Her groundbreaking work largely focuses on the fruit fly, a model organism.

She currently receives funding from the National Institutes of Health to study the genetics of glaucoma, alcohol sensitivity and aggression.

Mackay has authored or co-authored 140 refereed publications and several books, including the principal textbook in quantitative genetics. She is the chief executive editor of Genetics Research and past president of the American Genetics Association.

Mackay was named American Association for the Advancement of Science (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. She received the University of North Carolina system’s O. Max Gardner Award, its highest faculty award, in 2007. Mackay received the Alumni Outstanding Research Award from NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2000.

A native of Canada, Mackay earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology from Dalhousie University and a doctorate 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.