Bernie May (born 1947) is a

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...

, known for his work applying genetic tools to address questions in

natural resource management Natural resource management (NRM) is the management of natural resources such as Land (economics), land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generati ...

and conservation, with a particular focus on aquatic species. He is director of the Genomic Variation Lab and was adjunct professor in the Department of Animal Science at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

from 1995 to 2014 and is now an Emeritus Research Professor. May has published over 200 papers in 65 journals on divergent taxa, including fish, crustaceans, insects, plants, fungi, and mammals, bringing simple

Mendelian Mendelian inheritance (also known as Mendelism) is a type of biological inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, and later popularized ...

genetic data to answer a diverse array of biological and

ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

questions.

Biography

May received a Bachelor of Science in molecular biology from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in 1973, a master's degree in fisheries from the

in 1975 under Fred M. Utter, and a PhD in Genetics from The

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

in 1980 under the late Dr. James E. Wright, Jr. In 1981, he started the

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Laboratory for Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics, serving as its Senior Research Associate and Director for 14 years. He then moved to the

in 1995, where he initiated the Genomic Variation Laboratory, serving as its director and an adjunct professor in the Department of Animal Science. He retired in June 2014 and became an Emeritus Research Professor at the

. He has been a for his entire career. As a graduate student and early career investigator, Dr. May pioneered the application of

allozyme Alloenzymes (or also called allozymes) are variant forms of an enzyme which differ structurally but not functionally from other allozymes coded for by different alleles at the same locus. These are opposed to isozymes, which are enzymes that p ...

electrophoresis Electrophoresis is the motion of charged dispersed particles or dissolved charged molecules relative to a fluid under the influence of a spatially uniform electric field. As a rule, these are zwitterions with a positive or negative net ch ...

to measure genetic variability in aquatic organisms. His Master's thesis included a manual for allozyme electrophoresis, has been widely referenced, and subsequently appeared as a book chapter. He contributed key papers that played an integral role in forming our current understanding of the structure and evolution of

salmonid Salmonidae (, ) is a family of ray-finned fish, the only extant member of the suborder Salmonoidei, consisting of 11 extant genera and over 200 species collectively known as "salmonids" or "salmonoids". The family includes salmon (both Atlantic a ...

genomes. He was an important player in the early mapping of the

genome and coined the term “residual

tetrasomy A tetrasomy is a form of aneuploidy with the presence of four copies, instead of the normal two, of a particular chromosome. Causes Full Full tetrasomy of an individual occurs due to non-disjunction when the cells are dividing (meiosis I or II) ...

". During his early career Dr. May also discovered the presence of and coined the name for the

quagga mussel The quagga mussel (''Dreissena bugensis'') is a species (or subspecies) of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Dreissenidae. It has an average lifespan of 3 to 5 years. The species is indigenous to the Dnipro River dr ...

. He designed one of the earliest

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

population genetic software programs, Genes in Populations. However, one of the most significant contributions that Dr. May has made to the field of science has been through his mentoring activities and he won the

Graduate Group in Ecology award for Most Valuable Professor in 2007 for his mentoring service. Dr. May advised over 28 PhD and six Master's students, served on the committees of 38 others, and influenced hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students over the course of his career. The majority of his over 200 peer-reviewed publications have been co-authored with students or postdocs. Three of these papers have been recognized as outstanding by the American Fisheries Society through the Robert L. Kendall Award (1994, 2013) and the Phelps Award (2008).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Bernie 1947 births Living people American geneticists University of California, Davis faculty University of Washington College of the Environment alumni Pennsylvania State University alumni