Alumni Lifetime Achievement Awards 2019

GEORGE W. BEADLE

October 22, 1903–June 9, 1989

George W. Beadle, a geneticist who won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1958, received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1926 and a Master of Science degree in 1927 from the University of Nebraska– Lincoln. His interest in genetics began while he was a student at Nebraska.

Beadle’s Nobel Prize was awarded for his work in demonstrating how genes control the chemistry of the living cell, one of the basic concepts of modern genetics. The discovery revolutionized the understanding of genetics. He shared the prize with Edward L. Tatum, professor of biochemistry with the Rockefeller Institute, and Joshua Lederberg, professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin. Beadle grew up on a farm near Wahoo, Nebraska, and attended Wahoo High School. A high school teacher persuaded him to attend Nebraska’s College of Agriculture in 1922. At Nebraska, he studied hybrid wheat with agronomy professor Franklin D. Keim.

Through Keim he secured a teaching assistantship at Cornell University where he worked on Mendelian asynopsis in Zea mays. He completed his Ph.D. in 1931. He was awarded a National Research Council Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena in 1931.

While at Caltech, he continued his work on corn and began work on crossing-over in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, until he left in 1936. In 1936, he became an assistant professor of genetics at Harvard University. He was appointed professor of biology in genetics at Stanford University in 1937 and remained there for nine years working in collaboration with Tatum.

Through experiments with bread mold, he and Tatum were able to demonstrate that genes transmit hereditary characteristics by controlling chemical reactions. Their studies were cited by the Nobel Prize jury for having made understandable a variety of bewildering effects in animal and plant cells. Lederberg was credited for parallel work in bacterial genetics. Together, their discoveries led to vastly increased production of penicillin during World War II.

In 1946 he returned to Caltech as professor of biology and chairman of the Division of Biology. He played an important role in getting Caltech to accept women as graduate students.

In 1961 Beadle was elected chancellor of the University of Chicago and later that same year, president. He served as president until 1968. He also taught biology classes while president and as an emeritus professor until 1975.

Beadle cultivated a field of corn wherever he lived and continued to conduct research to clarify the origins of domestic corn.

During his career, Beadle received many honorary degrees, awards and honorary society memberships. Nebraska awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1949. Nebraska’s Beadle Center, home to programs in biotechnology, biosciences and plant sciences, is named in his honor.

STEVE A. EBERHART

Steve A. Eberhart graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a Bachelor of Science degree in general agriculture in 1952 and a Master of Science degree in plant breeding in 1958. He received his doctorate in genetics and statistics at North Carolina State University in 1961. In 1988, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from Nebraska.

Eberhart grew up on a farm west of Bassett, Nebraska, and graduated valedictorian from Rock County High School.

He served as a 1st lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force from 1952 to 1956.

Eberhart worked as a research geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service in North Carolina, Iowa and Kenya from 1961 to 1975.

While in Kenya, he and co-workers developed a comprehensive breeding system, published in 1967, to develop improved maize breeding populations and parental lines. He developed corn hybrids for Eastern Africa that were used extensively for more than 20 years that had the most potential for quickly increasing yields to reduce hunger.

During this time, he received Superior Service Awards and a Certificate of Merit from the USDA. In 1970 he received the Arthur S. Flemming Award by the D.C. Junior Chamber of Commerce as one of the five outstanding young scientists in federal government.

He served as associate director and vice president for research with Funk Seeds, a CIBA-GEIGY company in Bloomington, Illinois, from 1975 to 1987. He directed and coordinated corn, sorghum, soybean and sunflower breeding programs in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain and Thailand.

In 1987 he was named director of the National Seed Storage Laboratory, USDA-ARS in Fort Collins, Colorado, until his retirement in 2000. Officially known as the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation, the laboratory guards thousands of seed varieties.

He was also director of the Latin America Maize Project from 1994 to 2000.

He was an active member of Crop Science Society of America, serving as president in 1990. Awards received from CSSA included Fellow in 1985, Crop Science Research Award in 1994, Frank N. Meyer Medal for Plant Genetic Resources in 1999 and the Crop Science Distinguished Career Award in 2003. Other awards Eberhart received were Fellow, American Society of Agronomy in 1975; Fellow, American Association for Advancement of Science in 1994 and the National Council of Commercial Plant Breeders’ Genetics and Plant Breeding Award in 1998.

He was associate editor for Crop Science 1971–1973 and was technical editor for Crop Registration 1999–2005.

During his career he published 82 scientific manuscripts. A paper on stability parameter models was one of the most widely cited publications in crop science and plant breeding journals. This paper established a widely used method to evaluate potential new hybrids based on responses to a range of environments as well as average yield performance.

FRANKLIN D. KEIM

September 10, 1886 – March 7, 1956

Franklin D. Keim, born in Hardy, Nebraska, graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science degree in agronomy in 1914 and a Master of Science degree in 1918. He then went on to earn a Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1927 studying genetics, specifically a cross between club wheat and spelt.

Keim graduated from Davenport High School and, as preparation for a teaching job, went to Bethany College in Linsborg, Kansas, in 1904. He returned to Nebraska as a teacher in Nuckolls and Thayer counties from 1905–1908. Desiring more education, he attended Peru State Teachers College, where he received a two-year teacher’s certificate. This qualified him for the position of principal of Chester High School from 1909 to 1910. He was made superintendent of schools at Blue Springs in 1910. In 1911, he decided to continue his education and enrolled at the Nebraska College of Agriculture.

Keim is recognized for his outstanding leadership in the field of agronomy both as a teacher and an administrator.

He began his teaching career at Nebraska as an assistant in agronomy from 1914 to 1916 and then as an Extension specialist for two years. In 1918 he was promoted to full professor. He retired in 1952.

Keim served as chairman of the Department of Agronomy from 1932 to 1952. Under his leadership, the department came to be respected as having one of the best agronomy programs. It was also during that period that most of our modern agricultural practices were developed.

Keim’s interests were in plant breeding and genetics, weed control and ecological studies of native grasses with reference to pasture utilization. His primary interest was in the field of genetics. He taught the Introduction to Genetics course for 30 years. He was passionate about developing students and steering them into successful careers, whether research or practice.

He acted as a mentor to several students who went on to notable careers, with George Beadle being the most recognized. Beadle received his bachelor's and master’s degrees under the tutelage of Keim and worked in Keim’s lab on wheat research. Through Keim’s influence, Beadle was able to secure a graduate assistantship at Cornell University and went on to win the Nobel Prize in 1958.

In 1937, Keim was elected Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and served as president in 1943. He was a member of the Agronomy Journal Editorial Board from 1946 until his death in 1956. In 1931, he served on the committee to authorize a student section of the ASA to be composed of students in farm crops, soils and related fields.

Keim was a member of the Nebraska Academy of Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, the Genetics Society of America, Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta, Alpha Zeta, The Nebraska Agronomy Club, Farm House Fraternity and the Innocents Society at the University of Nebraska. In 1950 he received a plaque from the Nebraska Crop Improvement Association, and in 1955 he received one from the Nebraska Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers for his service.

The Agronomy Building was renamed Keim Hall in his honor in 1957. An inscription on a plaque placed in the main entrance to Keim Hall describes the gift he left to his generation. It says “He taught and inspired many in the science of agronomy and in the principles of living.”

MONICA NORBY

Monica Norby, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research, is responsible for developing strategic research initiatives and for the oversight of federal relations, research communications and international research collaborations.

Norby received her Bachelor of Science in horticulture in 1977 and a Master of Science in plant breeding and genetics in 1982, both from Nebraska.

The natural world — especially plants and landscapes — and science writing have remained the two driving interests that shaped Norby’s education and career choices.

She spent her early childhood living on the edge of Omaha next to areas of pasture, woods and a creek and developed a love of the outdoors. Always an avid reader, Norby had plans to become a writer by the time she attended junior high school in Lincoln. High school years brought the environmental movement and the first Earth Day, which she passionately promoted throughout high school in Lincoln. Norby’s interest in horticulture began in her senior year working in the greenhouses at Campbell’s Nurseries.

As a college freshman, Norby majored in horticulture and forestry with the intent to study forestry. Many required courses were in agronomy, where she was introduced to plant breeding by the late genetics professor Dave McGill and the late Dermot Coyne, George Holmes University professor of agronomy and horticulture. But her commitment to plant breeding came while taking a course taught by the late John Schmidt. The agronomy professor caught Norby’s imagination when he claimed that the first plant breeders were women gathering seeds and saving the best for the next crop.

After completing her bachelor’s degree, Norby became a research technician for Terry Riordan, Nebraska emeritus professor for the then new turfgrass breeding program. Beginning in 1978 she worked for Schmidt and the late agronomy professor Virgil Johnson, who led the internationally recognized Nebraska wheat research program for the next decade. She completed her master’s degree in plant breeding and genetics and went on to pursue doctoral studies with Schmidt.

In 1986 Norby changed career paths and founded Norby Consulting, combining her scientific background with her writing skills and specializing in science writing and proposal development. She wrote research stories for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Sciences publication Research Nebraska and the Statewide Arboretum’s The Seed and the Spring Affair News and ventured into grant proposals.

In 1998, she partnered with Nebraska’s Roger Bruning, Velma Warren Hodder professor of educational psychology, on his book "Cognitive Psychology and Instruction," now in its fifth edition.

Norby returned to the university in 1998 as a proposal writer. She worked with the late Prem Paul, former vice chancellor for research, and Mike Zeleny, now chief of staff and associate to the chancellor, to build the university into a research powerhouse. Norby established the Office of Proposal Development, which helps investigators develop grant proposals and secure funding for their research, and the Office of Research Communications, that produces print, web and social media communicating Nebraska research to internal and external audiences.

Norby has played a key role in establishing and securing funding for major projects, centers and institutes at the university. Key projects include the Nebraska Center for Virology, the Extreme Light Laboratory, NEBRASKA MATH, Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts, Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research and the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. From 2012 to 2013, she was associate director of DWFI and developed staff, programmatic areas and strategic and marketing plans for the institute.