Seth C. Murray, Prof.

Home university/institution and department/research group

• Texas A&M University / Texas A&M AgriLife Research
• Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
• Phenomics, quantitative genetics and maize breeding
   

Short biography

Dr. Murray received his PhD from Cornell University, a BS from Michigan State University and studied abroad at Wageningen University. He teaches a PhD level class in molecular quantitative genetics in plant breeding and an undergraduate class on American agriculture from history to the present. Dr. Murray has served in leadership and editorial roles for the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA), the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), the National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB) and the North American Plant Phenotyping Network (NAPPN) among others. He served as the Senior Advisor of Agricultural Systems in the Office of the Chief Scientist at the United States Department of Agriculture. He has a small farm where he has planted a genetic diversity collection of fruit and nut trees, primarily pomegranates and apples for now.
 

Research summary

Dr. Murray’s research program focuses on new approaches in high throughput field phenotyping (including unmanned aerial vehicles, UAS i.e. drones), quantitative genetic discovery, gene to phene data analytics and applied maize (corn) breeding in Texas, as well as perenniality in maize and sorghum. He has released 9 maize lines, some having been licensed and being grown by Texas farmers, including proprietary hybrids for whiskey. A major focus and impact of his program is graduate student training, chairing 33 committees and serving on another 34 committees. His current scientific research primarily focuses on temporal phenomic prediction and selection of breeding lines using UAS.
 

KeywordS

• phenomics 
• maize
• plant breeding
• quantitative genetics