Robert M. Goodman
Encyclopedia
Biography
Goodman was born in IthacaIthaca
Ithaca or Ithaka is an island located in the Ionian Sea, in Greece, with an area of and a little more than three thousand inhabitants. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. It lies off the northeast coast of Kefalonia and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. After graduating from Trumansburg High School, he attended Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
before transferring to Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, where he earned a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
(B.Sc.) in plant sciences and his Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
(Ph.D.) in plant pathology. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in plant virology at the John Innes Centre
John Innes Centre
The John Innes Centre located in Norwich, Norfolk, England is an independent centre for research and training in plant and microbial science...
in Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
, England.
Goodman was a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 1974-1982. He then joined Calgene, Inc., as executive vice-president of R&D. From 1990–1991, he served as senior scholar-in-residence at the National Research Council
United States National Research Council
The National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...
/National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
.
Immediately prior to assuming his decanal duties at Rutgers, Goodman was a professor of plant pathology and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
. There, he studied microbial diversity using culture-independent methods. His group discovered a clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
of soil Crenarchaeota
Crenarchaeota
In taxonomy, the Crenarchaeota has been classified as either a phylum of the Archaea kingdom or a kingdom of its own...
inhabiting soil and plant roots, and characterized the diversity of uncultivated members of the bacterial division acidobacterium. He and collaborators also pioneered the field now known as "metagenomics
Metagenomics
Metagenomics is the study of metagenomes, genetic material recovered directly from environmental samples. The broad field may also be referred to as environmental genomics, ecogenomics or community genomics. Traditional microbiology and microbial genome sequencing rely upon cultivated clonal cultures...
." Goodman's work has appeared in premier journals, including Nature, Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
, Virology
Virology (journal)
Virology is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers basic research into viruses affecting animals, plants, bacteria and fungi, including their molecular biology, structure, assembly, pathogenesis, immunity and interactions with the host cell...
, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, usually referred to as PNAS, is the official journal of the United States National Academy of Sciences...
.
Goodman also served as chair of the undergraduate major in molecular biology and as chair of the oversight committee of the McKnight Foundation
McKnight Foundation
The McKnight Foundation is a philanthropic organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The foundation's interests lie in the environment, the arts, community development, and other areas....
Collaborative Crop Research Program.
Goodman was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
(AAAS) in 2002 and also chaired the Agriculture, Food and Renewable Resources section of the AAAS. He also served two terms as a trustee of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center is a non-profit research and training institution dedicated to both the development of improved varieties of wheat and maize, and introducing improved agricultural practices to farmers, thereby improving their...
(CIMMYT) and for many years was a member of the board of directors of the Cornell Research Foundation.