Goodman, Major M.

Major M. Goodman was born September 13, 1938 and began working with maize as a 14-year old detasseler at Pioneer Hi-Bred International in his hometown of Johnston, Iowa.

He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Math with a Minor in Chemistry in 1960 from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. He continued his education at North Carolina State University, graduating in 1963 with a Master's Degree in Genetics with a Minor in Statistics. In 1965, he received his Ph.D. in Genetics and Statistics from N.C. State. His thesis was directed by S.G. Stephens and focused on the classification, correlation, and structure of populations. While earning his degrees at N.C. State, he served as a Research Assistant from 1960 to 1961 and a National Science Foundation Co-op Fellow from 1961 to 1965.

From 1965 to 1967 Dr. Goodman was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute de Genetica, Escola Superior de Agricultura in Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1967, he returned to N.C. State as a Visiting Assistant Professor. He was appointed Assistant Professor in 1968 and Associate Professor in 1970 before being awarded full Professorship in 1976. Since 1988 Dr. Goodman has been the William Neal Reynolds and Distinguished University Professor of Crop Science, Statistics, Genetics, and Botany at N.C. State University.

Dr. Goodman has been active in crop science research for over forty years and is considered to be one of the leading experts on maize genetics. He has made numerous important contributions to the field, especially on the subjects of plant breeding and genetic diversity. His major research interests include the evolution of cultivated plants, plant breeding, isozyme genentics, and numerical taxonomy. As of 2012, he continues to serve as the head of the Maize Breeding and Genetics Program in the Department of Crop Science at N.C. State.