Academic Profile

Biography

Ignacy Misztal,
D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professor of Animal Breeding and Genetics

Dr. Ignacy Misztal came to UGA as Associate Professor in 1996. He obtained his MSEE from Warsaw Technical University and his PhD from Polish Academy of Science. Prior to coming to UGA, he stayed at Warsaw Agriculture University (Poland), Hohenheim University (Germany), University of Guelph (Canada), and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Misztal main research is in genetic evaluation methodology and computational strategies that improve livestock production and sustainability. He pioneered single-step GBLUP - a method to consider genomic, pedigree and phenotypic information jointly; this method
become the standard in the field. He also pioneered a novel method to evaluate animals for heat tolerance using special models with data from public weather stations. Software programs developed by his lab have been used by researchers in at least 50 countries and have become the backbone for the genetic evaluation programs of some of the largest animal genetics companies and breed associations in the world.

Dr. Misztal has published 290 refereed journal papers, delivered over 150 invited talks in 34 countries, and has taught 30 short courses in 16 countries on 6 continents. His research has attracted over $12 million in extramural funding and is critical to the dairy, beef, pig, and poultry industries globally. His awards include J. L. Lush (ADSA), Rockefeller Prentice (ASAS), Research (NAAB), Pioneer (BIF), and D.W. Brooks (Research, Global Programs, Distinguished Professor -- CAES UGA).

Education

1978 M.S. (Computer Engineering), Warsaw Technical University
1985 Ph.D. (Technical Sciences), Polish Academy of Sciences

Research Interests

Genetic evaluation methodology
Programming algorithms related to animal breeding
Genetics of heat tolerance, fertility, and mortality
Genotype x environment interaction and competition effects
Incorporation of genomic information into genetic evaluations
Potential negative effects of genomic selection
Estimation of genetic parameters with large data sets

Courses Taught

Mixed Models
Computing in Animal Breeding
Advanced Animal Breeding
Graduate student seminar

Links

Group website: http://nce.ads.uga.edu
Personal website: http://nce.ads.uga.edu/~ignacy

Publications

See:
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ignacy_Misztal
Googlescholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Gl9HDqYAAAAJ&hl=en