Biography: Bill Cresko is a Professor of Biology and a member of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IE2) at the University of Oregon. He has leadership roles on campus as associate vice president of research and leader of the Presidential Initiative in Data Science. Cresko is also a member of the Internal Advisory Board at the University for the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact (KCASI). Cresko studies the genomic basis of evolutionary change using comparative studies of natural populations in the wild and experimental approaches in the laboratory. He uses the threespine stickleback fish as his primary model to understand how molecular genetic variation can modify networks of genes and proteins to produce variation in evolutionarily important traits. Most recently his lab has developed stickleback as a model for studies of how host genetic variation can influence their associated microbial communities. His lab is also well known for developing genomic tools (e.g. RAD-seq) and super-computing software (e.g. Stacks), both of which are now used by thousands of scientists around the world. Cresko’s group has published nearly 100 papers that have been cited thousands of times. In addition to several prestigious fellowships throughout his education from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), Cresko received the Fund for Faculty Excellence Award from the University in 2013 and was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2016. Work in his laboratory has been supported by grants from the NIH, NSF, the Murdock Charitable Trust and the W. M. Keck Foundation. Cresko co-founded the Applied Graduate Internship Program in Genomics and Bioinformatics, an interdisciplinary training program at UO, with his collaborator Andy Berglund, which is now part of KCASI. He has also provided key faculty leadership for over $600 million dollars in philanthropic donations to the University of Oregon over the last decade, primarily in support of research, including the largest single gift to a comprehensive public university from Phil and Penny Knight. Cresko received his bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. in biology from Clark University under Dr. Susan Foster where he first started developing the threespine stickleback model. From 2001-2005 he worked as an NIH postdoctoral scholar with Drs. John Postlethwait and Charles Kimmel at UO, two of the founders of the zebrafish model. During this time Cresko honed his knowledge of vertebrate developmental genetics using zebrafish, and also acquired his first grant from NSF to begin developing the stickleback model. He became a UO faculty member in 2005 and became Full Professor in 2016.
Honors: Elected Fellow of AAAS 2016. Fund for Faculty Excellence, University of Oregon, 2013. Biology Department Teaching Recognition Award, University of Oregon, 2010. NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2001-2004. Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG), National Science Foundation (NSF), 1998-2000. NSF GRFP Honorable mention 1995&1996, EPA STAR Graduate Fellowship, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 1996-2000.
Appointments: Professor, Department of Biology, University of Oregon, 2016. Associate Vice President for Research, University of Oregon, 2014-present. Director, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, 2013-2014. Director, Master’s Program in Genomics and Bioinformatics, 2012-2017. Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Oregon, 2011-2016. Director of High Throughput Sequencing Center, University of Oregon, 2009-2012. Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Oregon, 2005-2011. NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Univ. of Oregon, 2001-2004.
Professional Activities: Ad hoc Member NIH Molecular NIH K99/P00 study section, 2018. Ad hoc Member NIH Molecular NeuroGenomics Study Section, 2016. Ad hoc Member, NIH Genes, Genomes and Genetics Study Section, 2013-15. Rutherford Prize Reviewer, New Zealand Science Council, 2015. Guest Associate Editor, PLoS Genetics, 2014-2015. Organizer of 2014 Evo-WIBO Conference, 2014. Ad hoc Member, NIH Center of Excellence Study Section, 2014. External Reviewer for Tenure Cases at AAU institutions. Reviewer, European Research Council (ERC) proposals 2012-2014. Dissertation Opponent in Sweden (2) and Portugal (1), 2011-2015. Reviewer for Austrian Science Foundation Erwin Schrodinger Grants, 2014. Outside Program Review Member, GENECO program, Sweden, 2014. Member, NSF Evolutionary Genetics Grant Review Panel, 2010-2013. Member, NSF Developmental Processes Grant Review Panel, 2010-2012. Member, NSF Molecular and Cellular Biology Grant Review Panel, 2011. Invited Faculty, First NSF PanAsia Genomics School, Dumaguete, Philippines, 2012. Reviewer for Icelandic Research Council Grants, 2011. Organizer, NESCENT RAD-seq workshop, Durham, NC., 2011. Co-organizer of the Fifth International Stickleback Conference, 2006. Guest Editor of the Fifth International Stickleback Conference Proceedings, 2007. Reviewer for Numerous Journals Including Science, Nature, PNAS, Development, Developmental Biology, Evolution, Ecology, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Genetics, G3, Genome Research, PLoS Genetics, Genome Biology, among many others, 2004-present. Associate Editor PeerJ, 2016-present.
Research Interests: • Quantitative & Evolutionary Genomics • Computational Biology • Cell & Developmental Biology • Molecular Biology & Genetics • Biological Data Science