4月23-24日，资深育种专家Dr. David Mies在北京大学现代农业研究院开展英文讲座，作了题为“Creation of heterotic pools”“Impact of first tester in inbred development”“Pilar inbreds”“Event selection/lessons learned”“Plant breeding process changes over decades”的5个课程分享。讲座以线下线上会议和视频号直播等形式同步开展，累计3100多人次在线观看了直播，取得了良好的宣传交流效果。

Dr. David Mies在潍坊市期间，还受邀参加了2024潍坊风筝嘉年华暨第41届潍坊国际风筝会相关活动，与北京大学现代农业研究院副院长张兴平一同到峡山生态经济开发区、青州市和寿光市进行了交流访问。Dr. David Mies对山东潍坊的热情好客和北大农研院的农业科技发展给予了高度评价，期望通过进一步交流加深了解，探讨可能的合作领域。

Dr. David Mies

Dr. Dave Mies studied Plant Breeding and Genetics at the University of Wisconsin Madison receiving his PhD in 1978. Dr. Dave Mies’s research was on Epistasis which is still a subject of research today in the genomics era.

Dr. Dave Mies worked in corn breeding for NK/Syngenta for 35 years.Early efforts were in conventional plant breeding. In 1993, his work evolved and utilized transgenes.  Dr. Dave Mies led all of the Field Efficacy, Breeding Conversion, Regulated Testing, and Performance Evaluation for the first successful transgene used in Maize. BT11, incorporating the Cty1Ab protein from Bacillus thuringiensis for control of the European Corn Borer, was deregulated and commercialized in the USA in 1996.  Using integrated pest management procedures, this transgene is still effective over 25 years later in the USA and Internationally.

Dr. Dave Mies has always had a strong international interest and was selected to lead the development of the Syngenta corn breeding program in China in 2005 -2011. In that period, Dr. Dave Mies developed a program with five research stations and over 40 research scientists.  In 2011, Dr. Dave Mies started a new program leveraging Syngenta corn germplasm globally. This work allowed interaction with scientists and extensive travel in India, Thailand, Philippines, South America, Europe and North America. 

Dr. Dave Mies “retired” in November 2013 and currently works as a plant breeding consultant globally. He has made three trips to Africa reviewing CGIAR programs on corn, sorghum, pearl millet, groundnuts, and Dry Beans.  Dr. Dave Mies has traveled to India three times as a consultant and is still working as a consultant.

Dr. Dave Mies has been active in the American Society of Agronomy Golden Opportunity Scholar program for over 5 years, mentoring college students interested in a career in plant sciences. He has chaired the applicant review process and worked to extend the program to reach more students in the US and Internationally.

Dr. Dave Mies has also supported college scholarship programs in agriculture and agronomy/plant breeding and genetics. He has worked with the Jonathon Baldwin Turner and other scholarship programs reviewing candidates. At the University of Illinois, he has been active in the recently completed Crop Sciences Turner HallRenovation project and awarded the Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Alumni Award of Merit in 2018.