The Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
Dr. Rohan Fernando Top Dog Spotlight
- Outstanding Alumnus Award (Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology)
- Rohan L. Fernando (1978), professor emeritus of animal science, Iowa State University
Known as one of the strongest theoreticians in the world in quantitative genetics, Dr. Rohan L. Fernando's efforts have focused primarily on theory and methods for use of genetic markers in breeding, and for genetic evaluations of crossbred animals. Rohan's scientific contributions have been presented in hundreds of peer-reviewed publications, invited talks, seminars and courses in more than 16 countries.
The Sri Lankan American received a Diploma (First Class Honors) in Agriculture from Aquinas College in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1975, the same city of his birth. He added a B.S. degree (Summa Cum Laude) in Agricultural Science from California State University, Fresno in 1978, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Animal Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1981 and 1984.
He received the Norton Prize in Statistics for his Ph.D. research.
Dr. Fernando joined the Department of Animal Science at the University of Illinois as a Research and Teaching Associate in 1985, and continued there as an Assistant Professor from 19861991 and as an Associate Professor from 1991-1996. He was on Sabbatical leave in the Department of Biometry and Genetics at Louisiana State University, Medical Center, New Orleans, from 1991-1992. In 1996, he joined the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University as Full Professor.
Dr. Fernando is internationally recognized for his contributions to the development of methodology for genetic improvement of livestock, especially in the area of incorporating molecular information into breeding. He has received 79 invitations to speak on these developments in 15 countries.
Fernando has contributed to integrate his research into software applications used by the livestock industry such as PEST, Matvec, GenSel and JWAS.
He has taught courses and given workshops in Applied Statistics, Quantitative Genetics,
QTL Mapping, Population Genetics, Mixed Linear Models, Animal Breeding, Bioinformatics,
Computer Programming, and Genomic Selection in the United States, and several countries
including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand,
Switzerland and Turkey.
He has served as major or co-major advisor for three M.S., 16 Ph.D., and 14 postdoctoral students. He has served as an external examiner for Ph.D. examinations in Canada, Pakistan and Switzerland. Dr. Fernando served Genetics, Selection and Evolution as an Associate Editor from 1992-1994 and as a member of the Advisory Board from 1998-2000.
He was a member of a USDA Scientific Control Review Panel in 2002 and is currently an associate editor for Frontiers in Livestock Genomics. In 2012, Dr. Fernando received the Rockefeller Prentice Memorial Award in Animal Breeding and Genetics from the American Society of Animal Science.
Rohan has three sons and a daughter from his marriage to Terry Harrigan in 1989.
2023 Fresno State Top Dog TV Program
Other 2023 Fresno State Top Dog Honorees Information