Ronald L. Phillips (1940 – 25 August 2023)[1] was an American biologist and a regents professor at the University of Minnesota.
After completing his master's degree, moved to the University of Minnesota where he studied maize cytogenetics advised by Charles Burnham,[5] graduating in 1966.
After completing his PhD, he spent a short time as a postdoc at Cornell University.
Research in the Phillips laboratory have further led to the identification of cells and plants with increased levels of essential amino acids and the development of an efficient DNA sequence mapping system used by plant scientists in genomics research.
His lab generated a set nine oat lines each carrying the complete oat genome plus one maize chromosome[7] In 2006/7, he was awarded the Wolf Prize in Agriculture along with Michel A. J. Georges of the University of Liège "for groundbreaking discoveries in genetics and genomics, laying the foundations for improvements in crop and livestock breeding, and sparking important advances in plant and animal sciences".