Career
His awards include The Dobzhansky Award for Outstanding Research in Behavior Genetics (Behavior Genetics Association, 1992), Consulting Editor of the Journal of Learning Disabilities (1987–2002), Fellowships in the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities, Association for Psychological Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Section J (Psychology). His contributions include major twin and adoption studies of cognitive abilities, genetics of learning disabilities, and, when molecular tools became available, pioneering the use of deoxyribonucleic acid markers to locate genes that influence behavioral characters. At the Institute for Behavioral Genetics at the University of Colorado Boulder Doctor DeFries established the world"s first large twin study of dyslexia at the Institute for Behavior Genetics in Boulder, and supervised over 17 Doctor of Philosophy students.
Among his works are a standard text on behavior genetics and original work on behavior-genetic methodology, some of it in collaboration with David Fulker.
DeFries" articles have been cited over 8000 times and he has an h-index of 48. Behavioral Genetics in the Postgenomic Era, by Robert Plomin, Behavioral Genetics by Robert Plomin.
