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Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 (2019)

Chapter: Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
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Appendix A

Biographical Sketches of Committee Members

CO-CHAIRS

Dr. John D. Floros currently serves as President of New Mexico State University (NMSU). Prior to his appointment to NMSU in 2018, Dr. Floros was a professor of food science and engineering, Dean of the College of Agriculture, and Director of K-State Research and Extension at Kansas State University. He was also Head of the Department of Food Science at The Pennsylvania State University, worked in the food industry, and served on several boards, including the Food and Drug Administration’s Science Board. He is a Fellow and Past President of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), and a Fellow of the Food Systems Leadership Institute. He has expertise in food processing, engineering, and packaging systems, and a broad understanding of food safety, microbiology, biochemistry, and material science. As dean, he gained a broader perspective of our complex food system, including knowledge of animal and plant agriculture, water and natural resources, and energy and environmental issues, as well as social and behavioral concerns. Similarly, he understands the continuum of agriculture–food–nutrition–health, and he has been extensively involved in international agriculture efforts and improving the sustainability of the global food system. He has published more than 220 refereed articles, research abstracts, book chapters, and other publications, presented more than 400 scientific lectures, was invited to more than 300 lectures, and received numerous awards and professional honors throughout his career. Dr. Floros received his B.S./M.S. in food science and technology from the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×

Agricultural University of Athens, Greece, and his Ph.D. in food and science technology from the University of Georgia, Athens.

Dr. Susan R. Wessler (NAS) is currently the Neil and Rochelle Campbell Presidential Chair for Innovation in Science Education and Distinguished Professor of Genetics at the University of California, Riverside. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and in 2011 she was elected as its Home Secretary, the first woman to hold this position in its 150-year history. She is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society. Dr. Wessler is a plant molecular geneticist who studies the role of transposable elements in generating genetic diversity. Her laboratory has shown that transposable elements are an important mutagenic force fueling plant gene and genome evolution. She discovered a new type of transposon, called MITES, and unraveled key features of gene regulation through her comparative studies of rice and maize. Dr. Wessler has contributed extensively to educational initiatives. As a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, she adapted her research program for the classroom by developing the Dynamic Genome Courses where incoming freshman can experience the excitement of scientific discovery. Dr. Wessler is the recipient of several awards, including the inaugural Distinguished Scientist Award from the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA), the Stephen Hales Prize from the American Society of Plant Biologists, the Excellence in Science Award from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, and the McClintock Prize for Plant Genetics and Genome Studies from the Maize Genetics Community. She earned her B.A. in biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1974 and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Cornell University in 1980.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Dr. David B. Allison (NAM) is Dean and Provost Professor at the Indiana University–Bloomington School of Public Health. Dr. Allison received his Ph.D. from Hofstra University in 1990. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a second postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded New York Obesity Research Center at St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital Center. He was a research scientist at the New York Obesity Research Center and associate professor of medical psychology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons until 2001. Prior to becoming Dean and Provost Professor at the Indiana University–Bloomington School of Public Health in 2017, he was Distinguished Professor, Quetelet Endowed Profes-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×

sor, and Director of the NIH-funded Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has authored more than 500 scientific publications and received many awards. In 2012 he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. He has served on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI) and currently serves on the board-appointed Committee on Science and Technology Engagement with the Public (CoSTEP) for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2014-2020. He serves or has served on many editorial boards and currently serves as associate editor or statistical editor for Obesity; International Journal of Obesity; Nutrition Today; Obesity Reviews; Public Library of Science (PLoS) Genetics; Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases (SOARD); and American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Dr. Allison is also proud to be the founding Field Chief Editor of Frontiers in Genetics. Dr. Allison’s research interests include obesity and nutrition, quantitative genetics, clinical trials, statistical and research methodology, and research rigor and integrity.

Dr. Corrie C. Brown is a Josiah Meigs and University Distinguished Professor of Anatomic Pathology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia. Dr. Brown received her Ph.D. in veterinary pathology with a specialization in infectious diseases from the University of California, Davis, and her D.V.M. from the University of Guelph. She is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists. Her research interests focus on pathogenesis of infectious disease in food-producing animals, especially the transboundary animal diseases. She is active in the fields of emerging diseases and international veterinary medicine. She has published or presented more than 300 scientific papers. Dr. Brown has served on many industrial and federal panels, and has been a technical consultant to several federal agencies and intergovernmental organizations on issues involving infectious diseases and animal health infrastructure. Dr. Brown has received numerous awards for her teaching and service at the college, university, and national levels.

Dr. Lisa M. Goddard is the Director of the International Research Institute (IRI) for Climate and Society and an adjunct associate professor within the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. She has been involved in El Niño and climate forecasting research and operations since the mid-1990s. She has extensive experience in forecasting methodology and has published papers on El Niño, seasonal climate forecasting and verification, and probabilistic climate change projections. Currently leading the IRI’s effort on near-term climate change, Dr. Goddard oversees research and product development aimed at providing climate information at the 10- to 20-year horizon and how that low frequency

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×

variability and change interacts with the probabilistic risks and benefits of seasonal-to-interannual variability. Most of Dr. Goddard’s research focuses on diagnosing and extracting meaningful information from climate models and available observations. She also developed and oversees a new national postdoctoral program, the Post-docs Applying Climate Expertise Program (PACE), which explicitly links recent climate doctorate graduates with decision-making institutions. Dr. Goddard holds a Ph.D. in atmospheric and oceanic sciences from Princeton University and a B.A. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Mary Lou Guerinot (NAS) is the Ronald and Deborah Harris Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth College. In 2016, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Guerinot pioneered research on metal metabolism in plants through key discoveries of genes involved in major transport processes for minerals such as iron and zinc. Her research is critically important for both agriculture and human nutrition since iron and zinc deficiencies affect billions of humans that rely on crop-based diets. She received her B.S. in biology from Cornell University, Ph.D. in biology from Dalhousie University, and completed two postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Maryland, College Park, and the Department of Energy-Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University. She currently serves as the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Boyce Thompson Institute and is on the Board of Directors for the Genetics Society of America. She is a recipient of the Dartmouth Graduate Mentoring Award and the Dean of Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentoring and Advising, the Dennis R. Hoagland Award, and Stephen Hales Prize from the American Society for Plant Biologists.

Dr. Janet K. Jansson is the Chief Scientist for Biology in the Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate and a Laboratory Fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Dr. Jansson’s research interests are in the application of molecular “omics” tools to gain an understanding of the function of microbial communities in complex environments, ranging from soil to the human gut. She is currently coordinating two large research initiatives at PNNL; one is focused on microbiomes in transition, “MinT,” and the other is a U.S. Department of Energy–funded project on the soil microbiome. From 2007 to 2014, she was a Senior Staff Scientist and at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to that, she spent 20 years in Sweden with her last position as Professor (Chair) of Environmental Microbiology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Vice Dean of the Natural Science Faculty. Dr. Jansson recently completed a term as the President of the International Society for Microbiology. She

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×

is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and of the Washington State Academy of Science. Dr. Jansson received her Ph.D. (1988) in microbial ecology from Michigan State University.

Dr. Lee-Ann Jaykus is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University. Her current research efforts are varied and focus on (1) food virology, (2) development of molecular methods for foodborne pathogen detection, (3) application of quantitative risk assessment in food safety, and (4) understanding the ecology of pathogens in foods. She is currently serving as the scientific director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Food Virology Collaborative. Also called NoroCORE, the Collaborative is a large consortium of scientists and stakeholders working collectively to reduce the burden of foodborne illness associated with viruses. Her professional activities have included membership on the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods; participation in several National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine consensus studies and as a member of the Food and Nutrition Board and the Food Forum; and on the executive board of the International Association for Food Protection, for which she served as president in 2010-2011. She has taught food microbiology/safety at the undergraduate and graduate levels, has mentored more than 40 graduate students and 15 postdoctoral research associates, and authored or co-authored more than 170 publications. Dr. Jaykus received a B.S. degree in food science and an M.S. in animal science (food microbiology) from Purdue University. Her Ph.D. is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health.

Dr. Helen H. Jensen is a professor of economics and leads a research group focused on food and nutrition programs in the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University, an internationally recognized research center that addresses issues of the food, agricultural, and natural resource sectors. Her current research focuses on the design of food and nutrition programs and policies, assessment of nutritional enhancement of foods, food demand and markets, linkages between agricultural policies and nutrition, and food safety regulations. She has led projects that analyze food demand; involve dietary, nutritional, and health assessment; and implement food consumption surveys in the United States as well as in several developing countries. Dr. Jensen was elected a Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) in 2012 and has served on the Executive Board of AAEA and the Council on Food, Agriculture, and Resource Economics (C-FARE). She has served on several committees of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, includ-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×

ing the Committee to Review Women, Infants, and Children Food Packages. She is an active member of the Food Forum. Dr. Jensen received her B.A. in economics from Carleton College, M.S. in applied economics from the University of Minnesota, and Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Dr. Rajiv Khosla is a Robert Gardner Professor of Precision Agriculture at Colorado State University. His main research focus has been on management of in-field soil and crop variability using geospatial technologies for precision management of crop inputs. He has generated many discoveries in precision agriculture; most widely recognized among them is the innovative technique of quantifying variability of spatially diverse soils using satellite based remote sensing to create management zones. Most recently, he was recognized with the Werner L. Nelson Award for Diagnosis of Yield-Limiting Factors by the American Society of Agronomy. Previously, in 2015, he was recognized as the “Precision Ag Educator of the Year,” a national honor bestowed by the agricultural industry, and in 2012 he was named the Jefferson Science Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences. Previously, he has served two 2-year terms on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s U.S. Presidential Advisory Board on Positioning, Navigation and Timing. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy; the Soil Science Society of America; the Soil and Water Conservation Society; and an Honorary Life Fellow of the International Society of Precision Agriculture. He is the Founder and Founding President of the International Society of Precision Agriculture. Dr. Khosla received his B.S. in agricultural sciences at the University of Allahabad, India, M.S. in soil physics from Virginia Tech, and Ph.D. in soil fertility and crop management from Virginia Tech.

Dr. Robin Lougee is the IBM Research Lead for Consumer Products & Agriculture and a member of the IBM Industry Academy. She is the Chair of the Steering Committee of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research Platform for Big Data in Agriculture and the founding chair of the Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics Prize awarded by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Analytics Society. Dr. Lougee serves on the Advisory Council for the Food Science Department at Cornell University and the Advisory Committee for the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit. She is an industrial research scientist with a strong track record of delivering innovation to IBM and its customers. Dr. Lougee pioneered the creation of Computational Infrastructure for Operations Research, an open-source foundry for computational operations research, and led its growth as an independent nonprofit that has served the scientific and business community for more than 15 years. She was elected

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×

to the Board of INFORMS, the largest society in the world for professionals in the field of operations research, management science and analytics, Chair of the INFORMS Computing Society, and President of the Fora of Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences. Dr. Lougee is a past Associate Editor of Surveys in Operations Research. She earned a Ph.D. in mathematical sciences from Clemson University in 1993.

Dr. Gregory V. Lowry is the Walter J. Blenko, Sr. Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation Environmental Protection Agency Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology. He was a founding Associate Editor of Environmental Science: Nano, and currently serves on the editorial boards of Environmental Science: Nano and Nature: Scientific Data. His research aims to safely harness the unique properties of engineered nanomaterials for making water treatment and crop agriculture more sustainable. Recent work aims at understanding how a nanomaterial’s properties and environmental conditions influence its fate in soils, nanomaterial–plant interactions, nutrient uptake efficiency, and disease management. He has authored more than 140 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has served as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on grants from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as from industry. He served on the EPA Science Advisory Board (Environmental Engineering committee) and currently serves on the board of directors of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. He served on the National Research Council Committee to Develop a Research Strategy for Environmental, Health, and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials. Dr. Lowry holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Davis, an M.S. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from Stanford University.

Dr. Alison L. Van Eenennaam is a Cooperative Extension Specialist in the field of animal genomics and biotechnology in the Department of Animal Science at University of California, Davis (UC Davis), where she has been on faculty for 15 years. Her publicly funded research and outreach program focuses on the use of animal genomics and biotechnology in livestock breeding and production systems. Her current research projects include the development of genomic approaches to select for cattle that are less susceptible to disease, the development of genome editing approaches for livestock, and applied uses of DNA-based information on commercial beef cattle operations. She has given more than 550 invited presentations to audiences globally, and uses a variety of media to inform general public audiences about

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×

science and technology. Dr. Van Eenennaam was the recipient of the 2014 Council for Agricultural Science and Technology Borlaug Communication Award, and in 2017 was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She received a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from the University of Melbourne in Australia and both an M.S. in animal science and a Ph.D. in genetics from UC Davis.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25059.
×
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For nearly a century, scientific advances have fueled progress in U.S. agriculture to enable American producers to deliver safe and abundant food domestically and provide a trade surplus in bulk and high-value agricultural commodities and foods. Today, the U.S. food and agricultural enterprise faces formidable challenges that will test its long-term sustainability, competitiveness, and resilience. On its current path, future productivity in the U.S. agricultural system is likely to come with trade-offs. The success of agriculture is tied to natural systems, and these systems are showing signs of stress, even more so with the change in climate.

More than a third of the food produced is unconsumed, an unacceptable loss of food and nutrients at a time of heightened global food demand. Increased food animal production to meet greater demand will generate more greenhouse gas emissions and excess animal waste. The U.S. food supply is generally secure, but is not immune to the costly and deadly shocks of continuing outbreaks of food-borne illness or to the constant threat of pests and pathogens to crops, livestock, and poultry. U.S. farmers and producers are at the front lines and will need more tools to manage the pressures they face.

Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 identifies innovative, emerging scientific advances for making the U.S. food and agricultural system more efficient, resilient, and sustainable. This report explores the availability of relatively new scientific developments across all disciplines that could accelerate progress toward these goals. It identifies the most promising scientific breakthroughs that could have the greatest positive impact on food and agriculture, and that are possible to achieve in the next decade (by 2030).

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