43rd Waller Memorial Lecture Series: Dr. Pamela Ronald

The graduate students of Ohio State’s Department of Molecular Genetics have announced the upcoming visit of Dr. Pamela Ronald, eminent scientist and 2019 Inductee to the National Academy of Sciences, to deliver the 43rd Annual Adolph E. Waller Memorial Lecture next month, where she will discuss the future of agriculture and food systems.

Ronald is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Davis and is known for engineering flood tolerant rice that is now grown by more than 6 million farmers around the world. Ronald is also well-known for her thoughtful contributions to public discourse on genetically-modified crops; her 2015 mainstage TED talk “The case for engineering our food” has been viewed nearly 2 million times and translated into 26 languages. Furthermore, she co-authored the book Tomorrow’s Table with her husband, an organic farmer, to discuss the relationship of organic farming and molecular biology.

Ronald’s visit will feature a pair of lectures on Ohio State’s Columbus campus: a lecture intended for a general audience on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 11:30 a.m. in Room 200, Campbell Hall entitled “Serving Up Science: Plant Genetics and the Future of Food” and a scientific lecture on the following day at 10 a.m. in Room 355, Jennings Hall.

For 43 years, the Adolph E. Waller Memorial Lecture Series has provided a forum for leaders of plant science research to engage with the public on some of the most important issues in plant research. Recent speakers have included NASA’s Dr. Jonathan Trent, biotechnology leader Dr. Harry Klee of the University of Florida, and the virologist Dr. Shou-wei Ding of the University of California Riverside. For all inquiries, contact Alex Turo.