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Deborah Pierson Delmer, Ph.D.
Deborah Delmer is Private Consultant to foundations and government agencies in the areas of plant biotechnology. She is Professor Emeritus in Plant Biology, UC Davis; former Program Director, BREAD program of U.S. National Science Foundation; former Associate Director for Food Security for The Rockefeller Foundation; and former Chair of Plant Biology, UC Davis. A member of the U.S. Academy of Sciences, Dr. Delmer has been the recipient of the Anselme Payen Award from the American Chemical Society in recognition of excellence in the science and chemical technology of cellulose. She is a member of National Research Council Study on Emerging Technologies in Agriculture and serves on Board of Trustees for PIPRA (Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture) Foundation, the Advisory Board for the US AID Agricultural Biotechnology Support II project, Advisory Board for the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, and on the Science Advisory Board for PepsiCo, Inc. |
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Adel A. Kader, Ph.D.
Adel Kader is Professor Emeritus of Postharvest Physiology in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis. Dr. Kader's activities included mentoring graduate students and postdoctoral researches, participation in teaching several courses on postharvest physiology and technology of horticultural crops and extension of information to producers, handlers, and consumers. He published more than 230 technical publications and edited and co-authored a book on Postharvest Technology of Horticultural Crops. He is the Technical Editor of the UCDavis Postharvest Internet Site (http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu). He has served as a consultant on strategies for maintaining quality and reducing postharvest losses of horticultural perishables both within the U.S. and in many other countries, including Chile, China, Egypt, Ghana, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand, and Philippines. Dr. Kader received awards for outstanding teaching in 1989 and for distinguished graduate mentoring in 2003 from the University of California at Davis and for best research publications in 1978 and 1980 from the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS). He was elected a fellow of ASHS in 1986, President-elect in 1995, President in 1996, and Chairman of the Board of Directors in 1997. He was selected as the Outstanding Horticulturist of 1997 by the Horticultural Research Center at Laval University, Quebec, Canada. In October, 2000 Dr. Kader received the “Award of Distinction” from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the “Alumni Citation for Excellence” from the Cal Aggie Alumni Association at UCDavis.
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Poonpipope Kasemsap, Ph.D.
Poonpipope Kasemsap is Associate Professor of Crop Eco-Physiology, Chair of the Horticulture Department, and Director of the International Studies Center at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand. He is the chair of the International Biology Olympiad (2008-12) and has been the National Coordinator of ThaiFlux Network since 2007. His research and teaching focuses on the effects of climate changes and air pollutants on the eco-physiology of horticultural crops and on the physiology of horticultural crop production.
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J.D.H. Keatinge, Ph.D.
Dyno Keatinge is an agronomist and holds a Doctorate in Agriculture from Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland and is Visiting Professor of Tropical Agriculture at The University of Reading, UK. He has global expertise in crop agronomy and he has worked at many of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research Centers including ICARDA in Syria, Pakistan and Turkey, IITA in Nigeria and Cameroon and ICRISAT in India and several countries in sub-Saharan Africa. He also was Professor of Agricultural Systems and Management at Reading University in UK for much of the 1990s and claims to have worked professionally in every continent on earth except Antartica! Presently, he is Director General of AVRDC – The World Vegetable Research and Development Center based in Taiwan, Vice-Chairman of the Global Horticultural Initiative, and a member of the Horticulture CRSP International Advisory Board.
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Josette Lewis, Ph.D.
Dr. Lewis recently joined Arcadia Biosciences to expand the company’s licensing and partnerships, particularly in developing countries. Prior to joining Arcadia, Dr. Lewis spent sixteen years with the U.S. Agency for International Development. Most recently, she served as Director of the Office of Agriculture, where she played a leadership role in the development of the Administration’s global initiative on food security; development of a new strategy for agricultural research, and initiated numerous new partnerships with universities, agricultural companies, and non-governmental organizations in the U.S. and developing countries.
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Norman E. Looney, Ph.D.
Trained first as an agricultural sciences educator and then as a plant physiologist and pomologist (fruit crops horticulture), Dr. Looney achieved early recognition for his pioneering research on the biochemistry and physiology of fruit ripening. Over a 35 year career as a scientist and science manager with Canada’s Department of Agriculture he published more than 70 scientific papers, numerous book chapters and learned reviews, and edited two pomology reference books. Very active in several professional societies, Looney was recognized as a Fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science (1985) and by the Canadian Society for Horticultural Science as a Life Member (2002). In 2006 he became a Fellow of the International Society for Horticultural Science (www.ishs.org).
In 1972 Dr. Looney was a founding member of the ISHS Working Group on the “Use of Plant Bioregulators in Fruit Production.” Through this involvement as a loyal contributor and eventually as Working Group Chair, Looney moved to ever more influential leadership positions within the Society. By the early 1990’s he was Chair of the ISHS Fruit Section which at that time administered 26 active Working Groups.
During that same decade he led a successful Canadian bid to host the 26th International Horticultural Congress. Held in Toronto, IHC2002 was developed around the theme of “Horticulture: Art and Science for Life.” It attracted 2500 participants from 80 countries and introduced organizational innovations used by all subsequent Congress organizers. A key objective of IHC2002 was to call attention to the potential of high value plant agriculture (horticulture) to reduce poverty and improve life quality of small-hold farmers in developing countries – that horticultural science can contribute much to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015.
This vision of an international society of biologists ready to recognize the social and socio-economic impacts of horticulture resulted in Dr. Looney being elected ISHS President in 2002 and re-elected to that position in 2006. During his Presidency, ISHS has grown from a Society of 4500 members to one with over 7000 members in 142 countries. The number of country delegations represented on the ISHS governing Council has increased from 40 to 51.
The new interest of ISHS in supporting colleagues engaged in horticultural research for development culminated in the launch of the Global Horticulture Initiative (www.globalhort.org) at Montpellier, France in 2006. ISHS partnered with CIRAD, a French agency supporting horticulture for development in tropical countries, and the World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC; Taiwan) to organize and host this official launch. Dr. Looney, as ISHS President sits on the Board of Directors and currently serves as the Board Chair. Today’s GlobalHort is led by an enlarged consortium including the Global Forum for Agricultural Research, the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, and the International Seed Federation.
Dr. Looney’s international leadership achievements were recognized by the Royal Horticultural Society (UK) with its Gold Veitch Memorial Medal in 2006.
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Umezuruike Linus Opara, Ph.D., CEng
Linus Opara is a chartered engineer (UK) and holds degrees in agricultural engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (BEng Hons cum laude and MEng) and PhD in Agricultural Engineering from Massey University, New Zealand. He has held academic and management positions at Australasia, Middle East and Africa. At Massey University, New Zealand, he was Senior Lecturer & Programme Director of Engineering Technology, founding member of the Centre for Postharvest and Refrigeration Research, and elected member of the University Governing Council. At Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, he was Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Assistant Dean for Postgraduate Studies & Research, member of the university’s Academic Council, member of the Quality Audit Committee, and is a certified quality auditor of the Oman Accreditation Council.
Prof. Opara is currently a Research Professor and holds the DST/NRF South African Research Chair in Postharvest Technology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa (www.sun.ac.za/postharvest). His activities include mentoring and guiding postgraduate students and fellows, and promoting “PRADA” − a network for Postharvest Research and Development in Africa. He is a member of the Programme Management Unit of the Postharvest Innovation Fund, a joint public-private sector R&D programme for the South African fruit industry.
He is currently Chair of Section VI (Postharvest Technology and Process Engineering) of the International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (CIGR), Vice-chair of the Roots and Tuber section of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), Chair for Engineering and Information Technology of the International Society for Food, Agriculture and Environment, former Vice-President (Postharvest Technology and Biotechnology) of the Asian Association for Agricultural Engineering (AAAE), and Convenor of the November 2012 International Conference on Postharvest Technology & Agro-Processing in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Prof Opara is founding editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation (www.inderscience.com/ijpti), initiated and co-edited special issues of the International Journal of Engineering Education on recent advances in agricultural and biological engineering education, published over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, and has made over 150 oral presentations at international conferences, including keynotes and invited lectures. He was co-author of the agricultural mechanization component of the 1989-2004 agricultural development plan of Nigeria.
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Howard Yana Shapiro, Ph.D.
Dr. Shapiro is Corporate Staff Officer of Plant Science and External Affairs at Mars, Inc. and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at University of California, Davis. Involved with sustainable agricultural and agroforestry systems, plant breeding, molecular biology and food production systems for over 40 years, he is a founder of Seeds of Change. At Mars, Inc. he is responsible for plant science globally, investigation of potential new plant-base solutions, and review and oversight of existing and future plant-based research. A former Fulbright Scholar, Ford Foundation Fellow, National Endowment of the Humanities Award winner, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Organic Trade Association, and college professor, Howard is Chair of the External Advisory Board of the Agriculture Sustainability Institute at UC Davis and an award winning author of four books.
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Lusike A. Wasilwa, Ph.D.
Lusike Wasilwa holds a Ph.D. in Plant Science from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, US and a post doctorate from Rutgers University, New Jersey. She has research experience of over 20 years and has authored or co authored several publications, scientific articles and technical papers in a wide spectrum of subject matter with emphasis on molecular plant pathology. Lusike has been working for Kenya Agriculture Research Institute at the headquarters as the Assistant Director in charge of Horticulture and Industrial Crops Division. Lusike is involved in providing leadership to several KARI projects and activities including building, developing and promoting of integrated horticulture and industrial crops product value chains for increased productivity, commercialisation and competitiveness of the crop sub-sector. She is the convener of the 1st All Africa Horticulture Congress, Nairobi, Kenya, 2009 and co-convener of Symposium on Horticulture for Development at International Horticultural Congress 2010, Lisbon, Portugal. Past Secretary General of the Plant Breeding Association of Kenya and the Horticulture Coordinator of the USAID Agribusiness Development Support Project implemented by KARI. She serves on the advisory board for the African Journal for Horticultural Science and is also an active member of various local and international professional societies and associations. Lusike is a recipient of two medals in recognition of service to the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS). She also a receipt of the Gender and Diversity Rockefeller Fellowship Programme to enhance the careers of women crop scientists in East Africa and an AWARD (African Women in Agriculture Research Development). Lusike is committed to sustainable horticulture, biotechnology and product development; science and technology management; public policy formulation; technology transfer; and human resources development.
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L. George Wilson, Ph.D.
George Wilson has been Professor of Horticultural Science at North Carolina State University since 1975. His research, teaching and extension focuses on postharvest physiology/technology. He was the Senior Advisor for university relations and agriculture research, training and outreach, and Chief of Party of Peru Mission for USAID. His other international in-country positions include Honduras where he was Research Physiologist for nine years for the Division of Tropical Research of United Fruit Company (Chiquita International), Bulgaria and more than 50 countries. He is Past-President and Fellow of American Society for Horticultural Science. George is active in International Society for Horticultural Science and numerous other scientific, technical and honorary societies and represents NC State University as a Horticulture CRSP Partner and served as a member of the Horticulture CRSP Program Council.
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