The Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture Series
In 2008, the Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Foundation (RMF) endowed the Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture at AAAS in honor of Professor Riley’s legacy as a “whole picture” person with a vision for enhancing agriculture through scientific knowledge.
The Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture is a collaboration between AAAS, RMF, and the World Food Prize Foundation (WFPF), an organization whose fundamental goal is to support efforts toward an adequate supply and availability of nutritious food for the burgeoning world population in the 21st century. The annual lecture welcomes distinguished speakers to explore the environmental and societal challenges facing our planet through the lens of agricultural innovation and its applications in a global context. Past lecturers include:
- Dr. Andrew Peter Dobson, Princeton University; Dr. Xiang-Jin Meng, Virginia Tech; and, Dr. James A. Roth, Iowa State University
- Dr. Evan H. DeLucia, G. William Arends Professor of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Dr. Robert S. Ziegler, Director General Emeritus, International Rice Research Institute, Philippines
- Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam, Cooperative Extension Specialist, University of California, Davis
- Dr. Robert Fraley, then Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Monsanto
- Dr. Randy Woodson, Chancellor, North Carolina State University
- Dr. Steven Leath, then President, Iowa State University
- The Honorable Daniel Glickman, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
- Dr. Stephen P. Long, Gutgesell Endowed University Professor of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences, University of Illinois
- Dr. Robert Horsch, Deputy Director for Research & Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Dr. Pamela C. Ronald, Professor of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis
- Dr. Roger Beachy, then Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture
To learn more about Charles Riley, visit the Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Foundation or the Charles Valentine Riley Collection in the USDA National Agricultural Library.
"…to promote a broader and more complete
understanding of agriculture as the most
basic human endeavor and... to enhance
agriculture through increased scientific
knowledge."
- Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Foundation
(Charles Valentine Riley Examining an Insect. Undated | Charles Valentine Riley Collection. Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, Maryland.)
Sponsors
The Lecture is sponsored by the Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Foundation.
Past Lectures
2021 Lecture: Zoonotic Diseases and the Role of Agricultural Research in Preventing Future Pandemics
Presented by Dr. Andrew Peter Dobson, Princeton University; Dr. Xiang-Jin Meng, Virginia Tech; and, Dr. James A. Roth, Iowa State University.
2020 Lecture: Rethinking American Agriculture: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Food Production
Presented by Dr. Evan H. DeLucia, G. William Arends Professor of Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
2019 Lecture: Science and policy: their Yin and Yang dynamic and global food security
Presented by Robert S. Zeigler, Director General Emeritus, International Rice Research Institute, Philippines.
2018 Lecture: Does Agriculture have a Parallel Science Problem?
Presented by Alison Van Eenennaam, Cooperative Extension Specialist in the field of Animal Genomics and Biotechnology, University of California, Davis.
2017 Lecture: Joining Forces to Protect the Future of Agriculture and the Planet
Presented by Robert Fraley, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Monsanto Company
2016 Lecture: The Role of U.S. Research Universities in Meeting the Global Food Security Challenge
Presented by Randy Woodson, Chancellor of North Carolina State University
2015 Lecture: A University President’s Perspective on the Economic Importance of Pursuing a Unifying Message to Make Agriculture a National Priority
Presented by Steven Leath, President, Iowa State University
2014 Lecture: A Food and Agricultural Research Agenda to Deal with the Asteroids of the Future
Presented by The Honorable Daniel Glickman, Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
2013 Lecture: Food, Feed and Fuel from Crops under Global Atmospheric Change: Could we have it all in 2030?
Presented by Stephen P. Long, Gutgesell Endowed University Professor of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences University of Illinois
2012 Lecture: Why Innovation in Agriculture Matters
Presented by Rob Horsch, Deputy Director for Research & Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
2011 Lecture: Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food
Presented by Pamela C. Ronald, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis and Co-author of Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food
2010 Lecture: Agricultural Research: Changing of the Guard, Guarding the Change
Presented by Roger Beachy, then Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
Nomination Process
Each year, we seek nominations for speakers to discuss a timely topic related to food security, agricultural enhancements, research contributions to agriculture, animal genomics and biotechnology, and achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through global food system transformation.
Nominees should be well-respected scientists working at the forefront of pressing issues at the nexus of agriculture and society
