AAAS Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture

The AAAS Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture is an important opportunity to explore the environmental and societal challenges facing our planet through the lens of agricultural innovation and its applications in a global context.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Foundation (RMF), and the World Food Prize Foundation (WFPF) invite nominations for the

2022 AAAS Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture

Fall 2022

We are seeking nominations for speakers who will discuss emerging opportunities and challenges in agricultural pest management and technological innovations to support agricultural productivity and food security in the face of changing environmental conditions.

The 2022 nominees should be well-respected scientists working at the forefront of pressing issues at the nexus of agriculture and society. They should have outstanding scientific contributions or significant policy accomplishments related to agriculture with demonstrated societal impact.

The lecture carries an honorarium of $5,000 and AAAS will cover standard travel and lodging expenses.

Nomination Instructions

Nominations (for self or for others) should be typed, include the following information, and will be kept in the confidence of the selection committee:

• Nominee’s name and title, institutional affiliation, address (physical and email), and phone number
• A summary of the basis of the nomination that illustrates the nominee’s accomplishments with respect to agriculture and society (not to exceed 500 words)
• The nominee’s curriculum vitae (not to exceed 3 pages)

Candidates nominated but not selected in 2020 and 2021 may be re-nominated for the 2022 Lecture.

Submission Instructions and Deadline

All documentation should be submitted in PDF or Word format via email to Dr. Michael Fernandez, EPI Center Director, at mdfernandez@aaas.org. For more information, please send Dr. Fernandez an email.

The deadline for nominations is June 10, 2022.

Lecturer eligibility: Nominations must be for individuals and not institutions; and members (and immediate family members) of the Selection Committee and staff of AAAS, RMF, and WFPF are ineligible.

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)