2005-2006 Risk Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of Agriculture
Returned to his pre-fellowship position as professor and assistant department head for Undergraduate Student Affairs at Texas A&M University
A gifted student in the West African nation of Ghana, Fred Boadu was encouraged by his high school biology teacher, a Peace Corps volunteer, to pursue his education in the U.S. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Berea College, a small liberal arts school in Kentucky, Fred continued his quest for learning by completing a master’s degree and PhD in agricultural economics from the University of Kentucky. He also obtained a law degree from Georgia State University and a master’s degree in law and economics from the University of Miami.
Today, Fred is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and assistant department head for Undergraduate Student Affairs at Texas A&M University, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1988. His university granted him a faculty development leave for 2005-06 to complete his second AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship.
Fred served in the Office of Policy, Program, and Employee Development in the Food Safety and Inspection Service, the public health agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), responsible for ensuring the safety of the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry and egg products. His assignment involved reviewing research, writing research protocols, developing economic/mathematical models, and preparing background information materials on regulations.
Highlights of his year include actively participating in discussions on proposed risk-based inspection systems, completing a major research document on the law and economics of regulation, conducting a review of the USDA’s bovine spongiform encephalopathy (commonly called mad cow disease) rule, and completing an analysis of USDA’s Listeria rule. He also conducted site visits at poultry slaughtering and processing plants.
Fred completed his initial AAAS Fellowship at the U.S. Agency for International Development from 1993-94. Working in the Africa Bureau, he focused on regulatory and judicial programs, traveling frequently to Africa to complete needs assessments. Since completing his second fellowship year, Fred has returned to his academic career in Texas.
“The use of science in the policy process is not an easy thing to grasp,” Fred says of his dual fellowship experience. “You need to be immersed in the environment to fully understand it.”