GES Center Lectures, NC State University

GES Colloquium - Tuesdays 12-1PM, Poe 202, NC State University

GES Mediasite - Video w/slides https://go.ncsu.edu/ges-mediasite

More info at http://go.ncsu.edu/ges-colloquium | Twitter -https://twitter.com/GESCenterNCSU

Expanding the general public's interest, understanding and acceptance of scientific knowledge is a perpetual challenge. The gap is considered bridgeable through multidisciplinary approaches. Arts and humanities is one such approach as evidenced by its combination with biotechnology, i.e. the "Art's Work in the Age of Biotechnology: Shaping Our Genetic Futures."

While visual and representative art coupled with laboratory science are this exhibition's major approach other forms of creativity are available. The communication of science via poetry combines the two worlds of C.P. Snow. "The Two Rita's" a poem, celebrates two highly-honored contributors to their fields, Pulitzer Prize recipient poet Rita Dove and former National Science Foundation director and American Association for the Advancement of Science president microbiologist Rita Colwell. It provides a keen example of the possibilities and opportunities for science communication through combining their significance in poetry that poses that there is no difference between the inherent creativity of the arts and sciences.

Speaker Bio

Darrell Stover is a cultural historian, science communicator and performance poet. His career life has always been an intersection of science and art sifted through history with an emphasis on community and individual empowerment through the same. He is on the faculty at NC State University where he teaches “Black Popular Culture: From the Blues to Afrofuturism” and “Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society.” He studied microbiology and American Studies at the University of Maryland at College Park and acquired his Master of Arts degree in Science Writing from Johns Hopkins University.

While in the Washington, DC area he worked at the National Cancer Institute as research assistant in support of the isolation and examination of retroviruses via cell culture, molecular biology, monoclonal antibodies, and electron microscopy. He moved into the private sector to Cambridge Scientific Abstracts as Senior Microbiology Editor developing content, coverage, and codification of published research for online databases in microbiology and biotechnology. Upon arrival in the Triangle he worked as science writer at the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and was Science Writing Fellow at Virginia Tech University. His more recent public programs have been the performance/lecture “The Natural History of Afrofuturia” and the curation of a series on the cultural significance of the “Black Panther” film featuring a panel discussion on the science and technology represented on screen. The presentation of "Dream STEAM: Afrofuturist Dances with the Sciences" at the "Afrofuturism and Indigenous Futurities” conference held at UNC-Chapel Hill expounded on the representation of biological sciences in African diasporic speculative fiction. He is a member of the 2019-2020 Southeast cohort of science impactors.

LINKS

Art's Work in the Age of Biotechnology: Shaping Our Genetic Futures - https://go.ncsu.edu/artswork

Find out more at https://ges-center-lectures-ncsu.pinecast.co

GES Colloquium - Tuesdays 12-1PM, Poe 202, NC State University

GES Mediasite - Video w/slides https://go.ncsu.edu/ges-mediasite

More info at http://go.ncsu.edu/ges-colloquium | Twitter -https://twitter.com/GESCenterNCSU

Synthetic biology has many implications, both potentially positive and potentially negative, for biodiversity conservation. This includes both synthetic biology applications specifically intended to enhance biodiversity conservation, and those intended for other purposes (e.g., medicine, agriculture) that might also impact biodiversity. This talk examines the topic, focusing mainly on applications intended to enhance species conservation, with specific real-world examples of where they might be applied, and their potential pros and cons.

Speaker Bio

Elizabeth Bennett is the Vice President for Species Conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). She received her Ph.D. from Cambridge University, UK, for research on the ecology of primates in Peninsular Malaysia. She moved to Sarawak, Malaysia, in 1984, and worked there for the next 18 years. This included conducting the first ever detailed field study of the proboscis monkey, and studies of the effects of hunting and logging on wildlife. Her time in Sarawak culminated in her leading a team, with WCS and Sarawak Government staff, to write a comprehensive wildlife policy for the State, and subsequently to head a unit within the Government to oversee its implementation. She then became Director, Hunting and Wildlife Trade Program at WCS. This included working with WCS field staff to develop strategies to address the bushmeat trade in Central Africa and illegal wildlife trade in China. Her current role involves overseeing WCS’s species conservation programs globally. She has more than 130 scientific and popular publications. Her services to conservation have been recognized by her being awarded the “Golden Ark” award by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, “Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” (MBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, D.Sc. (honoris causa) by Nottingham University, and and Merdeka Award for Outstanding Contribution to the People of Malaysia.

LINKS

Genetic frontiers for conservation: an assessment of synthetic biology and biodiversity conservation.

Find out more at https://ges-center-lectures-ncsu.pinecast.co

GES Colloquium - Tuesdays 12-1PM, Poe 202, NC State University

GES Mediasite - Video w/slides https://go.ncsu.edu/ges-mediasite

More info at http://go.ncsu.edu/ges-colloquium | Twitter -https://twitter.com/GESCenterNCSU

The Ag Biotechnology Landscape has changed markedly from the 1980’s. In certain ways, however, the calendar can be argued to have cycled back on itself. Back then lab scientists and entrepreneurs were wildly optimistic about deployment. Some early applications of rDNA technology did move from the lab to the open environment, but not without challenges and controversy. Yet many applications never successfully passed over the threshold of the laboratory. Time moved faster than did the development of either technical, regulatory or societal solutions and startups faltered or were acquired. What constituted potential deployment areas constricted to just a few commercial opportunities, and large scale deployment shifted significantly to the purview of long-established corporations. Recent advances in genome reading, editing, or writing, plus those in the various biome technologies and new computational approaches to biology have together resuscitated interest in ag and environmental innovation. While corporate entities are consolidating, the startup ecosystem is thriving. So what learnings have we propagated to a new generation of technology developers, regulators and to society at large? If you are under 25 years of age you have never lived in a world without field deployed biotech crops. Or their controversies. With the renewed interest in deploying ag biotech products made by these newer technologies, have we partnered better this time with diverse stakeholders? Or are we setting up simply to re-plow the same ground?

Speaker Bio

Steven L. Evans spent 30 years bringing biotechnology products to the field in small and large companies. His research focused on biochemistry and recombinant protein expression in ag and environmental biotech. At Mycogen and Dow AgroSciences he developed native and recombinant biopesticides, natural products, and plant genome editing technology. Steve retired as a Fellow from Dow AgroSciences (now Corteva Agriscience) and founded Re-Knowvate LLC. His passion is to use this historical experience and repurpose it today in organizations driving 21st century biotechnology so that they may learn from the actions of the early pioneers in applied biotechnology, thus accelerating their ability to develop and deploy new technologies to benefit our world. Steve has been active in public-private partnerships (NSF SynBERC and the Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC)) as well as serving on the NAS Future Products of Biotechnology and the NAS Safeguarding the Bioeconomy studies. He received his BA (chemistry) and BS (microbiology) from the Univ. of Mississippi and a PhD in microbial physiology from the Univ. of Mississippi Medical School. He was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and with the USDA in Peoria, IL.

LINKS

Sauermann H, Roach M (2012) Science PhD Career Preferences: Levels, Changes, and Advisor Encouragement. PLOS ONE 7(5): e36307. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036307

Slides at https://www.slideshare.net/GESCenterNCSU

Re-Knovate - https://re-knowvate.com/

Find out more at https://ges-center-lectures-ncsu.pinecast.co

GES Colloquium - Tuesdays 12-1PM, Poe 202, NC State University

GES Mediasite - Video w/slides https://go.ncsu.edu/ges-mediasite

More info at http://go.ncsu.edu/ges-colloquium | Twitter -https://twitter.com/GESCenterNCSU

Much of the food we eat is derived from plants grown from seeds, or from animals that consume these types of plants. The seed industry has changed dramatically in recent decades, however, moving from one characterized by thousands of small and mostly family-owned businesses, to one in which more than 60% of proprietary seed sales globally are controlled by just four corporations. Importantly, these same four firms are even more dominant in global sales of pesticides. The impacts of these changes have included higher prices for farmers, fewer seed varieties, reduced rates of innovation, and a decline in seed saving. These trends are driven by changes in government policies that include reduced antitrust enforcement and increasing intellectual property protections on seeds, as well as a system that incentivizes large firms to continually increase their power. Dominant firms are facing increasing public opposition, however, and alternatives such as open source and heirloom seed firms, while currently very small, are growing rapidly. This resistance illuminates key leverage points for addressing the negative impacts of consolidation, and potentially to reverse these trends.

Speaker Bio

LINKS

Save Our Food. Free the Seed. By Dan Barber, New York Times Editorial. 6/7/2019. https://nyti.ms/2EY4mDj

Related Publications

Concentration and Power in the Food System: Who Controls What We Eat? London: Bloomsbury Academic. 2016. https://philhoward.net/2017/05/11/latest-book/

Intellectual Property and Consolidation in the Seed Industry. Crop Science, 55(6), 2489-2495. 2015. https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/cs/abstracts/55/6/2489

Visualizing Consolidation in the Global Seed Industry: 1996–2008. Sustainability, 1(4). 2009. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/1/4/1266/htm

Find out more at https://ges-center-lectures-ncsu.pinecast.co

GES Colloquium - Tuesdays 12-1PM, Poe 202, NC State University

GES Mediasite - Video w/slides https://go.ncsu.edu/ges-mediasite

More info at http://go.ncsu.edu/ges-colloquium | Twitter -https://twitter.com/GESCenterNCSU

Are you interested in pursuing a career in risk science? If so, tune in to hear from 5 panelists who represent a range of careers in various aspects of risk. Each of the panelists give a 5-minute lightning presentation on their backgrounds in risk science and areas of expertise in risk: assessment, communication, governance, and management. This will be followed by a facilitated discussion and Q&A session.

Moderator: Khara Grieger – Senior Research Scholar, GES Center, NC State

Khara Grieger is a Senior Research Scholar in GES, specializing in risk assessment, risk governance, and decision support for emerging technologies. She is also leading an initiative to grow the field of risk science in the Research Triangle Park (RTP) area through funding provided by the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA). This symposium will be co-sponsored by the RTP chapter of SRA.

Find out more at https://ges-center-lectures-ncsu.pinecast.co

VIDEO: Watch on YouTube, or on Mediasite (allows toggling between video and slides)

Monday, January 13, 7 - 8:30 pm, Hunt Library Auditorium

We can now imagine a future where humanity’s demands of the earth plateau or even decrease. But at that plateau there will be billions more people needing to be fed than exist today.

Sir Charles Godfray's talk argues that it is possible to feed this number of people without despoiling the environment, but only if we make hard decisions today.

"We require a new revolution in agriculture of the same magnitude as the industrial and green revolutions that not only boosts productivity but also radically improves resource-use efficiency and sustainability. We need to reduce waste across the food system. We need to make hard decisions about diets and consumption patterns. And we need to accept globalization and refashion a globalized food system that provides public as well as private benefits."

Following his prepared remarks, Chancellor Randy Woodson then led a discussion with Professor Godfray.

Sir Charles Godfray is the Hope Professor of Zoology at Oxford University, and Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, whose work examines how the global food system will need to change and adapt to the challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. In 2010 he authored a paper, “Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People,” in the journal _Science _that has been cited over 6,000 times. Many of his more recent papers on the subject dig deeper into this subject.

Godfray currently chairs the Science Advisory Council of the UK’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 2017 was knighted for his services to scientific research and for scientific advice to government.

Find out more at https://ges-center-lectures-ncsu.pinecast.co