Professor Molly Jahn
Areas of Interest
Science and TechnologyHonorary Award
Honorary Doctor of ScienceBiography
Molly Jahn is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she holds appointments in the Department of Agronomy, the Laboratory of Genetics, the Centre for Sustainability and the Global Environment, and the Center for Global Health. She holds Adjunct or Visiting Appointments at the University of Oxford Martin School, Columbia University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory where she serves as the Chief Scientist for a major initiative entitled Knowledge Systems for Sustainability.
Professor Jahn has served as the US Commissioner for Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change and as a Scientific Liaison Officer with the US Agency for International Development. She has been Director of the Public Seed Initiative and the Organic Seed Partnership, and member of the National Academies of Science Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Our Global Sustainability Institute has benefited greatly from Professor Jahn's support. She has played a significant role in making the GSI an integral part of global food security discussions.
Citation
"Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to read the citation for Professor Molly Jahn for the award of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.
Molly Jahn is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she holds appointments in the Department of Agronomy, the Laboratory of Genetics, the Centre for Sustainability and the Global Environment, and the Center for Global Health. She holds Adjunct or Visiting Appointments at the University of Oxford Martin School, Columbia University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory where she serves as the Chief Scientist for a major initiative entitled Knowledge Systems for Sustainability.
A biologist by training, Professor Jahn has postgraduate degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University, where she completed her PhD in Plant Breeding and Plant Pathology. She has had a distinguished research career in plant genetics, genomics and plant breeding of vegetable crops, with a particular focus on the molecular genetics of disease resistance. Her research groups at Wisconsin-Madison and Cornell University have produced crop varieties now grown commercially and for subsistence on six continents, and she has worked extensively in developing countries to link crop breeding with improved human nutrition and welfare.
Professor Jahn has been consulted by a diverse range of private and public sector organisations, and in 2009 she was called to Washington DC to serve as Deputy and Acting Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics at the US Department of Agriculture.
Professor Jahn's career has been focused on the area of food systems science and, in recent years, more specifically on the issue of food security. For the past decade she has led an international effort to bring together governments, scientists and business in adopting a strategic position on global food risk. This 'Knowledge Systems for Sustainability Collaborative' seeks to inform decision-making at every level, with the aim of producing more far-sighted practices for utilising land, water and energy in ways that safeguard the food and energy security of future generations. It is perhaps the most pressing challenge of the 21st Century.
In addition to her numerous academic appointments, Professor Jahn has served as the US Commissioner for Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change and as a Scientific Liaison Officer with the US Agency for International Development. She has been Director of the Public Seed Initiative and the Organic Seed Partnership, and member of the National Academies of Science Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Professor Jahn is also founding Editor in Chief of Agriculture and Food Security - a peer-reviewed open-access journal focused on the challenge of global food security.
Our Global Sustainability Institute has benefited greatly from Professor Jahn?s support. She has played a significant role in making the GSI an integral part of global food security discussions.
Her outstanding academic record and her ongoing work to mobilise international efforts to address the issue of food security and sustainability - particularly through innovative collaborations with finance and capital - make her an outstanding role model for our students. By recognising her achievements, we have the opportunity to promote closer links between Anglia Ruskin University and the international effort to tackle the increasingly urgent issue of food security. We are delighted to welcome Professor Molly Jahn to our Anglia Ruskin community.
Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to present Professor Molly Jahn for the award of Doctor of Science, honoris causa."