ARD Dean Candidate - Dr. Manjit K. Misra

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08/10/2022 Added

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Dr. Manjit K. Misra, Director, Seed Science Center, Iowa State University. Public Presentation — Aug. 8, 1:30 to 3 p.m. at Nebraska East Campus Union.

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[00:00:07.770]Well, good afternoon and welcome.
[00:00:10.470]The Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources
[00:00:14.520]has selected four finalists in its search for the next dean
[00:00:18.530]of the Agricultural Research Division
[00:00:20.850]and Director of the Ag Experiment Station.
[00:00:24.270]The first candidate that is joining us on campus
[00:00:27.090]is Dr. Misra.
[00:00:28.440]Dr. Misra is the Director of the Seed Science Center,
[00:00:32.220]the Founding Director of the Biosafety Institute
[00:00:35.280]for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products,
[00:00:38.760]the Endowed Chair of Seed Science Technology and Systems,
[00:00:42.840]and a Professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
[00:00:46.650]at Iowa State University.
[00:00:48.870]He also served as the Director
[00:00:50.460]of the Global Food Security Consortium at Iowa State.
[00:00:55.290]Appointed as the chair of the USDA
[00:00:57.870]National Genetic Resources Advisory Council for two terms
[00:01:02.430]by the USDA Secretary of Agriculture,
[00:01:05.400]he has served on more than 60 local, national
[00:01:08.768]and international boards and committees.
[00:01:12.750]These include the Steering Committee
[00:01:14.490]for Food and Agriculture Organization
[00:01:17.460]International Conference on Biotechnology,
[00:01:20.580]the Scientific Advisory Council
[00:01:22.274]of the American Seed Research Foundation,
[00:01:25.576]the Board of Directors of Iowa Seed Association,
[00:01:29.370]the Iowa Crop Improvement Association,
[00:01:31.401]and the First of Seed Innovation.
[00:01:34.530]Dr. Misra earned a bachelor of science
[00:01:37.050]in agricultural engineering in India,
[00:01:39.433]and a master's in PhD in agricultural engineering
[00:01:43.260]at the University of Missouri, Columbia.
[00:01:45.990]During his tenure
[00:01:47.130]as the Director of the Seed Science Center,
[00:01:49.740]the faculty and staff, excuse me,
[00:01:52.050]affiliated with the center have conducted seed programs
[00:01:54.888]in 70 countries, including 34 countries of Africa.
[00:02:00.060]He has received numerous awards for his leadership,
[00:02:03.270]and I'll mention a few of those,
[00:02:05.160]the Distinguished Service Award
[00:02:06.840]from the American Seed Trade Association,
[00:02:09.930]the Order of Knoll Faculty Award from Iowa State,
[00:02:14.100]the Global Agricultural Leadership Award
[00:02:16.560]from the Indian Council of Food and Agriculture,
[00:02:20.070]the Sukup Global Food Security Award,
[00:02:22.890]and the AE50 Award from the American Society of Agriculture
[00:02:28.410]and Biological Association, which is awarded to the top 50
[00:02:32.610]product innovations in the areas of food, agriculture,
[00:02:36.281]and biological systems.
[00:02:38.700]He's also received a Certificate of Appreciation
[00:02:42.240]from the USDA Secretary of Agriculture for commitment
[00:02:46.320]and dedicated service to the USDA
[00:02:48.960]National Genetic Resources Advisory Council.
[00:02:52.890]Wow, very impressive.
[00:02:55.260]So today we have Dr. Misra with us.
[00:02:58.650]He's going to share with us his vision for ARD,
[00:03:03.120]provide us with a perspective on his leadership philosophy,
[00:03:07.590]and then there will be an opportunity for the audience
[00:03:10.530]to engage in a Q&A session.
[00:03:13.320]We also are streaming today's seminar online
[00:03:16.890]and I think we have over 60 individuals
[00:03:20.010]that have joined us online.
[00:03:21.510]So for those of you online,
[00:03:23.340]if you would like to submit questions,
[00:03:25.590]please submit those to T-H-E-N-G-M-O-S-S2@unl.edu.
[00:03:34.320]Tiffany Heng-Moss' email and I will have my phone.
[00:03:37.470]And so I will be able to share those questions from online.
[00:03:41.190]So with that, please join me in welcoming Dr. Misra.
[00:03:44.591](audience applauding)
[00:04:00.480]Can you hear me okay?
[00:04:02.100]Awesome, sometimes I'm an absentminded professor,
[00:04:06.360]I forget to turn it on.
[00:04:11.005]Thank you very much for that introduction.
[00:04:15.720]As you see, my name is Manjit Misra,
[00:04:18.480]it's an all American name.
[00:04:20.164](audience laughing)
[00:04:22.110]And this is truly a privilege to speak with you today.
[00:04:31.860]Yesterday we had dinner with Tiffany and Ed
[00:04:39.990]and after the dinner,
[00:04:41.040]I went for a walk in the Innovation Campus
[00:04:45.390]right by the Scarlet Hotel.
[00:04:47.880]I'm in Mitchell room by the way, and I read about Mitchell.
[00:04:52.590]It has quite a bit of irrigation history
[00:04:55.290]and county fair and so on.
[00:05:01.680]I'm a very informal, spontaneous guy,
[00:05:05.520]so I hope you are okay with it.
[00:05:08.043]I'll move around, I will talk, I will listen, and so on,
[00:05:15.420]let's have a conversation.
[00:05:17.700]I think I teach of course at Iowa State.
[00:05:22.377]And so I can talk for 55 minutes on any subject.
[00:05:26.735](Misra laughing)
[00:05:28.170]But I don't want that, I want a conversation.
[00:05:37.214]So I took a walk around the Innovation Campus,
[00:05:41.340]and I really liked what I saw.
[00:05:45.210]There was just the modernized growth house, greenhouse.
[00:05:49.440]The Food Innovation Center I couldn't get in,
[00:05:53.250]I think they locked me out.
[00:05:54.510]No, just kidding, just kidding.
[00:05:58.560]I would like to see the Food Innovation Center
[00:06:00.990]and they told me that I will have that opportunity,
[00:06:05.250]but it looked like there is a culture of innovation.
[00:06:10.110]What I have heard from people, what I have seen,
[00:06:14.430]I think there is a culture of innovation
[00:06:16.740]and that's going to be pretty much my team, that innovation.
[00:06:24.150]So I'm really feeling good about interviewing at UNL.
[00:06:35.670]I think not only culture of innovation,
[00:06:39.150]it's the culture of collaboration that you have here
[00:06:42.690]that is evident with the groups that I have met so far,
[00:06:48.180]you can see that team spirit, that collaboration,
[00:06:52.860]which I think is a key ingredient for becoming successful.
[00:06:58.950]So I'll also build on that,
[00:07:00.810]how I can enhance that collaborative spirit,
[00:07:04.500]that innovation spirit, and so on.
[00:07:09.270]So let's go ahead and get started.
[00:07:11.910]I want to thank you for the welcome
[00:07:15.270]that you have shown to me.
[00:07:16.800]There is nice, then there is very nice,
[00:07:20.100]then there is Nebraska nice.
[00:07:22.290]You have been Nebraska nice to me, thank you very much.
[00:07:28.650]So here is the outline that I don't want to be in your way.
[00:07:33.480]This is the outline.
[00:07:34.950]I will talk a little bit about the grand challenges,
[00:07:39.630]grand challenges,
[00:07:43.560]particularly related to the food and agriculture.
[00:07:47.473]A little bit about myself, my leadership journey,
[00:07:52.560]my leadership philosophy and approach,
[00:07:56.850]the vision and strategies to fulfill that vision.
[00:08:03.810]Building excellence, diversity, equity, and inclusiveness
[00:08:09.720]and resource management.
[00:08:15.300]So what are the grand challenges?
[00:08:19.620]If you look at, there are several list of grand challenges.
[00:08:25.230]The Gates Foundation has one, the World Bank has one,
[00:08:29.460]the NAS, NAE, they all have their list of grand challenges.
[00:08:36.030]But when you look at those lists,
[00:08:38.670]the themes that appear in everybody's list are this,
[00:08:44.880]food and nutrition security, energy, health,
[00:08:50.670]water, and environment.
[00:08:53.880]These are the grand challenges.
[00:08:56.623]And the climate change is going to accelerate
[00:09:01.260]these challenges.
[00:09:03.480]But here is the point I like to make,
[00:09:05.340]agriculture is a key driver of the solutions
[00:09:10.170]to these grand challenges.
[00:09:15.210]So let's take a little journey in my shoes,
[00:09:20.970]where I came from, where I am at now and so on.
[00:09:24.467]So I came to US from India in 1971, I guess I like it here.
[00:09:31.984](Misra laughing)
[00:09:34.470]After earning a B.S in ag engineering,
[00:09:37.110]received the master degree, I got two degrees and one wife.
[00:09:44.490]Master's in soil and water and PhD in food and process.
[00:09:51.060]Then as I said, met a Missouri country girl through 4-H,
[00:09:56.760]are there any 4-H people here?
[00:09:59.310]See 4-H does more than just head, heart
[00:10:01.530]and all that thing.
[00:10:02.700](Misra and audience laughing)
[00:10:06.120]Then joined at Iowa State, '79
[00:10:11.220]and became a professor in '91.
[00:10:15.000]Then Director that year also of the Seed Science Center.
[00:10:19.350]Then we founded the BIGMAP, Biosafety Institute
[00:10:22.680]for Genetically Modified Ag Products in 2002,
[00:10:28.710]which was due to, we included it in the farm bill,
[00:10:32.970]and I'll talk a little bit about that journey
[00:10:35.610]and we can do similar things here.
[00:10:38.220]The farm bill is coming up very soon.
[00:10:41.340]In fact, we have some programs that we are going to include
[00:10:45.060]in the farm bill and whether I come here or not,
[00:10:48.810]we could have collaboration.
[00:10:52.650]Then Dean's Chair of Distinction
[00:10:56.130]in Agriculture and Life Sciences.
[00:10:59.220]I served as the, well actually, Director of the Institute
[00:11:02.280]for Food Safety and Security.
[00:11:06.390]And that time that institute was not doing well.
[00:11:11.430]So the dean said, "Could you help build that institute?"
[00:11:15.690]which I did.
[00:11:18.180]Then Dean's Chair of Distinction,
[00:11:20.460]Co-Director Global Food Security Consortium.
[00:11:23.820]And this was both a plant and animal issue.
[00:11:27.090]Max Rothschild was the other co-director,
[00:11:29.460]some of you will recognize Max Rothschild.
[00:11:33.270]And then now I'm Endowed Chair, Seed Technology and Systems.
[00:11:38.310]So I serve as the Director of the Seed Center,
[00:11:40.740]Director of the Biosafety Institute
[00:11:42.900]and the Endowed Chair of Seed Science currently.
[00:11:49.320]My research expertise is digital agriculture,
[00:11:54.990]biosensing, and process control,
[00:12:01.020]also non-destructive evaluation of quality using ultrasound
[00:12:06.420]and computer imaging, and so on.
[00:12:09.620]Will you please give me a heads up about five minutes
[00:12:14.490]before my time is up so that I can wrap it up?
[00:12:15.883]Sure, I can just do that, yeah.
[00:12:18.383]Yeah, thank you, thank you.
[00:12:23.040]So the external funding, I have been a PI or Co-PI
[00:12:30.330]for over $155 million.
[00:12:35.160]And over 138 million of that as competitive grants,
[00:12:41.280]and little over 16 million in gifts, donor gifts.
[00:12:48.450]And in fact, I am very interested in fundraising, I love it,
[00:12:54.900]I'm good at it.
[00:12:56.910]I think that that is a source of funding
[00:13:01.530]which we can really harness.
[00:13:06.000]The important thing here
[00:13:07.410]is this funding has come from diverse sources.
[00:13:11.250]We have three grants
[00:13:12.210]from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
[00:13:14.910]We have funding from USAID, from the World Bank,
[00:13:18.960]from the private sector.
[00:13:20.670]And of course the USDA, NIFA and so on.
[00:13:24.660]So it's diverse source of funding.
[00:13:27.187]And I have been involved with both the problem solving
[00:13:30.693]as well as basic research.
[00:13:34.830]Problem solving such as
[00:13:36.180]removing nightshade berry from soybean.
[00:13:38.880]My focus is post-harvest grain handling,
[00:13:42.360]grain storage, and drying and food and so on.
[00:13:46.890]So I have been involved in removing,
[00:13:49.170]let's say, nightshade berry from soybean, scurvy wheat,
[00:13:53.760]the fusarium of wheat from good wheat and mud balls,
[00:13:58.680]soil pads in soybean seed because they carry system matter.
[00:14:03.330]So most of my research has been aimed at how do we market
[00:14:09.540]the product to improve the profitability of the producers?
[00:14:15.180]So for example, there are certain amount you can have
[00:14:20.370]in a lot.
[00:14:22.770]If you don't meet that tolerance, you can't market it.
[00:14:26.550]So it is basically whether you can sell it or not.
[00:14:31.080]So that's where I have focused.
[00:14:33.240]We have also been able to change the rules
[00:14:35.610]and regulations, laws.
[00:14:40.410]One project that we did is maximum allowable variation,
[00:14:46.620]the NIST Standards and Measures,
[00:14:49.440]they measure how much milk can be in a container.
[00:14:55.230]If you don't have the right amount, you can't sell it.
[00:15:00.120]Cheese, how many holes you can have in that cheese?
[00:15:04.860]This is all control.
[00:15:06.270]And so they actually came and said to seed industry,
[00:15:10.290]Now the seed is sold with cornels in a bag
[00:15:14.790]instead of weight, 80,000 cornels in a bag,
[00:15:17.910]they said that you have to have 1.5% maximum allowable
[00:15:21.570]value in a bag.
[00:15:24.870]So we did research and we conclusively established
[00:15:29.790]that it is not possible because seed is a biological object.
[00:15:36.060]The size, shape, everything varies due to weather,
[00:15:39.450]due to genetics, and they simply can't meet it.
[00:15:44.010]So the Standards, Weights and Measures changed the law
[00:15:49.020]because of our laws.
[00:15:50.040]So these are the impacts
[00:15:51.420]that you really need to think about.
[00:15:55.860]External funding right now, pending is over $51 million,
[00:16:00.200]and I'll talk a little bit about that.
[00:16:04.830]Publications, 137, and I am very much interested,
[00:16:09.990]I'm an inventor, like to do new technology.
[00:16:14.520]And we have 10 US and Canadian and European patents.
[00:16:22.200]So here is what I like to show you.
[00:16:25.980]It's not only inventions that you have to make,
[00:16:29.220]but you need to commercialize it.
[00:16:31.170]I'm a systems approach guy and just making invention,
[00:16:38.640]having a patent, writing a publication
[00:16:41.190]in my view is not enough.
[00:16:44.370]The land-grant mission is we are going to do public good.
[00:16:48.120]So if you don't commercialize it,
[00:16:50.910]if the people that really need to use it are not using it,
[00:16:55.770]then you have not completely met your objective.
[00:16:59.370]So here is a flow meter.
[00:17:03.000]This is the one that got AE50 Award
[00:17:06.960]for being one of the 50 innovations in the world.
[00:17:11.700]And what it is, is you see this right here,
[00:17:18.660]that is the flow meter.
[00:17:20.880]So when the product is flowing through this pipe,
[00:17:24.900]it automatically measures how much product is going through.
[00:17:29.850]And that data is being transmitted
[00:17:33.930]to wherever it needs to go.
[00:17:36.600]Previously what they did is if a truck is coming to,
[00:17:39.630]like under that spout, there is a truck loading,
[00:17:43.490]if the truck came for loading, they will load the truck
[00:17:47.357]and then they will go to the platform scale,
[00:17:50.340]they'll weigh it, if it is too much,
[00:17:52.770]they will take some out, they will come back.
[00:17:55.410]If it is not enough, they will fill it
[00:17:57.690]so they'll take three, four times to fill it.
[00:18:00.840]But this one fills it the first time, the correct amount
[00:18:04.950]and then they move.
[00:18:06.630]Now, Jason, how do I get this video?
[00:18:10.350]It says...
[00:18:12.255]Just hit next, just hit next.
[00:18:15.256]Just next?
[00:18:19.680]This is in Fremont, Nebraska, by the way,
[00:18:21.900]not very far from here.
[00:18:23.557](engine roaring)
[00:18:54.570]Can I speed it up?
[00:18:55.706]Is that okay?
[00:18:57.161]I cannot.
[00:19:01.840]Okay, I don't want to take entire five minutes.
[00:19:04.623]It takes five minutes to fill a truck.
[00:19:07.860]So I'm going to move to the next slide,
[00:19:10.350]but you see what will happen is
[00:19:12.353]it automatically fills, there is 50,000 pounds in a truck.
[00:19:17.010]It fills 50,000 pounds then closes the gap and it drive off.
[00:19:23.700]So we have now 70 of these flow meters
[00:19:27.450]that are in operation.
[00:19:29.490]And let me go back.
[00:19:36.750]Last month we put the world's biggest flow meter,
[00:19:41.100]I'm talking about world's biggest flow meter
[00:19:43.860]in Gavilon, Minnesota.
[00:19:46.560]That fills at 50,000 bushels per hour
[00:19:50.070]or 50,000 pounds per minute.
[00:19:53.100]So you better not miss a minute of the product
[00:19:55.290]otherwise you'll have a pile.
[00:19:57.960]And that's the world's biggest flow meter as of today.
[00:20:02.640]So I think this land-grant mission
[00:20:05.280]of really developing product for the common good,
[00:20:09.150]and I think private sector is also something
[00:20:12.180]that we need to think about,
[00:20:13.410]this public and private sector partnership.
[00:20:15.990]By the way, that is entrepreneurship also,
[00:20:21.480]this is a startup company,
[00:20:23.370]and I'll talk a little bit about that.
[00:20:25.470]I think we need to think about for economic development,
[00:20:29.790]some of these entrepreneurship activities,
[00:20:31.830]how do we enable the faculty and staff also
[00:20:35.310]to help the state's economy?
[00:20:36.870]It can be an engine for economic growth.
[00:20:42.030]So I think the special skill that I bring to this position
[00:20:47.100]is institution building.
[00:20:52.950]So the Seed Science Center, when I took over,
[00:20:55.410]there were 30 people, today there are 194.
[00:21:01.020]And we increased the budget 18 times for every dollar
[00:21:07.800]that the state gives us, the ratio is 18 to one.
[00:21:13.440]That's a significant ratio.
[00:21:17.310]We operate the largest public seed testing laboratory
[00:21:21.060]in the world.
[00:21:24.600]We test about 300 different types of seeds.
[00:21:29.040]Europe is sending us seeds for testing.
[00:21:33.960]We test about 100 different vegetable seeds,
[00:21:36.780]another 100 different flower seeds.
[00:21:38.790]We have contract with Ferry-Morse from California.
[00:21:42.600]They all do their seed testing with us
[00:21:45.330]because we are considered
[00:21:47.700]the reference laboratory for the world.
[00:21:52.170]See, I think this is what we have to think about.
[00:21:54.330]What is it that you want to be the best in the world?
[00:21:59.970]What is it?
[00:22:01.530]That's what we have to decide.
[00:22:03.300]Here is something that is very important statistics.
[00:22:09.228]We not only do testing for 300 seeds,
[00:22:12.750]we can test for over 250 seed-borne pathogens, over 250.
[00:22:20.010]Nobody in the world can do that.
[00:22:23.010]So the USDA designated the Seed Science Center
[00:22:26.640]to operate what is called the National Seed Health System.
[00:22:30.390]What it means is that all seed that is exported from US
[00:22:37.655]need to be tested under NSHS, National Seed Health System,
[00:22:42.900]because everything that goes from US
[00:22:46.650]need to have sanitary, phytosanitary certificate.
[00:22:50.850]And for that, it needs to be science-based.
[00:22:54.180]One point I like to make is there is sometimes politics
[00:22:58.470]that runs ahead of science.
[00:23:01.740]So there are pathogens that people will,
[00:23:05.580]let's say that our ship is in France, in the port.
[00:23:10.320]They will use a different protocol
[00:23:12.960]than what we have tested it with
[00:23:15.401]and there might be difference in result.
[00:23:19.290]So we standardize tests.
[00:23:22.710]In fact, we are now building
[00:23:24.150]international seed health system
[00:23:26.280]from the National Seed Health System.
[00:23:29.130]And we are not only doing for export,
[00:23:31.320]now we are doing it for import.
[00:23:33.570]USDA has now designated the Seed Science Center,
[00:23:35.768]every seed that is imported now also need to be tested
[00:23:39.316]by us, or here is the important thing,
[00:23:44.940]or it can be tested by another laboratory
[00:23:49.320]that is certified by us, private sector.
[00:23:53.190]See, I want to give you the example of the pandemic.
[00:23:56.730]Remember how CDC won't let Mayo clinic test?
[00:24:01.290]Imagine that.
[00:24:03.960]But I think we have a model here in agriculture
[00:24:08.160]that we have about 21 private seed laboratories,
[00:24:11.610]Bayer, Syngenta, Corteva,
[00:24:14.880]they all have to be certified by us
[00:24:18.150]before they can do their own seed health testing.
[00:24:21.150]That's a feather in our cap.
[00:24:24.960]We have alliances with national and international agencies.
[00:24:29.040]I'll show that little bit.
[00:24:31.362]The World Food Prize gave the Borlaug Medallion
[00:24:37.290]to Iowa State University.
[00:24:40.080]And the World Food Prize president specifically mentioned
[00:24:44.206]the research at Seed Science Center as one of the reason
[00:24:48.630]why they gave the Borlaug Medallion
[00:24:51.016]to Iowa State University.
[00:24:53.220]And very few institutions, I don't know how many,
[00:24:56.490]I'll have to look it up, but a handful institutions
[00:24:59.100]have got that medallion.
[00:25:01.560]And here is one thing,
[00:25:05.130]I bring global network to this position.
[00:25:09.180]We have worked in 79 countries.
[00:25:11.760]Now, today I was talking with the Drought Mitigation Center,
[00:25:15.693]they have worked in more countries than that.
[00:25:18.510]So you have wonderful things going on here too.
[00:25:23.970]So here are the countries that we have worked in.
[00:25:27.450]And what we do, I won't take a lot of time
[00:25:29.730]because I want to address some of the things I plan to do.
[00:25:34.101]What we do is we go to a country
[00:25:38.100]and this is where the seed system comes in,
[00:25:40.320]we examine their seed system, entire seed system,
[00:25:43.710]the big picture, what are the laws, policies, regulations,
[00:25:47.451]who is producing it, how,
[00:25:50.130]what's the public and private sector partnership.
[00:25:52.440]Then we make recommendations.
[00:25:55.080]And you might say, oh, who are we to do that?
[00:25:58.050]It's because the World Bank may have $400 million loan
[00:26:03.900]that they are going to give to that country,
[00:26:06.390]but they have made it sure
[00:26:08.130]that they reform their seed system.
[00:26:11.490]So they say that go to Iowa State
[00:26:14.520]and reform your seed system.
[00:26:17.700]So we are able to really go there as a friend, as advisor,
[00:26:21.900]as colleague, that's also how you approach,
[00:26:25.140]these things makes a big difference, not what you do.
[00:26:28.350]Okay, so this is actually in your shop, Tiffany, curriculum,
[00:26:33.360]but the region I mentioned, this research can contribute.
[00:26:40.020]And also how innovation, this is a degree in seed science
[00:26:45.600]and business management.
[00:26:49.020]So we have about a dozen professors in business college
[00:26:53.400]that teach seed business management.
[00:26:57.300]Previously the seed companies used to send their employees
[00:27:01.020]to Harvard Graduate School of Management.
[00:27:04.320]And they told me, "Manjit, they understand business,
[00:27:08.100]but they don't understand seed.
[00:27:11.160]Can you develop something like this?"
[00:27:13.830]So we did, and now we have 61 graduate students enrolled
[00:27:21.150]in this from a dozen different countries.
[00:27:26.670]It changes, but we have students from China,
[00:27:30.240]it's 100% distance technology.
[00:27:34.650]So China, Canada, Africa, all over,
[00:27:39.750]the graduate students are enrolled
[00:27:41.749]and they learn from each other, not just from the professor.
[00:27:47.760]They learn from each other.
[00:27:49.560]Their agriculture system in China
[00:27:51.510]way different than what we have here.
[00:27:54.690]But if we want our graduate students
[00:27:57.720]to be functional employees
[00:28:00.801]of various multi-national global companies,
[00:28:03.660]they need to know that culture,
[00:28:05.280]they need to know that system, and so on.
[00:28:07.380]I won't spend a lot of time, but I want to mention
[00:28:10.470]that here is something that we do, how much?
[00:28:13.740]Oh, this creative component is a small research project
[00:28:19.170]every graduate student has to do.
[00:28:21.990]And that's where the research can contribute
[00:28:24.180]to the learning, and so on.
[00:28:27.660]Institution building, the second is the BIGMAP,
[00:28:30.570]Biosafety Institute.
[00:28:32.550]As I mentioned, I love talking with legislators,
[00:28:35.550]both state and federal.
[00:28:37.830]So we actually at the time worked with Senator Grassley
[00:28:43.290]and Tom Harkin and so on.
[00:28:45.543]And we made a presentation that look, this bio technology,
[00:28:49.620]there is a center for biotechnology here.
[00:28:52.470]So look in bio technology that times, especially 2002,
[00:28:59.445]there were just enough heat, not enough light,
[00:29:05.760]the way I put it,
[00:29:07.770]there were too much confusion, misinformation.
[00:29:10.410]So we said to the Congress
[00:29:11.970]that we need a national institute
[00:29:15.390]that will be a truth telling machine,
[00:29:18.530]that will be science-based, credible, third party,
[00:29:25.955]and they did.
[00:29:27.600]So we provided recommendations to USDA, BRS and APHIS.
[00:29:32.778]Some of these, our approach, see, we don't take sides,
[00:29:37.470]activists say that there is nothing good in biotechnology.
[00:29:41.610]Sometimes the industry says
[00:29:42.870]there is no problem with bio technology.
[00:29:45.630]The truth is somewhere in between,
[00:29:47.550]as a land-grant institution, we want to tell the truth.
[00:29:52.950]So we suggested that every GM need to be evaluated
[00:29:57.900]on a case by case basis.
[00:29:59.820]Don't talk about the broad brush
[00:30:02.790]that either things are good or bad.
[00:30:05.790]So that's what we do, risk and benefit assessment.
[00:30:09.870]But here is the thing,
[00:30:10.740]risk communication becomes a very major.
[00:30:14.550]It's just not the risk communication in biotechnology,
[00:30:17.190]how are we communicating as scientists?
[00:30:19.989]Our results so that people who really fund us
[00:30:25.800]are saying that, yeah, there is value in it.
[00:30:28.320]I'll come back to that.
[00:30:31.530]And we were able to recruit,
[00:30:33.606]oh, sorry, I'm still getting used to this.
[00:30:38.460]We were able to, Secretary Vilsack was in our faculty.
[00:30:44.610]David Lambert, who served on President Obama's
[00:30:49.200]Agriculture Council,
[00:30:50.340]he was the liaison of US government to FAO.
[00:30:55.620]And Scott Hurd he's an animal scientist veterinarian.
[00:31:00.570]And these are the people that we recruited
[00:31:04.380]as faculty members to BIGMAP.
[00:31:09.240]But we did not neglect.
[00:31:13.920]When you have these big names that does not mean
[00:31:17.310]that you neglect.
[00:31:18.600]See, this is why I want to digress a little bit.
[00:31:21.283]This is why I am interested in the position
[00:31:25.410]because of your strategic plan, your vision.
[00:31:28.080]You say that every person matters,
[00:31:32.160]every interaction matters, that touched me.
[00:31:37.380]So even if you have big names,
[00:31:40.890]you still need to pay attention
[00:31:42.780]to the person you are talking with right now,
[00:31:47.610]that's your customer.
[00:31:49.890]Sometimes people ask questions,
[00:31:52.170]who is your customer?
[00:31:53.160]The person you are talking to right now,
[00:31:54.840]you are all now my customers,
[00:31:56.880]would you buy something from me?
[00:31:58.200]No, just kidding, come on, guys, laugh.
[00:32:01.197](Misra laughing)
[00:32:02.910]We got to have some fun.
[00:32:06.420]So this Institute for Food Safety and Security,
[00:32:14.310]Dr. Wataki who became the Undersecretary,
[00:32:18.519]she was the Dean of Agriculture at the time, and she said,
[00:32:21.307]"Manjit, would you build this institution?"
[00:32:25.290]Which we did.
[00:32:27.150]And at the time, see, my approach is to really build
[00:32:32.730]an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental,
[00:32:35.760]intercollegiate team, focused on a theme.
[00:32:39.991]That's what I really enjoy doing and good at.
[00:32:43.860]So we had 107 faculty members from 19 academic departments,
[00:32:49.980]then USDA National Animal Disease Lab.
[00:32:53.550]Also the Energy Lab and the Veterinary Services Laboratory.
[00:32:59.940]We received $6 million funding in two years.
[00:33:06.060]And we secure a real estate gift pledge,
[00:33:11.610]which hasn't come in yet, but it will.
[00:33:18.210]The next one that I was involved in building
[00:33:22.200]is the Global Food Security Consortium.
[00:33:25.620]And here, this was a presidential initiative.
[00:33:30.420]And to do the comprehensive interdisciplinary research
[00:33:36.360]and engagement
[00:33:38.220]to address global food and nutrition insecurity.
[00:33:42.960]And when I say global, let's not forget the US.
[00:33:46.620]It's very important.
[00:33:48.570]We can't forget Nebraska and just be focused on global.
[00:33:53.940]There is hunger, there is malnutrition in Iowa,
[00:33:58.080]it is in Nebraska, it's every state,
[00:34:01.710]there is actually a number that you can pull
[00:34:04.620]from USDA website.
[00:34:07.470]So I think we also included US, as well as the globe.
[00:34:14.340]We had a network of 19 organization, 10 land-grants,
[00:34:18.990]four international CG centers,
[00:34:21.060]these are like the one in Africa, ILRI,
[00:34:27.960]and then there is one in India, ICRISAT, CMIT and so on,
[00:34:33.540]and four private companies.
[00:34:34.890]I'm a strong believer in private public partnership,
[00:34:38.820]PPP model.
[00:34:41.700]We had 60 experts in plant and animal science,
[00:34:44.340]climate science, engineering, veterinary medicine,
[00:34:46.770]food science, and human nutrition.
[00:34:49.060]We prepared 23 grant applications.
[00:34:51.930]That's the skill I bring,
[00:34:53.970]and I think there is opportunity here in ARD.
[00:34:57.115](Misra clearing throat)
[00:34:58.140]We had 7.3 million.
[00:35:00.180]We conducted an animal symposium, you not only do research,
[00:35:03.300]you have to communicate, a newsletter and symposium.
[00:35:10.830]We were doing that in conjunction with the World Food Prize.
[00:35:15.600]So you have to see how you can really leverage
[00:35:18.950]what you are doing with something that is more visible.
[00:35:24.420]So we were doing at the World Food Prize.
[00:35:27.030]Here is something that's very interesting.
[00:35:28.800]I am not sure if UNL is a member of PUSH,
[00:35:34.800]Presidents United to Solve Hunger.
[00:35:37.697]Actually, I was very instrumental
[00:35:40.410]in forming that organization.
[00:35:42.420]There are over 70 university presidents
[00:35:45.493]that have signed onto this.
[00:35:48.210]And our President, Dr. Wendy Wintersteen
[00:35:51.510]asked me to represent Iowa State.
[00:35:53.910]So I still represent her in this.
[00:35:56.490]It's primarily a student center, by the way,
[00:36:00.810]they bring students together every year
[00:36:03.900]and try to turn them into visionary leaders
[00:36:09.690]if they want to address food and nutrition.
[00:36:13.840](Misra clearing throat)
[00:36:15.390]Now, I want to talk a little bit about the diversity
[00:36:18.539]and equity and inclusion.
[00:36:19.920]I think it has to be woven into the fabric
[00:36:24.630]of everything we do.
[00:36:27.450]So you can see the evidence of what we are doing.
[00:36:31.260]This is the 194 faculty and staff,
[00:36:35.340]and you can see the gender equity
[00:36:40.200]and also the national origin.
[00:36:46.260]More important, the women faculty
[00:36:51.660]are leaders in their program, the lead,
[00:36:55.860]that's important as well, it has to be deliberate.
[00:37:01.530]There is a saying that if they can see it, they can be it.
[00:37:07.470]If they see that a woman scientist is leading,
[00:37:13.620]doing things that are wonderful, they want to be like that.
[00:37:17.580]So when Susanna Gochi, our seed physiologist
[00:37:21.930]has certain undergraduate students, they look up to her.
[00:37:26.040]That makes a huge difference.
[00:37:31.590]Seed Science Center in a mini-UN,
[00:37:34.492]and we get visitors every week,
[00:37:37.830]every week we are getting visitors.
[00:37:40.140]We also do a lot of high school students.
[00:37:43.020]We do a lot of popcorn.
[00:37:45.390]Five minutes, okay.
[00:37:47.250]So partnerships, I will go very quickly through,
[00:37:49.890]USDA, NIFA, FFAR, you recognize these things,
[00:37:54.090]FAO, USAID, World Bank, foundations.
[00:37:58.290]Also NGOs, they are also very good partners,
[00:38:03.600]then HBCUs, historically black.
[00:38:06.480]In many mega proposals you have to have HBCU included.
[00:38:10.890]So that's very important.
[00:38:12.450]Also the Native American tribes and nations.
[00:38:17.580]And of course, other universities and institutes,
[00:38:20.490]I talked about this communication,
[00:38:22.800]communication is a very important part of what we do.
[00:38:28.500]So I was very concerned that a lot of young people,
[00:38:31.860]our youth are not choosing agriculture as a profession.
[00:38:39.690]They are going into IT, various subjects, which is fine,
[00:38:46.920]but we also need bright minds to come to agriculture.
[00:38:50.670]So we made a movie and this movie,
[00:38:57.240]I will show you just a little trailer of this movie.
[00:39:03.586](upbeat music)
[00:39:10.620]Can I increase the volume?
[00:39:13.950]Seeds were everywhere,
[00:39:17.400]nature, food, spice, industry, energy.
[00:39:27.720]Seeds are where we notice them and where we don't.
[00:39:32.550]They can travel thousands of miles.
[00:39:35.164]They can sleep for years before waking up.
[00:39:40.050]Their wildly diverse shapes, sizes and landscapes
[00:39:43.211]are designed to bring life everywhere.
[00:39:49.061]The story of seeds is the story of the miracle of nature,
[00:39:54.300]but also the story of human innovation.
[00:39:56.262](upbeat music)
[00:40:00.660]Seeds are not just the beginning,
[00:40:03.630]but the renewal of agriculture, of all civilization.
[00:40:10.134]The people of seeds, farmers, scientists,
[00:40:17.160]breeders, cooks, public servants, clothiers,
[00:40:25.470]gardeners, dreamers, a grand collaboration between humanity
[00:40:34.590]and nature to feed, cloth and beautify the world.
[00:40:39.840]Come on a journey into the miracle of nature,
[00:40:43.530]into human imagination, into the wonder of seeds.
[00:40:48.581](upbeat music)
[00:40:54.660]So you can download this movie from our website.
[00:41:01.290]People from over 70 countries
[00:41:04.170]have downloaded this movie now.
[00:41:06.746]And the thing is it received two Telly Awards.
[00:41:10.260]Telly Awards is like the Oscar
[00:41:13.380]for educational movies, documentaries.
[00:41:16.326]We were competing with CNN and things of that nature.
[00:41:23.610]It's got several hours I don't need to...
[00:41:25.740]But here is my favorite award,
[00:41:27.420]best practices in diversity, inclusion and equity,
[00:41:35.910]because we sent a crew to Africa for,
[00:41:41.017]"Let Seed be Thy Medicine" episode, it has six episodes.
[00:41:46.200]Although it's a movie one hour, there are six episodes,
[00:41:50.250]each episode is 10 minutes.
[00:41:52.470]One episode is "Let Seed be Thy Medicine."
[00:41:55.650]In fact, I want to build on that,
[00:41:57.390]say, let food be thy medicine, you have food for health.
[00:42:02.220]So that one received that award
[00:42:06.720]because of the role of women.
[00:42:10.080]We very clearly articulated in accepting the innovation.
[00:42:16.380]I was talking to a group this morning
[00:42:18.335]that just doing innovation is not enough.
[00:42:21.750]Culturally, are they going to eat it?
[00:42:24.810]They did not eat yellow maize
[00:42:27.300]even if the kids were going blind.
[00:42:31.350]How do you then make it happen?
[00:42:34.110]We can talk about that,
[00:42:35.250]maybe in question and answer kind of thing.
[00:42:37.920]Okay, so building on a tradition of excellence,
[00:42:43.800]what I have seen is you have a tradition of excellence.
[00:42:48.840]So here are the strengths that I did little bit of research,
[00:42:54.840]and I'm going to add to this list due to the discussion
[00:42:58.950]I had yesterday and so on.
[00:43:02.130]So I think certainly, as I mentioned,
[00:43:05.010]collaboration is very evident.
[00:43:09.960]It's very people centered and genuine commitment
[00:43:14.490]to the diversity, equity and inclusion,
[00:43:18.000]that's also very clear.
[00:43:20.310]You have excellent programs in water, in plant sciences,
[00:43:25.020]in biological systems engineering, in meat systems,
[00:43:28.830]rural vitality, and after talking with you,
[00:43:33.180]now, I will put one health, is part of this and so on.
[00:43:38.880]But we need to build on that,
[00:43:40.770]we need to build on our strength.
[00:43:43.380]So here is my, I have liked this very much.
[00:43:48.990]The chief enemy of best is very good.
[00:43:53.760]You are very good, but we need to be the best.
[00:43:57.720]So if you select me, I would like to do certain things
[00:44:02.850]to be the very best.
[00:44:04.830]This is from Voltaire
[00:44:05.970]but Stephen Covey made it very popular.
[00:44:10.110]The chief enemy of best is very good, often very good.
[00:44:14.850]Okay, so here is my vision.
[00:44:16.470]Give me another few minutes.
[00:44:20.010]My vision, as I mentioned I chaired this strategic plan
[00:44:25.029]for the College of Agriculture at Iowa State.
[00:44:28.590]I love doing strategic planning.
[00:44:31.560]It's actually strategic thinking more than planning
[00:44:35.880]because it's not a document that is set in stone,
[00:44:40.200]but it provides you guidelines.
[00:44:43.830]So to influence the future,
[00:44:46.440]one must have a clear and compelling vision.
[00:44:50.970]That actually is how we influence the future.
[00:44:54.210]And it must transcend the visible.
[00:44:57.900]You have to have imagination, you have to stretch
[00:45:04.200]to really set the vision and accomplish it.
[00:45:09.270]The vision must be shared.
[00:45:12.450]The Dean cannot do, just set up a vision and do it.
[00:45:16.830]If you are leading and nobody's following
[00:45:20.700]you are taking a walk.
[00:45:23.125]So you really need to think of,
[00:45:25.920]it has to be a shared vision, it has to be bottom up.
[00:45:28.650]I think this morning, you are talking about the diamond,
[00:45:32.190]that's what it is all about, it's not top down,
[00:45:36.480]it has to be shared vision, come from ground up.
[00:45:39.930]And the link between the vision, this is my definition,
[00:45:43.950]because of the strategic planning exercises I have done,
[00:45:47.610]the link between vision and mission is the strategic plan.
[00:45:54.300]So the vision is where you want to be,
[00:45:57.630]the mission is who you are, and the strategic plan is how.
[00:46:03.870]I like to boil it down to very simple, understandable,
[00:46:07.830]clear, ideology fringes.
[00:46:13.560]So you really need to do the SWAT analysis,
[00:46:17.760]you know all that.
[00:46:19.890]But here is the important thing, strategic plan guides
[00:46:23.831]what to do, but also what not to do, that's very important.
[00:46:30.660]And I like to give an examples of every day to day life,
[00:46:34.800]you are on a highway, sometimes an exit looks so good,
[00:46:40.290]you take that exit, and then you realize that,
[00:46:43.717]"Ah, I'm off my path."
[00:46:48.750]So I think strategic plan can also steer you
[00:46:52.650]so that you don't do things that you are not supposed to do.
[00:46:59.490]So what is the role of the dean in fulfilling this vision?
[00:47:04.839]So I'll talk a little bit about leadership,
[00:47:09.450]my guiding principles, my vision, core values,
[00:47:13.680]share governance and how to inspire others.
[00:47:18.090]I love raising funds, I talked about that.
[00:47:21.930]So it is the grants, gifts, industry affiliation,
[00:47:26.280]and federal appropriation.
[00:47:28.612]These are the various sources.
[00:47:31.140]Communication and promotion,
[00:47:33.330]internal and external stakeholders,
[00:47:36.030]visual arts, such as the movie, picture.
[00:47:43.050]Social media has become so much now.
[00:47:47.010]We are getting really a lot of our promotion
[00:47:49.890]and communication through social media.
[00:47:53.370]And of course, distance education,
[00:47:55.080]distance technology has become almost now,
[00:47:57.900]it's here to stay.
[00:48:00.720]Okay, here is my administrative philosophy.
[00:48:03.535](Misra clearing throat)
[00:48:04.440]Find the best, this is why I said,
[00:48:07.329]when you said that every person matters,
[00:48:10.410]it really touched my heart.
[00:48:12.840]You need to find the best in each person,
[00:48:15.840]and I didn't write it after your strategic plan,
[00:48:18.750]this is the way I have operated.
[00:48:20.670]It just comes in sync with what you are thinking.
[00:48:25.110]Find the best in each person, build on their strength
[00:48:30.780]to enhance their individual excellence.
[00:48:33.660]They have to be individually excellent
[00:48:36.810]before you can be excellence of teams.
[00:48:42.150]If they have not solved their problem,
[00:48:44.130]how can they help you?
[00:48:46.710]Think about that.
[00:48:48.990]Provide an enabling environment for those individuals
[00:48:55.140]to develop a core excellence, core expertise,
[00:48:59.370]and plant innovation is a core expertise.
[00:49:04.410]So there are individual scientists,
[00:49:06.750]but there is a core expertise in plants,
[00:49:09.570]core expertise in water and so on.
[00:49:13.950]Then I think it is the role of the dean is to facilitate
[00:49:19.080]so that those core teams are connected
[00:49:21.510]to internal and external stakeholders
[00:49:23.910]for bigger and better things.
[00:49:29.070]And you need to have local, national and global impact.
[00:49:34.980]So how do I plan to fulfill this vision?
[00:49:40.170]I want to be strategic, I want to be proactive,
[00:49:46.080]I want to anticipate.
[00:49:48.660]It's like the hockey player said,
[00:49:51.810]I don't skate to where the puck is,
[00:49:55.200]I skate to where the puck is going to be,
[00:49:58.950]that's how you really get success, I'll come to that.
[00:50:02.520]Collaborative, you have to be accountable.
[00:50:06.376]And by fostering a culture of innovation.
[00:50:11.700]So here is the reactive focus.
[00:50:14.370]Reactive focus is, there are two circles
[00:50:17.340]that Stephen Covey talks about,
[00:50:19.320]a circle of concern and circle of influence.
[00:50:26.130]When this circle of influence is tiny
[00:50:29.880]and the circle of concern is big,
[00:50:33.270]you are reacting to things, it doesn't work very well.
[00:50:41.100]On the other hand, if you have a circle of influence
[00:50:46.590]very much as big as circle,
[00:50:50.190]ideally, it'll be the whole thing.
[00:50:52.560]Circle of influence and circle of concern will match.
[00:50:56.880]But of course that's not possible.
[00:50:58.560]We always think of, there are many concerns,
[00:51:01.620]but if you increase that circle of influence by networking,
[00:51:04.980]by connectivity and so on, then you can do things
[00:51:10.410]that is not possible with the reactive focus.
[00:51:15.180]So if we are proactive, if you are anticipatory,
[00:51:18.660]if we are strategic,
[00:51:20.460]then increasing research revenue can be done.
[00:51:25.470]So strategies for competitive funding,
[00:51:28.980]it's not just getting our collaborative teams,
[00:51:33.690]we need to also think of increasing the total funding
[00:51:36.633]that the USDA has, the USAID, has World Bank has.
[00:51:40.441]So influence total funding of federal
[00:51:43.170]and state appropriations, form collaborative convergent,
[00:51:47.946]convergent is now the word NSF is looking for,
[00:51:52.830]which is very similar to what you are doing,
[00:51:55.050]interactive and focused on a theme,
[00:51:57.480]we are preparing NSF engines,
[00:52:01.140]couple of concepts and proposals.
[00:52:05.100]Then strategies also,
[00:52:06.840]that's not for the competitive funding, donor funding.
[00:52:10.470]Here you need to focus on relationships than money,
[00:52:14.400]money will come, money will come.
[00:52:19.410]Now from my experience individual donors are as important
[00:52:24.300]as corporate donors.
[00:52:26.760]In fact, the individual donors
[00:52:28.470]can really make a huge difference.
[00:52:34.260]Capitalize on the expertise of the development officers
[00:52:38.430]and put a human face to the ask.
[00:52:42.360]Send someone,
[00:52:43.320]send the Director of the Drought Mitigation Center,
[00:52:47.670]they know what they are talking about.
[00:52:51.090]So let them accompany you
[00:52:53.065]when you are making a ask and so on.
[00:52:56.910]So these are some of the strategies
[00:52:58.396]to increasing the research, but money is like manure,
[00:53:04.590]it's no good unless it is spread around,
[00:53:06.740]so invest it, invest it.
[00:53:09.690]I like to invest it with seed funding, for example,
[00:53:12.990]how do you leverage?
[00:53:14.190]I talked about we leverage $18 to each dollar.
[00:53:19.141]Now, I understand that certainly everybody cannot do that,
[00:53:23.220]certainly departments cannot do that,
[00:53:26.910]but that's just everybody has to think of leveraging.
[00:53:33.060]So I'm out of my time.
[00:53:36.690]Okay, I will wrap it up very quickly.
[00:53:41.490]I also think that I'm a land-grant guy,
[00:53:45.420]thorough and thorough land-grant mission.
[00:53:48.750]Research extension and teaching,
[00:53:50.520]they need to contribute to each other.
[00:53:53.070]In fact, I would say that
[00:53:54.240]we need to take our land-grant mission to the world, global.
[00:53:58.800]Take the university to the world
[00:54:00.180]and bring the world to the university.
[00:54:03.720]So this is a social contract.
[00:54:08.910]We need to think of science with a human face.
[00:54:11.970]We need to help people.
[00:54:15.540]Research for becoming good, access for all citizens.
[00:54:22.080]Extension needs to really be very active
[00:54:25.470]and quality education for all students.
[00:54:27.780]These are the land-grant contract.
[00:54:29.490]I am going to be involved more on the research side
[00:54:32.190]that I realize and understand.
[00:54:36.360]So the thing is here, relevance.
[00:54:39.720]We need to do research that is relevant to the state need,
[00:54:44.610]to the farmers, to the producers, to the processors.
[00:54:48.420]And we need to commercialize.
[00:54:50.340]I think we need to think that our students will create jobs
[00:54:55.470]than looking for jobs,
[00:54:58.110]so startups, entrepreneurship, and so on.
[00:55:01.350]I have personal experience in that, I can help in that.
[00:55:05.400]Economic development, responsiveness to global competition
[00:55:10.680]and anticipate new opportunities.
[00:55:13.980]So dean's role, renew the covenant.
[00:55:17.272]I think the land-grant philosophy is not,
[00:55:22.620]really we need to rekindle that spirit.
[00:55:26.880]Whenever I go to various countries,
[00:55:29.490]I talk about land-grant mission, and they really like it.
[00:55:34.410]We have a secret here
[00:55:36.240]that we are keeping under bushel basket.
[00:55:39.630]So we need to rekindle that.
[00:55:42.930]And of course, in our facilities,
[00:55:45.056]you have wonderful facilities.
[00:55:48.120]One thing that we need to think about is that
[00:55:50.640]ensure that the salaries are competitive.
[00:55:54.270]So here legislature, because we are losing and you are too,
[00:55:58.385]good people to private sector, quite a bit.
[00:56:03.627]So at least we need to keep it competitive.
[00:56:09.270]Provide opportunities for professional growth,
[00:56:12.240]money is not everything.
[00:56:14.370]There are reasons why people choose public sector, I did.
[00:56:18.960]So there are certain things that we can do
[00:56:22.080]which is not related to money
[00:56:24.810]and facilitate entrepreneurial activities.
[00:56:29.700]Now dean's role in supporting the heart,
[00:56:34.770]shouldn't be college, that's a typo, should be the ARD.
[00:56:41.662]Motivating faculty and staff for higher productivity,
[00:56:46.650]improve physical infrastructure.
[00:56:50.160]Here is what I think is important, shared governance.
[00:56:54.630]This is what you are saying, Dr. Ben in the morning,
[00:56:57.773]this is the shared governance.
[00:57:00.570]So strengthening the partnerships with colleges,
[00:57:03.900]UNL colleges, centers, and units, external constitution,
[00:57:10.950]partnering with extension, surely, that is very important.
[00:57:20.250]Making sure that the farmers are part of this mix.
[00:57:23.880]Sometimes we have a tendency to not think of the farmers,
[00:57:29.670]not just agribusiness, but also the farmers.
[00:57:32.940]I chaired the global round table of farmers.
[00:57:38.400]Here there are farmers, very successful farmers
[00:57:41.040]from many different countries gather
[00:57:42.671]and they share their experiences.
[00:57:48.570]So as I mentioned, research needs to contribute
[00:57:51.655]to teaching and learning.
[00:57:57.930]Now, what are the new frontiers of science?
[00:58:01.500]Where are you going to be the best?
[00:58:04.380]For example, gene editing,
[00:58:06.090]maybe you know a lot more about that than me.
[00:58:10.080]But what I'm saying here is biorenewables, food for health,
[00:58:13.830]I have already now seen
[00:58:15.120]that you have a lot of these elements.
[00:58:17.820]But what I'm saying is how do we bring them together
[00:58:20.868]for mega proposals?
[00:58:24.780]You see, I have been very successful
[00:58:26.834]in being part of 25 million, 50 million.
[00:58:31.140]We applied for 100 million, we didn't get it,
[00:58:34.080]and it was with one of the university,
[00:58:36.240]Nebraska Lincoln faculty member,
[00:58:39.150]but our reviews were very good.
[00:58:41.531]So we need to think big.
[00:58:47.430]Okay, so what are the indicators of research excellence?
[00:58:58.110]I think you are now ranked, if I am correct,
[00:59:03.090]I looked in the internet, of course,
[00:59:05.220]if I am wrong, please tell me, but you are ranked 21st.
[00:59:09.870]I think we can get there in top 10.
[00:59:13.140]You need to set a target.
[00:59:15.690]If you don't know where you are going, as somebody said,
[00:59:19.770]you will end up somewhere,
[00:59:22.260]but you want to really set a target.
[00:59:25.080]I think we can be within top 10.
[00:59:29.820]You are now ranked in the world, 55.
[00:59:33.570]I think we can be in top 25.
[00:59:38.010]You have funding, grants and contracts
[00:59:40.260]that they were very nice to share with me, 66 million.
[00:59:48.930]I think we can get it 200 in three years,
[00:59:53.340]you have to put a timeline, you can't get it quickly.
[00:59:57.690]The foundations, there is 3.6 spending gas,
[01:00:02.190]I think we can get 10 million.
[01:00:07.120]Publications and patents,
[01:00:07.953]I do not know exactly what those numbers are,
[01:00:10.590]but these are the yard sticks measuring sticks that we have.
[01:00:14.790]And how about the National Academy of Science
[01:00:17.460]and National Academy of Engineering members?
[01:00:20.280]We need to think about that
[01:00:22.380]because that goes into the ranking most often.
[01:00:29.100]Oh, okay, here are a couple of examples
[01:00:34.200]of what we are working on.
[01:00:36.030]One is cybersecurity for smart agriculture.
[01:00:41.610]That's a big issue.
[01:00:43.110]It's coming down the pike, that's anticipatory.
[01:00:45.390]Well, not anymore anticipatory, it has already happened,
[01:00:48.900]but we are working on this thing
[01:00:50.820]about three, four months back.
[01:00:54.450]And we are going to think about seed centers,
[01:01:02.790]we have already established one in Africa.
[01:01:05.400]We are thinking each continent need to have a seed center.
[01:01:10.830]And we can make that happen.
[01:01:14.010]And here is the very recent one, the Ukraine Seed Head.
[01:01:20.970]As you know, I mean this is a senseless war,
[01:01:26.010]there is no need for this war
[01:01:28.875]and there is lot of suffering that is going on.
[01:01:31.650]So we are going to lift 20,000 metric tons subsidy
[01:01:35.790]to Ukraine and the USDA is completely on board.
[01:01:40.590]We have actually submitted a proposal to USDA
[01:01:45.300]for 49 million to do this
[01:01:48.870]so that we will take the seeds from US companies,
[01:01:52.380]and last week, European Seed Association joined our,
[01:01:56.850]so now Europe is also going to.
[01:01:59.670]So we can now send the seed through land route,
[01:02:02.940]through Poland and so on.
[01:02:07.028]The cyber security for agriculture, we are going to do that
[01:02:10.710]through the farm bill.
[01:02:12.480]In a nutshell, what I bring to the table,
[01:02:15.120]I'm sorry I took a little bit longer time,
[01:02:17.144]but I wanted to give you a comprehensive view
[01:02:20.700]of what is going in my mind, I hope that's okay with you.
[01:02:26.460]What I bring to the table is this,
[01:02:28.770]an ability to create a culture of innovation,
[01:02:32.997]and in your case, I would say not create, enhance,
[01:02:36.690]because you have already.
[01:02:39.540]This slide was before I came here
[01:02:42.238]and I didn't have time to change it.
[01:02:45.960]A proven record of institution building,
[01:02:49.950]a strong spirit of entrepreneurship,
[01:02:53.190]motivate faculty and staff to hire productivity,
[01:02:57.210]solve problems with the systems approach,
[01:03:00.030]because there are unintended consequences.
[01:03:04.161]If we're successful, you may have problems,
[01:03:08.190]I'll talk about that
[01:03:09.300]if you have a question and example or two.
[01:03:12.150]Commitment to the land-grant mission
[01:03:14.640]and commitment to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion
[01:03:19.890]in the workplace.
[01:03:21.210]So here is my pledge, my pledge is that ARD-UNL
[01:03:27.750]is where we will develop collaborative research,
[01:03:33.778]that learning I'm talking about,
[01:03:36.240]again, contribute to learning,
[01:03:38.190]technology transfer network to protect and enhance
[01:03:43.079]food, water, energy, public health, safety,
[01:03:49.110]and security of Nebraska communities.
[01:03:52.530]That's the first, the nation and the world.
[01:03:57.270]Thank you very much.
[01:03:59.364](audience applauding)
[01:04:04.270]All right, now we are ready for the Q&A session
[01:04:08.310]of the interview process.
[01:04:09.870]So just as a reminder, Jason, would you be able
[01:04:12.737]to put the slide up for those that are on Zoom
[01:04:15.570]so they know how to reach my email address
[01:04:18.150]and submit questions?
[01:04:20.700]Okay, question from someone in the audience to kick it off.
[01:04:30.570]Yes. Andrea.
[01:04:31.734]Just so everyone that's online has the benefit
[01:04:35.010]of hearing the Q&A time,
[01:04:37.650]we'll ask Andrea to share a question.
[01:04:42.150]So I'm Andrea Cupp from Animal Science.
[01:04:45.150]And one of the things that you talked about
[01:04:48.090]was making faculty more productive.
[01:04:52.380]And I guess I'm coming from a point where I feel like
[01:04:56.760]I work all the time to get done what I can get done.
[01:05:01.380]So I guess I'd like to hear your viewpoint
[01:05:04.710]on how you could help us be more productive.
[01:05:07.950]But are there things that we're missing perhaps
[01:05:13.637]or ways that we could get there
[01:05:15.900]where maybe we're not spending as much time
[01:05:18.870]as we are now on what we do?
[01:05:25.142]Yeah, I think this is a good question.
[01:05:29.078]I think you may have answered your own question
[01:05:32.100]when you said that maybe I won't be spending so much time.
[01:05:36.030]It's not working just hard, but working smart.
[01:05:40.560]What I mean by that is if, first of all, couple of things,
[01:05:46.410]the faculty are good in ideas.
[01:05:51.390]You see, so if we can let them take care of ideas
[01:05:55.950]and provide the support for certain follow-up activities.
[01:06:01.380]Let's say that you are preparing a proposal.
[01:06:04.980]Instead of you doing quite a bit of work,
[01:06:09.720]we get a grant writer, we do that all the time,
[01:06:15.480]we facilitate the key people
[01:06:17.940]and then we capture their ideas.
[01:06:21.000]Somebody prepares the first draft, and then it comes to you
[01:06:26.070]for review what you can contribute.
[01:06:29.220]So we are taking our way things that is not adding value
[01:06:35.010]to your portfolio.
[01:06:38.790]But you are still getting the value
[01:06:43.560]without doing the repetitive work, so that's one way.
[01:06:48.930]The second is of course, using technology many times,
[01:06:53.550]can also take some of this burden out of your hands.
[01:06:57.000]Basically empower you to do the ideas,
[01:07:04.560]than actual follow-up and implementation,
[01:07:07.740]and that's for proposal writing.
[01:07:09.960]For your work, maybe we can think of facilities,
[01:07:14.010]maybe instrumentation.
[01:07:15.150]There is a biotechnology instrumentation center here,
[01:07:18.240]that instrumentation could be something that will do things
[01:07:22.260]much faster, much cheaper, things like that.
[01:07:26.130]So I think we need to deliberately think about
[01:07:29.100]not overloading you, that's what you are saying,
[01:07:32.730]because you have a family, you want to do the work,
[01:07:35.970]and then you go back to your home
[01:07:38.490]and there is a balance between work and family.
[01:07:42.660]So I'm not talking about adding time, but I am talking about
[01:07:47.430]just utilizing the time that you are spending
[01:07:51.600]in a different way, does that answer some at least?
[01:07:57.761]Okay, another question.
[01:08:03.270]We'll go to Rebecca then Andy,
[01:08:05.220]and we have our first question online after that.
[01:08:10.980]Thanks, I'm Rebecca Roston from Biochemistry.
[01:08:13.710]You mentioned you wanted to really improve our rankings
[01:08:17.070]as a college, and I know you don't know all the facts
[01:08:21.900]about us yet,
[01:08:22.800]but obviously those rankings are based on set criteria.
[01:08:27.240]Which criteria were you thinking about targeting and why?
[01:08:30.563]Each ranking has their own criteria.
[01:08:34.170]And see, as you said, I don't have really enough knowledge
[01:08:39.450]about what are your indicators,
[01:08:43.080]so where the improvement can take place.
[01:08:45.930]I know that for example, the National Academy of Science
[01:08:49.260]and National Academy of Engineering,
[01:08:50.850]I don't know how many you have, for example.
[01:08:53.550]So I think the ranking is certainly based on a metrics.
[01:09:00.032]I mean, I know you guys are got out of the AAU
[01:09:04.680]because of similar kind of situation, we did too.
[01:09:08.340]So ranking is based on certain criteria,
[01:09:11.400]you have to look at those criteria
[01:09:13.710]and see where we can make the improvement
[01:09:16.362]with the strength we have.
[01:09:19.410]So I think amount of publication, amount of patents,
[01:09:24.810]amount of research funding,
[01:09:27.960]how many publications are really being used,
[01:09:30.628]those criteria that you have to really...
[01:09:34.680]I have not really detailed answer for this kind of thing,
[01:09:38.800]but I think you have to look at that
[01:09:42.030]and this is a quantitative measure.
[01:09:44.790]So you have to just play the numbers game.
[01:09:48.630]But I think we also have to think of qualitatively.
[01:09:52.680]Getting there, is this going to overload the faculty?
[01:09:56.190]You have to ask that question as well.
[01:09:59.400]So I think that's how I shall approach it.
[01:10:04.230]It's how you approach the answer to a question also matters.
[01:10:10.110]So I think we have to see, do we want to be in top 10
[01:10:14.260]or do we want to be in top 15?
[01:10:16.440]I don't know, but that is something
[01:10:19.230]that we can have a target
[01:10:21.281]and then we need to think discuss together.
[01:10:26.700]That's where I think shared governance comes into picture.
[01:10:30.960]As I said, the dean is not going to set all those things.
[01:10:35.250]The dean's role is to facilitate that conversation
[01:10:39.600]and see what you want to become
[01:10:43.020]and how the team can help you to get there.
[01:10:49.470]Andy.
[01:10:52.650]So one of the things that seems to be missing
[01:10:54.660]from metrics oftentimes
[01:10:56.267]is we count publications and patents,
[01:11:00.240]but we don't include commercialization.
[01:11:02.160]'Cause patents are no good
[01:11:03.330]unless you actually commercialize it.
[01:11:04.947]And so how you plan on facilitating that sort of endeavor,
[01:11:10.371]which is not necessarily an easy thing to do?
[01:11:14.250]And then related to that, what are your thoughts around
[01:11:18.900]building cultures of innovation?
[01:11:20.580]How do you do that?
[01:11:22.290]Yeah, the first question that you have,
[01:11:26.280]I don't know how you put commercialization into the mix,
[01:11:31.397]but when you do commercialization
[01:11:34.260]there are other good things that happen
[01:11:37.050]that could be put into the mix.
[01:11:39.150]Think of this, Wageningen is number one right now.
[01:11:44.490]There are just a completely research university.
[01:11:47.730]I have been in Wageningen three times.
[01:11:51.000]If you look at their operation,
[01:11:52.920]they are not a land-grant university.
[01:11:56.610]You see?
[01:11:57.510]So it is easier for them because it's the research metrics
[01:12:01.920]that they are looking for, you see?
[01:12:04.260]So when you see UC Davis, which is below,
[01:12:08.580]they have lot more activities.
[01:12:10.440]I was in UC Davis just last week giving a talk
[01:12:14.160]and they were complaining that Wageningen
[01:12:16.560]is really number one,
[01:12:18.330]but what are they doing in transferring the technology
[01:12:21.090]in commercialization and so on?
[01:12:23.760]What are they doing for public good?
[01:12:26.340]Is very much elitist intellectual exercise.
[01:12:30.960]So I think we have to be careful also
[01:12:33.303]that what is our mission?
[01:12:36.090]We have to be mission oriented.
[01:12:38.880]And if our mission is to help for public good,
[01:12:43.950]then we have to keep that in the forefront
[01:12:46.650]and improving our ranking and not necessarily the numbers
[01:12:50.790]that we are talking about.
[01:12:54.212]And the second question you had is how do you basically
[01:12:59.520]do a culture of innovation?
[01:13:01.410]You are already there in my view,
[01:13:04.320]because what I have seen is you have that willingness.
[01:13:08.423]Think about this, what is innovation?
[01:13:13.260]I have a very different definition of innovation
[01:13:16.560]that what many people think of innovation
[01:13:20.070]is developing a new machine, a new instrument, new process,
[01:13:27.360]and that kind of thing.
[01:13:28.710]But to me, innovation is overcoming your fear
[01:13:34.729]of trying something new, that's my definition.
[01:13:41.160]And that's why every person matters.
[01:13:45.870]An office assistant who is developing a new method
[01:13:49.620]to make that process more efficient is innovating.
[01:13:54.600]Isn't that the case?
[01:13:56.790]Think about that.
[01:13:59.340]I took a lot of training on lean process.
[01:14:05.640]You really can make a lot of these things more efficient
[01:14:09.690]and more effective because there is a lot of duplication
[01:14:13.170]that is going on.
[01:14:14.010]You think you are busy, but you are doing the same thing
[01:14:18.208]again and again and so on.
[01:14:20.700]In our seed testing, when I became the director,
[01:14:23.760]we did the time management,
[01:14:26.880]we broke down the entire testing into little chunks,
[01:14:33.150]and we say how much time it takes to do this,
[01:14:35.160]how much time it takes to this, do this, so on,
[01:14:37.560]we call it the process management,
[01:14:42.221]I do a lot of business innovation into the academics.
[01:14:46.650]So the process management we have written
[01:14:48.735]actually nine manuals on process management.
[01:14:54.810]So what you do is you just basically flow chart the process,
[01:15:00.960]and then you try to improve in each step of the way.
[01:15:05.280]And it's interesting that if you have the process right,
[01:15:09.210]the product turns out to be very good.
[01:15:12.270]If you focus on the product quality,
[01:15:15.060]you are looking for defects, that's what a lot of people do,
[01:15:19.230]they try to minimize the defect.
[01:15:22.230]But instead, if you improve the process,
[01:15:26.070]then the defect at the end of the line,
[01:15:28.710]it's much smaller and you can deal with it.
[01:15:32.460]So I think one of the thing that one can do innovation
[01:15:36.019]is improving the process, what you are doing.
[01:15:40.410]So a person who has been doing things day in and day out,
[01:15:44.640]when they think of doing it slightly differently
[01:15:48.660]in a new way and overcome that fear,
[01:15:52.080]take little risk, that's innovation in my mind.
[01:15:56.610]I hope that jives with you.
[01:15:59.520]So it's not just developing a non-destructive machine
[01:16:03.930]that will just tell the quality of the seed in minutes,
[01:16:10.020]Shakespeare said, if you can look into the seeds of time
[01:16:14.130]and tell which one will germinate and which one will not.
[01:16:18.450]So it is not that big idea of developing a technology
[01:16:25.200]that will be a billion dollar thing,
[01:16:27.810]but you can innovate in what you are doing.
[01:16:31.620]So that's how you do the culture of innovation.
[01:16:33.900]You encourage that spirit of trying things
[01:16:39.753]that you have not tried before.
[01:16:42.420]It could be a new way of doing business,
[01:16:45.420]it could be a new way of marketing,
[01:16:47.771]it could be a new organizational structure,
[01:16:52.140]that's innovation.
[01:16:54.210]So I think that's how you do.
[01:16:56.820]You encourage people to speak, to think differently,
[01:17:02.190]that's where the diversity and inclusion thing
[01:17:04.380]also comes in.
[01:17:06.319]I don't need to really listen to the people
[01:17:08.610]who look like me, who talk like me, who think like me,
[01:17:13.830]then I won't learn much.
[01:17:16.830]But I think just simply talking, sharing,
[01:17:21.150]listening to people who are different
[01:17:24.450]is how you really create a culture, which you already have,
[01:17:30.510]but perhaps we can enhance it.
[01:17:34.740]Okay, we're going to take an online question
[01:17:37.000]from John Rubenson.
[01:17:38.790]So what do you see as sources of increased funding?
[01:17:43.230]Are there novel targets beyond the typical
[01:17:45.750]federal, state company sources
[01:17:48.510]that you would encourage us to pursue?
[01:17:51.120]Yeah, I think even in federal, when we say federal,
[01:17:55.620]most people think it's the USDA and so on.
[01:17:58.740]But even within federal,
[01:18:00.387]you can think of non-traditional sources.
[01:18:02.820]Department of Energy, NIST,
[01:18:05.790]National Institute of Standard and Technology.
[01:18:07.980]We have got funding from them,
[01:18:09.990]DHS, Department of Homeland Security,
[01:18:12.870]DIA, Department of Intelligence Agency.
[01:18:16.470]we are actually going to those places
[01:18:18.930]for the cybersecurity kind of funding.
[01:18:21.930]So it's not just when we think of federal,
[01:18:27.450]most food and a people think of the traditional ones.
[01:18:31.710]So that's one.
[01:18:33.349]Then the second thing is there are a lot of associations,
[01:18:38.730]they have funding.
[01:18:40.740]It's very interesting, the biggest project we got
[01:18:44.130]is from a state government in India, $50 million.
[01:18:49.200]You see, the state governments they have money
[01:18:53.220]that the budget, that they have is billions
[01:18:57.630]and billions of dollars budget.
[01:18:59.113]So to them, 25 million is not a big deal.
[01:19:04.650]So you could think of the state government,
[01:19:07.830]and then you need to think of alumnus
[01:19:09.886]who might be international.
[01:19:14.490]There are many that are very wealthy, that are overseas.
[01:19:20.460]So you could think of that.
[01:19:22.200]You could think of the nonprofits.
[01:19:24.589]So I think there are so many possibilities.
[01:19:29.310]You just have to keep that network going
[01:19:32.670]and then things will happen.
[01:19:35.190]Okay, we'll take another question from online.
[01:19:37.710]This is from Dustin Loy.
[01:19:39.637]"So given your experience at the Seed Center doing service,
[01:19:45.180]how do you see these types of efforts
[01:19:47.220]supporting or integrating the research mission?
[01:19:50.520]Would you repeat that question please?
[01:19:52.020]Yeah, absolutely.
[01:19:53.160]So given your experience at the Seed Science Center
[01:19:57.330]doing service, how do you see these types of efforts
[01:20:01.380]supporting or integrating with the research mission?
[01:20:06.877]I'm still not sure
[01:20:09.540]how do you support the research mission?
[01:20:14.270]So for example, Dustin is a faculty member
[01:20:17.880]in the School of Veterinary Medicine
[01:20:19.950]and Biomedical Sciences,
[01:20:21.750]and also supports our Veterinary Diagnostics Clinic.
[01:20:25.800]So talking about service is being an important part
[01:20:29.220]as you've talked about local, national, global.
[01:20:32.220]And so he's curious about what role does service play
[01:20:35.970]in advancing the research mission.
[01:20:38.370]I understand now.
[01:20:39.660]Yeah, I think for example, we get about $4 million
[01:20:43.740]from our seed testing service every year.
[01:20:47.130]And we plow that fees into,
[01:20:51.906]I will develop some of the ideas here, graduate students.
[01:20:59.381]If we want to do a new testing research,
[01:21:02.863]then the seed testing service
[01:21:06.450]pays for that graduate student, post docs.
[01:21:11.460]I talked about the seed health.
[01:21:14.010]We have seed health professors that are plant pathologists.
[01:21:18.450]Part of their salary comes from that revolving funding.
[01:21:23.370]So the service fees are actually,
[01:21:29.880]it's just like any business, you have a cost of production,
[01:21:34.740]but then you have a selling price.
[01:21:37.800]Is the margin there correctly done?
[01:21:41.220]If the margin is correct, you can put that money
[01:21:44.700]into research and innovation.
[01:21:47.130]And we do that all the time, and here is what happens.
[01:21:50.160]Then it gets plowed back into the service.
[01:21:53.640]For example, Gary Munkvold, who is our seed pathologist,
[01:21:57.750]he will develop a new seed health testing method.
[01:22:03.720]Now, the seed companies are sending their seed
[01:22:07.440]for that testing in a service more,
[01:22:11.730]which might just bring hundreds of thousands of dollars.
[01:22:16.050]So it's both ways, the service supports the research,
[01:22:20.730]the research supports the service.
[01:22:23.160]Perfect, one last question from the group here
[01:22:28.290]in the Great Plains room.
[01:22:29.220]All right, Rebecca, firsthand to go up.
[01:22:35.430]Thanks, so one of the things you talked about
[01:22:40.350]was the importance of strategic planning
[01:22:46.530]and planning from the ground up.
[01:22:50.130]Sometimes though that has a cost and the cost is time.
[01:22:54.510]And there are things certainly which have happened
[01:22:56.700]in the last couple of years
[01:22:57.720]that were beyond anybody's strategic plan.
[01:23:00.330]So I'm wondering, at the expense of suggesting
[01:23:04.620]another national pandemic.
[01:23:05.898](Rebecca chuckling)
[01:23:06.731]If something unexpected that could be something
[01:23:09.329]like a pandemic, came up, what would be your strategy
[01:23:13.560]for dealing with that in the immediate near future?
[01:23:16.830]Who would be at that first meeting
[01:23:18.270]where you were trying to figure out what the plan would be?
[01:23:21.330]If there is another pandemic or?
[01:23:23.360]Or another calamity that is not planned for.
[01:23:27.390]Right, I think this is what I was saying, proactivity.
[01:23:33.420]You don't want to sell Christmas trees in January, do you?
[01:23:40.620]So you don't really do things.
[01:23:43.710]Sometimes you have to, but you don't do things
[01:23:48.419]when the calamity has already come upon you,
[01:23:53.790]this is extremely important,
[01:23:55.560]this is why we are doing surveillance and so on
[01:23:58.260]so that we have some inkling of who should be involved.
[01:24:02.880]It goes back to even proposal writing.
[01:24:05.640]I didn't mention it because of time,
[01:24:08.430]but we don't wait until the RFP comes.
[01:24:13.170]When a RFP for 25 million, 50 million comes,
[01:24:17.070]it's too late to form a team, it's too late.
[01:24:22.170]But what we do is we develop lot of concepts.
[01:24:27.780]You see, that are in the mill, so to speak,
[01:24:33.030]that's number one,
[01:24:35.340]because we are constantly scouring the environment,
[01:24:38.700]what is important, what is happening.
[01:24:41.250]I travel to Washington, DC every couple of months.
[01:24:45.240]And I simply have courtesy visit with USAID,
[01:24:48.780]with World Bank, with NSF, with NIH.
[01:24:53.250]Well, NIH has more money in their increase
[01:24:55.860]than the entire project that USDA has.
[01:24:58.680]So you make rounds.
[01:25:01.860]You find what is happening and you are prepared.
[01:25:06.900]Now, if a calamity comes, then you can call on those people.
[01:25:12.747]The Ukraine project, it's a calamity for Ukraine, isn't it?
[01:25:17.910]We build that team in three months
[01:25:21.990]and we are going to send the seed,
[01:25:23.810]20,000 metric tons of seed to Ukraine.
[01:25:27.690]The State Department is involved.
[01:25:30.480]Biden's administration is involved, USDA is involved,
[01:25:34.890]seed companies are involved, and it's trust,
[01:25:40.800]it's building and developing that trust
[01:25:43.144]with your collaborators.
[01:25:46.200]The 79 countries that I talked about,
[01:25:49.770]we could pick up the phone and say,
[01:25:53.167]"Hey guys, we have this situation.
[01:25:56.460]Can you send me a page or two pages?
[01:26:00.660]This is our focus, can you do that?
[01:26:02.820]They will stay up in the night
[01:26:05.340]and they will send you something.
[01:26:07.140]We did that for soybean rust, you remember soybean rust?
[01:26:12.720]We prepared the State of Iowa when soybean rust was coming,
[01:26:20.760]we had about 25 people at the Seed Science Center.
[01:26:23.580]The college asked me,
[01:26:24.727]"Could you develop basically a strategy?"
[01:26:28.980]If we find soybean rust, what will we do?
[01:26:32.520]So we set up the trials, how you will test
[01:26:36.060]and all that kind of thing.
[01:26:37.530]So what I'm saying is this is where the proactivity comes
[01:26:42.060]and establishing networks and connections and so on,
[01:26:45.960]so that you can really build that team, if you have to.
[01:26:50.790]I'll give you another example.
[01:26:53.160]I love to tell stories, you can tell.
[01:26:56.730]This Ukraine project, we talked to the Governor,
[01:27:02.490]I worked quite a bit with Governor's office
[01:27:05.610]and the Governor office said, "Ah, this is a good project,
[01:27:10.020]we are going to be very supportive,
[01:27:11.610]but let me tell you something Manjit,
[01:27:16.830]their intelligence is that the agriculture fields are mined.
[01:27:22.890]The Russians have mined the fields."
[01:27:25.170]Said, "You can't even get there,
[01:27:27.000]what do you mean about planting seeds?
[01:27:29.760]People are going to be blown up, particularly children."
[01:27:35.610]So what we did, because we already have some networks,
[01:27:40.950]I called Roots of Peace.
[01:27:43.860]Roots of Peace, Heidi Kuhn and her husband
[01:27:47.700]have formed an organization called Roots of Peace.
[01:27:52.050]They have been active in Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan.
[01:27:57.360]They call it Mines to Vine Program.
[01:28:01.740]They clear the mines, then they go on to the agriculture.
[01:28:07.080]And who clears the mines?
[01:28:08.790]A group in the UK called Mines Advisor Group, MAG.
[01:28:15.240]So I think if you have established this connection,
[01:28:18.990]so I called after two, three days Governor's office.
[01:28:22.710]I said, "Look, we have a way of clearing mines."
[01:28:27.210]They said, "That's fantastic."
[01:28:29.760]So they are going to be very, very supportive.
[01:28:33.360]So I think you have to have this network,
[01:28:37.110]you have to mobilize that network.
[01:28:40.980]So Roots of Peace, the person who is the vice president
[01:28:45.840]is Pat Sheik, she used to be in charge of FAS in USDA.
[01:28:51.270]She retired and then went to Roots of Peace.
[01:28:55.500]So I knew Pat very well.
[01:28:58.380]So I said, "Pat, we need your help."
[01:29:01.590]And she said, "Normally we don't work unless we have MOU,
[01:29:06.840]but I trust you, so we are going to work with you."
[01:29:11.610]So that's how you do, when there is a calamity.
[01:29:16.738]You have to have some advance building relationships.
[01:29:22.170]Then you are more likely to be able to solve it than not.
[01:29:28.260]Perfect, well, please join me in thanking Dr. Misra.
[01:29:32.431](audience applauding)
[01:29:38.430]And as a reminder, there is an open reception this evening
[01:29:42.660]at 6:30 in the links between Innovation Campus
[01:29:46.770]and the Food Industry, Food Innovation Center.
[01:29:49.650]I should have gotten innovation
[01:29:50.760]right after your presentation today.
[01:29:53.010]So you have an opportunity to connect with our candidate.
[01:29:56.340]And then tomorrow we have a forum on innovation
[01:29:59.640]and entrepreneurship in the morning,
[01:30:01.590]and then that will be followed by another session
[01:30:04.230]in the afternoon on culture,
[01:30:05.520]climate and inclusive excellence.
[01:30:07.350]So again, thank you all for joining us
[01:30:09.330]and thanks for those joining us online also.
[01:30:11.520]Thank you very much.
[01:30:12.561](audience applauding)

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ARD Dean Candidate - Dr. Manjit K. Misra

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