Professor Ronnie Coffman, Director of International Programs, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (IP-CALS) at Cornell University, USA and member of the Advisory Board of WACCI has won an inaugural World Agricultural Prize. Throughout his 43-year career, Cornell plant breeder Ronnie Coffman has sown seeds of scientific and social change across continents and generations.
His efforts have been recognized by the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences (GCHERA), an organization that represents more than 600 universities worldwide.
As the leader of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development, he is helping another generation combat new strains of wheat rust that threaten to devastate world food supplies.
As the professor behind Cornell’s popular “Agriculture in Developing Nations”, and a Collaborating Partner of the Ph.D. programme at the West African Center for Crop Improvement, he is mentoring the next generation of plant breeders and international development professionals.
Coffman was nominated for the award by Kathryn Boor, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of CALS, who said he embodied the college’s mission of “knowledge with public purpose.”
Coffman joined the Cornell faculty in 1981, and has served as Director of IP-CALS since 2001. Previous positions include Chair of the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, CALS Associate Dean for Research and Director of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station.
WACCI congratulates Prof. Ronnie Coffman on the award.
Credit: Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, globaltrust.org