Keynotes & lectureship speakers
Katharine Hayhoe
Keynote speaker
Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist whose research focuses on understanding the impacts of climate change on people and the planet. She is the Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy and a Horn Distinguished Professor and Endowed Professor of Public Policy and Public Law at Texas Tech University. She has served as a lead author for the Second, Third, and Fourth U.S. National Climate Assessments and her work has resulted in over 125 peer-reviewed papers, abstracts, and other publications. She is the author of the best-selling book Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World. She also hosts the PBS Digital Series Global Weirding and is a co-founder of Science Moms.
Hayhoe is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Scientific Affiliation, an Honourary Fellow of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, an Oxfam Sister of the Planet, and the World Evangelical Alliance’s Climate Ambassador. She has been named to lists including the TIME 100 Most Influential People and Fortune's 50 World's Greatest Leaders, received a number of awards including the National Center for Science Education’s Friend of the Planet Award, the American Geophysical Union’s Climate Communication Prize and Ambassador Award, and the Sierra Club’s Distinguished Service Award, and is a United Nations Champion of the Earth in Science and Innovation.
Betty Klepper Endowed Lectureship
"Feeding the Future with Climate Resilient Crops"
The rapid advance of genetic technologies has provided new tools to generate crops that are resilient to climate change. Professor Pamela Ronald will discuss the development of climate-resilient rice varieties, engineering plants for resistance and strategies to reduce methane emissions in rice.
Pamela Ronald is a Professor, UC Davis; Investigator, Innovative Genomics Institute, UC Berkeley; & Director of Grass Genetics, Joint Bioenergy Institute. She earned her B.A from Reed College, M.S. degrees from Stanford and Uppsala universities, & her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. Ronald studies plant genes that control resistance to disease and tolerance to environmental stress. She is coauthor of Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, genetics and the Future of Food. In 2019, she received the American Society of Plant Biologists Leadership Award and an honorary doctorate from the Swedish Agricultural University. In 2022, Ronald was awarded the Wolf Prize in Agriculture & the VinFuture Special Prize for Female Innovators. She is an Elected Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Forestry and Agriculture, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2025, she received The President’s Award for the Advancement of the Common Good, Stanford University.
Pamela Ronald
UC Davis
Edward S. Buckler
USDA-ARS
Ron Phillips Plant Genetics Lectureship
"Triple Gains: A Systems Approach to Nitrogen, Yields, and Sustainability from Field to Food System"
Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has driven incredible gains in crop productivity, yet only 12% of applied nitrogen reaches consumers as protein. Today, with a systems-level understanding of soils, plant and animal physiology, manure, synthetic biology, and metagenomics, we can design nitrogen flows for both greater efficiency and lower environmental impact. The Nitrogen 2.0 framework outlines pathways to triple system-level nitrogen use efficiency, increase yields, and cut inputs—by integrating alternative nitrogen sources for livestock, improving manure recycling, and creating cropping systems that retain and reuse more nitrogen on-farm. One example is the Circular Economy that Reimagines Corn Agriculture (CERCA), which focuses on making maize extremely productive and efficient for feed, starch, and fuel uses (60% of the global crop). In temperate climates, maize faces two inefficiencies: it grows poorly in spring when light and nitrogen are available, and it allocates excessive nitrogen to low-value storage proteins in the grain. CERCA addresses this by designing a cold-tolerant maize, shifting nitrogen away from grain protein, and enhancing soil nitrogen recycling and in soil stability through biological nitrification inhibition. Together, these strategies lay the groundwork for a resilient, nitrogen-efficient agricultural system—maximizing productivity while reducing fertilizer input costs and environmental impact.
Edward S. Buckler is a USDA-ARS Distinguished Research Geneticist and adjunct professor in Plant Breeding and Genetics at Cornell University with an educational background in molecular evolution and archaeology. His group's research uses genomic, computational, and field approaches to dissect complex traits and accelerate breeding in maize, sorghum, cassava, and a wide range of other crops. With these technologies applied to over 2000 species, now the Buckler group focuses on exploring ways to re-engineer global agricultural production systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ensure food security, improve nutrition, and respond to climate change. With the USDA-ARS, he leads an informatics and genomics platform to help accelerate breeding for specialty crops and animals. His contributions to quantitative genetics and genomics were recognized with election to the US National Academy of Sciences, recipient of the inaugural NAS Food and Agriculture Award, and the McClintock Prize.
