Mark Your
Calendar
Jan. 21
TAMU Break – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Feb. 6
4-H Day At The Capitol
Feb. 16
Aggieland Saturday
Ongoing Events
Thru May 27
83rd Texas Legislative Session
Thru July 5
Exhibit: “Genome: The Secret of How Life Works”
|
Setting the Table for a Hotter, Flatter, More Crowded Earth
 |
 |
The 2013 AgriLife Conference sparked much excitement this past week, with more than 500 AgriLife professionals attending from all over the state. We celebrated our past successes, gained valuable information on current events, and discussed the challenges we will face in the future. Every session sparked valuable conversation, which is the first step in strategizing how AgriLife will answer the call of our grand challenges:
• Feeding Our World
• Protecting Our Environment
• Improving Our Health
• Enriching Our Youth
• Growing Our Economy
Our keynote speaker, Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy, director of the US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA), challenged us with numerous questions, or “wicked problems” as he called them. Many of these “wicked problems” will come to a head as the population continues to grow. Food, water, environment, climate change, energy, health, poverty – the list goes on.
What can we in AgriLife do to help mitigate these problems? How will we approach them together? I’m eager to get started. As land grant universities and systems of the 21st century, I believe we will succeed by continuing our strong, discipline-based discovery, engagement and education; transitioning to multi-disciplinary, integrative, participatory systems of discovery, engagement and education; and focusing on impacts and outcomes.
What are your thoughts on the major issues facing our society and what strengths or weaknesses do you think AgriLife has in answering these tough questions? As we begin developing our answers to our grand challenges, our goal is to identify and encourage current and emerging programs and generate open dialog with our faculty, staff and agency leadership.
Look for more lectures and discussion forums on the grand challenges this Spring, and join in the conversation today by posting a comment and reading more about Dr. Ramaswamy’s keynote address.
Click Here →
|
