Roger Beachy, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and founding president of Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, will give a talk on solutions to the global food crisis Thursday evening at Cal Poly Pomona.

The lecture, titled “The Role of Science and Technology in Achieving Global Food Security,” is open to the public.  Beachy will discuss the future of sustainable and intensive agriculture, according to a news release.

The scientist’s work on plant genetic engineering, which led to the development of plants resistant to viral diseases, has earned him numerous honors and awards, including the Wolf Prize in Agriculture.  President Obama appointed him to serve as the first director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, a position he held until last May.

The presentation marks the first to be funded by the Kellogg Legacy Project Endowment.  Sepehr Eskandari, a professor and interim chair of the biological sciences department, helped create the Kellogg lectures series with the goal that every talk would speak to one of the campus’ core values.  Those values include polytechnic identity, academic quality, learn by doing, teacher scholars, environmental sustainability, and celebration of diversity.

“We wanted to start something that would expose the whole campus community to new ideas – not just students but faculty and staff as well,” Eskandari said.

The lecture will be at 7 p.m. in the University Theatre. A networking session will take place at 6 p.m., and Q&A session will follow the lecture at 8 p.m.

Additional information about Beachy’s talk can be found at www.csupomona.edu/~kellogglectures/.