Together in Innovation: Agricultural advances

Dr. Sylvia Blankenship is an Emerita Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Administration, Department of Horticultural Science and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University. Dr. Blankenship created a postharvest technology based on the anti-ethylene compound, 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) that extends freshness of fruits, vegetables and flowers by controlling ethylene action. The development of this compound has increased understanding of postharvest degradation, making 1-MCP a major contributor to international food security. She has received numerous awards, including the American Society for Horticultural Science's 2006 Leadership and Administration Award and the 2007 Outstanding Researcher Award and the North Carolina State University's 2015 Innovator of the Year. Blankenship holds two US and 23 foreign patents, licensed to five companies, with products used worldwide. She has published 65 refereed articles and 12 articles for the public. She is a Fellow of the International Society of Horticultural Science, the American Society for Horticultural Science, and the National Academy of Inventors, and she has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Deepak Dashairya works in the Office of Innovation Outreach at the USPTO creating intellectual property (IP) awareness programs and managing outreach services to independent inventors, small businesses, entrepreneurs, makers, and universities across the nation. Dashairya is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with over 19 years of federal service.

Before joining USPTO in June 2020, he served in leadership roles at the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Commerce, both in Washington D.C. and the Detroit Metropolitan Area, where he currently resides. Dashairya received a Bachelor of Science in statistics and a Master of Science in applied statistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Dr. Tammy Gray-Steele is a fourth-generation Black woman farmer and founder and CEO of the National Women in Agriculture Association (NWIAA), the largest minority non-profit agriculture organization in the world. NWIAA's mission is to engage minority youth and female farmers to reach their fullest potential as they advance in agriculture, providing the life skills, career opportunities, and mentorships needed for them to become prosperous citizens. She also created a streaming outreach program, Women in Ag Wednesday, through which she provides agricultural education to farmers around the world. She is the first Black American to have agriculture education programs published by the Smithsonian Science Education Center. 

Dr. Fatma Kaplan is the Co-founder and CEO of Pheronym, an Activate Berkeley Fellow, and a Lawrence Berkeley Lab Affiliate, Cyclotron Road Division, 2021. She is an entrepreneur and accomplished scientist with experience in both biology and chemistry. Kaplan has a Ph.D. in plant molecular and cellular biology and has postdoctoral training in natural product chemistry, with a focus on isolating biologically active compounds. Kaplan discovered the first sex pheromone of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and published her findings in Nature in 2008. Then she discovered that pheromones regulate other behaviors in both parasitic and beneficial nematodes. Kaplan conducted the first agricultural biocontrol experiment in space at the International Space Station in 2020. She has worked as a scientist at NASA, the National Magnetic Field Laboratory, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service. Kaplan co-founded Pheronym to bring nematode pheromone technology to the market.

Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young serves as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics (or R-E-E), and as USDA’s Chief Scientist. The R-E-E mission area is comprised of more than 8,500 employees across five organizations including the Agricultural Research Service, Economic Research Service, National Agricultural Statistics Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and the Office of the Chief Scientist. Together these organizations create a safe, sustainable, competitive U.S. food and fiber system through integrated research, analysis, cooperative partnerships, and education.

Prior to being appointed by President Biden to serve as the R-E-E Under Secretary, Dr. Jacobs-Young was the Agricultural Research Service Administrator for 8 years. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Public Administration. 

She holds Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Wood and Paper Science and a Bachelor of Science degree in Pulp and Paper Science and Technology from North Carolina State University. 

Dr. Marrone has spent her 30+ year career focused on biological products for pest management and plant health, having started and led three bioag companies (she is one of only 32 women founders to have taken her company public). In August 2020, Dr. Marrone retired as CEO of Marrone Bio Innovations, a company she started in 2006 and listed on NASDAQ (MBII) in 2013, which was sold to Bioceres Crop Solutions (NASDAQ:BIOX) in July 2022. She remains an advisor to BIOX. She is currently starting a fourth company and associated foundation, The Invasive Species Corporation and Invasive Species Foundation, to deliver biological solutions to difficult invasive species problems in water, forestry, and agriculture. She is a board member and past treasurer of the Association for Women in Science, serves on the board of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research, is a Senior Fellow of the Arizona State University Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems, and is a past alumni-trustee of Cornell University. She serves on the boards of 180 Life Sciences (NASDAQ:ATNF), Stem Express and Pheronym, and advises several agtech/agbio startups, most founded or led by women. She has received many awards, including the American Chemical Society’s Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success. She has a Bachelor of Science in entomology with honors and distinction from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in entomology from North Carolina State University. She is a Fellow of the AAAS and has over 400 patents.

Suma Reddy is the Co-Founder and CEO of Future Acres, a company that builds advanced mobility and AI solutions for farms, starting with Carry, an autonomous harvest companion that increases production efficiency, improves farmworker safety, and provides real-time data and analytics. She is a three-time Agriculture Tech and Climate Tech founder, having built companies and projects in indoor farming, anaerobic digestion, and renewable energy. She has also built and is active in inclusive tech communities, has been awarded the White House Champion of Change for her Asian and Pacific Islander LGBTQ+ advocacy work, is on the advisory board of Scale for ClimateTech, and is a board member of GrainPro. She teaches Future of Food and Climate: Models of Just Entrepreneurship at the NYC School of Visual Arts. She started her career at a microfinance startup-turned-unicorn in India and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali. She is a graduate of The Wharton School (Master of Business Administration), Flatiron School (iOS), General Assembly (UX Design), and University of Rochester (Bachelor of Arts).

Amy Wu is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker focused on the ag and agtech movement, and she is the Founder of From Farms to Incubators, a multimedia platform that uses documentary, video, photography, and the written word to tell the stories of women leaders and innovators in agtech. It has a mission of highlighting women in food, farming, and farmtech, especially women of color. She is also the author of the book “From Farms to Incubators: Women Innovators Revolutionizing How Our Food Is Grown.” Wu has reported for outlets including AgFunder News, Forbes, USA Today Network, and Time Magazine. Wu earned her bachelor’s degree in history from New York University and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.