Event Details

Eating Genes: Global Ethics and Equity Issues in Genetically Modified Food and Sustainability - Lisa Weasel and Virginia Walbot

Date/Time:Thursday, 08 Nov 2007 at 7:00 pm
Location:Sun Room, Memorial Union
Contact:
Phone:515-294-9934
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Lisa Weasel is an associate professor of biology at Portland State University. Her work draws on social science methodologies and perspectives from the humanities to better understand the intersection between science and society. Weasel's current research focuses on global ethics and equity issues relating to agricultural biotechnology and food security and sustainability. This research compares the standpoints of different stakeholders in the debates over agricultural biotechnology in Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States. Virginia Walbot is a professor of biological sciences at Stanford University. A broad theme of her research is the interplay of environment and development in the life cycle of plants. Walbot manages the NSF-funded Maize Gene Discovery project and is interested in how genomic diversity is created and how biochemical pathways are assembled through gene duplication and promoter evolution. Part of the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities series "The Book of Life in a Genomic Age."
In addition to her work on agricultural biotechnology, Lisa Weasel has been actively involved in developing research in the area of feminist science studies that is relevant to and can inform the practice and theories of science, particularly in the area of molecular biology and biotechnology. She also has research interests in biology education and scientific literacy and the public(s). She devotes a portion of her time to working with K-12 educators and the public to promote a vision of scientific literacy that allows people to empower themselves using the knowledge and approach of science.

Virginia Walbot is an adjunct professor of agronomy at the University of Missouri and a nonresident Fellow of the Noble Foundation (Ardmore, OK) in addition to her position at Stanford. She has served on editorial boards of a number of journals, most notably as associate editor of Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology for sixteen years. She is active in a number of professional societies, including the American Society for Cell Biology, AAAS, AIBS, Genetics Society, and International Society for Plant Molecular Biology.

Cosponsored By:
  • Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities
  • Center for Integrated Animal Genomics
  • Humanities Iowa
  • Plant Sciences Institute
  • Committee on Lectures (funded by GSB)