“Only One World: Our Own to Make and Keep”

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Area of Interest

Education,Environment,Technology

Abstract of the talk :

The title of Professor Walker’s presentation is taken from Gerard Piel's book of the same title. Gerard Piel was the publisher of Scientific America for forty years. His role as publisher of this distinguished journal granted him a unique vantage point for observing trends in science and technology and how these trends define the world we live in. His theme that we have only one world to sustain human development is one that we must all embrace. We must also embrace the challenges and opportunities to “make and keep” our only one world. Professor Walker believes that efforts to “make and keep” must be based on a holistic and quantitative framework. This framework must be driven by a quantitative understanding of the key social, economic, and technical trends that are transforming our world. In addition, we need to understand how policy, culture and shared values can alter these trends. Such understanding comes from multidisciplinary, multi- institutional and multinational collaborations such as the Somaiya Vidyavihar /Michigan State University Global Alliance that seeks to address India’s food, energy, water and carbon challenges. A core mission of this alliance is the development of leaders who understand how to work the nexus of science, technology, markets, policy and social needs to address India’s sustainability challenges. He strongly believes that Somaiya Vidyavihar can and must produce such leaders! Larry Walker will offer some thoughts on how Somaiya Vidyavihar, and other partners, can build on its tradition of educating young people to play a role in making and keeping our only one world !
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Profile :

Dr Larry P. Walker received a B.S. in Physics from Michigan State University (MSU) in 1974. His evolving interests in environmental and natural resources challenges lead him to complete M.S. and Ph.D degrees in Agricultural Engineering from MSU. Dr. Walker was appointed as an Assistant Professor at Cornell University where he rose to become a Professor & retired from Cornell University in 2015. During his time at Cornell, he has led multi-discipline research activities focused on pretreatment and scarification of lignocellulosic feedstock, abiotic and biotic interactions in aerobic degradation processes, and the application of systems biology modeling to direct metabolic activities in yeast to drive more carbon to biofuels and bioproducts. His research activities have yielded over two hundred peer & non-peer reviewed articles. Dr Walker has served in numerous leadership roles including membership on the National Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee and leadership of the Northeast Sun Initiative, a regional bioenergy and bioproducts initiative. He is the recipient of the 2008 Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Outstanding Alumnus Award. In 2009 he was elected as a fellow in the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. Also, in 2009 he was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Alumni Association. In 2017 he received the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award, from the College of Engineering, Michigan State University. He is the Co-Editor in Chief for the journal “Industrial Biotechnology” and he currently serves as a Director for Godavari Biorefineries Ltd. For his leadership in industrial biotechnology, he received the “Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) Leadership and Legacy Award” in 2018. He is an active member of MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Alumni Association where he serves as a member of the Board, and he was appointed in 2018 as an Adjunct Professor in MSU’s Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. He serves on the Governing Board of K. J. Somaiya Institute of Engineering and Information Technology and is also the Academic Council member of Somaiya Vidyavihar University.
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