Madison, Wisconsin
September 18, 2008
Monsanto Company has made a $1
million gift to support plant breeding and genetics in the
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Monsanto Graduate Fellowship in Plant Breeding will help
fund Ph.D.-level graduate students in the plant breeding and
plant genetics program, a UW System Center of Excellence, in
CALS.
"Plant breeding defines an activity that will be an essential
component of our planetary stewardship as we feed our growing
population through the coming century," says CALS Dean Molly
Jahn. "This gift from Monsanto will allow us to explore
revolutionary approaches toward improved agricultural
productivity and environmental stewardship while we train the
next generation of plant breeders.
"Our partnerships with the private sector are principled
relationships designed to protect our public sector missions
while we train the next generation of agricultural scientists,"
she says.
Monsanto sees the UW-Madison program as a strong partner. "The
University of Wisconsin-Madison has a long history of training
outstanding plant breeders through its interdisciplinary
graduate training program," says Bob Reiter, vice president of
Breeding Technology for Monsanto.
"This record of achievement combined with the diversity of
research opportunities for students in row and vegetable crops
makes the university an attractive partner in Monsanto's efforts
to support the training of the next generation plant breeders
and biometricians," Reiter says.
The UW-Madison Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics graduate
training program is one of the leading such ventures in the
world. At UW-Madison, graduate training is research based and
emphasizes critical thinking and analytical skills. Students in
the program generally take courses in quantitative genetics,
statistics, experimental design and molecular genetics.
"Over the past 20 years, no program in the country has trained
more plant breeding and plant genetics PhD students than ours,"
Jahn says. "We have an outstanding faculty who are respected not
only for their top-flight research but for their ability to
prepare students to excel in both academic and industry settings
all around the world. One of the real strengths of our program
is its interdisciplinary nature. Our students are part of a very
active community that welcomes global scientific leaders to
campus, and they get broad exposure to the most important issues
in the field."
Professor Irwin Goldman is a vice dean in CALS, and he has a
long history with the plant breeding and plant genetics program.
"This support from Monsanto demonstrates a real partnership with
an incredibly successful private sector company that depends on
the kind of top-quality graduates that Wisconsin can produce,"
he says.
"We can make use of the outstanding faculty and staff at
UW-Madison, along with our research infrastructure, our
colleagues in supporting disciplines and the premier atmosphere
for graduate training on our campus while helping to educate
students who will be the workforce that Monsanto and others will
want to hire in the future," Goldman says. "In a sense, both
parties are bringing key resources and expertise to the table,
and in the end we will both benefit from this partnership."
Gifts such as Monsanto's not only help the graduate students and
the University's programs. They boost the people and economy of
Wisconsin, he says.
"These top-flight graduate students help bring the excellence to
our research programs," he says. "They are the ones who do the
work that allows us to apply for competitive funding and produce
high-impact publications. They help leverage funding for
research from a variety of sources, due to the high quality of
their work and the determination and dedication that is a
hallmark of graduate students at the University. The impact of
their work is magnified by the systems and channels established
by our college, state and UW System."
Monsanto is a leading global provider of technology-based
solutions and agricultural products that improve farm
productivity and food quality. Monsanto remains focused on
enabling both small-holder and large-scale farmers to produce
more from their land while conserving more of our world's
natural resources such as water and energy.
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