Changing the Game: Mexico and Global Agricultural Innovation in the 21st Century

Date: 

Wednesday, October 7, 2020, 5:00pm to 6:00pm


This event is virtual and will be presented in English with Spanish translation available. To join click here.

Speakers: Daniel Nocera, Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University; Dilek Dogutan Kiper, Principal Research Scientist, Nocera Lab and Lecturer, Harvard University; Nazario López Cruz, Professor of Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos; Juan Manuel Sánchez Yáñez, Professor of Environmental Microbiology, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás Hidalgo
Moderated by: Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University

Chemistry Professor Dan Nocera has developed bacteria with the capacity to continuously accumulate nutrients solely from sunlight, air, and water, serving as an organic and renewably produced biofertilizer—allowing for sustainable and decentralized fertilization of crops even in highly degraded soils. This discovery has the potential to revolutionize world agriculture. In 2018, with support from a DRCLAS Mexico Innovation Fund Grant, Professor Nocera and Mexican colleagues Nazario López and Juan Manuel Sánchez set out to test the biofertilizer in a variety of crops in Mexico. This binational collaboration follows the path of other ground-breaking projects for the improvement of world agriculture involving U.S. and Mexico, such as the Green Revolution. Join the Nocera project participants in a conversation about the results of their tests, the opportunities and challenges for deeper scientific collaboration between the United States and Mexico, and changes with respect to earlier historical endeavors, led by Professor Gabriela Soto Laveaga, an expert in the history of global agricultural innovation.

This event is presented as part of Harvard Worldwide Week

See also: Virtual, Mexico