Purdue University Leader Awarded for Global Food Security Research

The head of the Purdue University Center for Global Food Security, Gebisa Ejeta, was featured in a television message highlighting his World Food Prize-winning research and emphasizing the university's tradition of helping to solve global problems.

The 30-second message, produced for the Big Ten Network and other halftime spots and sports broadcasts, shows Ejeta walking in his sorghum field at the university's Agronomy Center for Research and Education, reflecting on his work to reduce hunger in his native Africa.

"To be told that your work has fed millions and saved lives is very rewarding indeed," Ejeta said in the message.

Ejeta, of Ethiopia, received the 2009 World Food Prize for developing sorghum varieties resistant to drought and the parasitic weed Striga. His research greatly increased the production and availability of sorghum for hundreds of millions of people in Africa, where it is a major food crop.

The video is available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWtrX8tm69o or through a link on the Purdue Agriculture home page at http://www.ag.purdue.edu.