Robert “Bob” W. Herdt

Freeville, NY 13068

Undergrad college/major: CALS/General Agriculture.

Affiliations at Cornell: Wesley Foundation, Tau Kappa Epsilon.

Advanced degrees: MS Cornell 1963; PhD U. Minnesota, 1969.

Career/occupation: Univ. Professor at U. of Illinois, 1969-73; Researcher at the International Rice Research Institute, (Philippines) 1973-83; Research Manager, World Bank, 1983-86; Director of Agricultural Sciences at the Rockefeller Foundation, 1986-2000; Vice President of Program Operations at Rockefeller Foundation, 2000-03.

Honors and awards: Outstanding Alumni Award, Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, November 2005; Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 1993; American Agricultural Economics Association 1986 award for outstanding quality of communication in research for The Rice Economy of Asia (with R. Barker); Outstanding article in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 1977 (with Y. Hayami); Listed in American Men and Women of Science.

Important affiliations: Foodnet Meals on Wheels of Tompkins County, Board Chair, 2006 -; Several small international non-profit organizations working to improve lives of people in poor countries of the world (currently): Aquaya, www.aquaya.org; Market Matters, Inc., www.marketmattersinc.org; Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa: www.itoca.org.

Published work:

1. Many journal articles including: Biotechnology in Agriculture; Annual Review of Environment and Resources Vol. 31, Nov. 2006, pp. 265-295. Individual reprints available at http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/eprint/fIIkMxgiYEYUAEnBTMb9/full/10.1146/annurev.energy.31.031405.091314; Development Aid and Agriculture, in Handbook of Agricultural Economics, Vol 4 Edited by Prabhu L. Pingali and Robert E. Evenson, Elsevier, (2009), pp. 3254 -3300, Individual reprints available at http://www.spibooktrack.com/eoffprint/ FrmProcess.aspx?ID=20331; Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries, in Handbook of Agricultural Economics, Vol 3 Edited by Robert Evenson and Prabhu Pingali, Elsevier, 2007, pp. 2641-67 (with Gary H. Toenniessen and John C. O’Toole); Sense and Sustainability: Sustainability as an Objective in International Agricultural Research, in Agricultural Economics, 3 1989, pp. 381-398 (with John Lynam). Several books, including: The Rice Economy of Asia, with Randolph Barker, Resources for the Future, Washington, D. C. (1985);

Rice Research in Asia: Progress and Priorities, Co-Editor, with Robert Evenson and Mahabub Hossain, C.A.B. International and IRRI, (1996); Science and Food: The CGIAR and Its Partners, with Jock Anderson and Grant Scobie, The World Bank (1988).

Marital status: Married.

Spouse: Lorna Lamb Herdt ’61 HE.

Children: Lisa Herdt Morse, Teacher, Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School and Jennifer Herdt Hagens, Professor of Christian Ethics, Yale Divinity School.

Grandchildren: Ian Morse ‘14; Colin Morse; Cora Hagens; Adam Hagens.

Outstanding Cornell memory: The suspension bridge.

How has your life differed from what you expected? My life and career have far exceeded any expectations I had in 1957. I had planned to convert myself from a Long Island boy to an Upstate Dairy farmer but instead I became an international agriculturalist and foundation executive.

Post-grad Cornell activities: Advisor to the Director of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Rural Development (CIIFAD); Advisor to the Director of Mann Library on The Essential Electronic Library (TEEAL); Adjunct Professor of Applied Economics and Management.

Personal reflections: Living in Ithaca and being on campus regularly gives me an opportunity to see Cornell intimately, warts and all. It is a great university but has been challenged by changing financial and academic trends. The electronic age has reduced personal interactions among faculty and between faculty and students in some ways and enhanced them in other ways.