Social Implications of Emerging Technologies in Agriculture

Dr. Jennifer Kuzma is the Goodnight-NCGSK Foundation Distinguished Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs, and co-founder and co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center at NC State University. Kuzma’s research interests involve the integration of social, policy, and natural sciences for the governance of emerging technologies, including risk analysis, public perceptions and trust, and policy processes. She has received several awards for her research and policy contributions. In 2014, she received the SRA Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer Award for recognition of her contributions to the field of risk analysis, and in 2017-2018 she was awarded the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Science Policy at the University of Ottawa. In 2019 she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for distinguished translational work in bridging the bench and society, advancing anticipatory governance of new technologies, and contributions to methods for oversight policy analysis. In 2020, she received the NC State Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award and was elected to the Research Leadership Academy. Kuzma has held several local, national and international leadership positions, including a member of World Economic Forum Global Futures Council on Technology, Values and Policy; the U.S. National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Preparing for Future Biotechnology Products, Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) Council Member and Secretary, chair of the Gordon Conference on Science & Technology Policy, Member of the US FDA Blood Products Advisory Committee, AAAS-American Bar Association National Council of Scientists and Lawyers, AAAS Societal Implications Section X Electorate Nomination Committee, MN Governor’s Bioscience Advisory Committee, and a Member of the UN WHO-FAO Expert Group for Nanotechnologies in Food and Agriculture. She is interviewed frequently in the media for her work and expertise in technology policy, including the New York Times, Science, The Scientist, Nature, NPR, Washington Post, Scientific American, Boston Globe, PBS Nova, Wired, and ABC and NBC News. Prior to her current position, Kuzma was associate professor of science and technology policy at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota (2003-2013). Here she was area and degree program chair of Science, Technology and Environmental Policy; Associate and Interim Director of the Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy; co-PI of the NSF-IGERT for Risk Analysis for Introduced Species; and Associate Director of the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment. Before that (1997-2003), she served as program director and study director for several U.S. National Academy of Sciences reports related to biotechnology governance and bioterrorism and as AAAS Risk Policy Fellow at the USDA Office of Risk Assessment and Cost Benefit Analysis. She obtained her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1995. Here she discovered bacterial isoprene production and holds the first patent for methods for bacterial production of isoprene (bioisoprene). Her postdoctoral work was completed at the Rockefeller University in New York where she worked on plant drought and salinity tolerance mechanisms, leading to an article in the journal Science.