Daniels to Honor World Food, Noble Prize Winners

Governor Mitch Daniels will honor Purdue University Agronomy Professor and World Food Prize Laureate Gebisa Ejeta with the 2009 Dr. Phillip E. Nelson Innovation Award this evening at an event to be held at the Governor’s Residence, reports Inside INdiana Business. He will also present Indiana University Economist and Nobel Prize Winner Elinor Ostrom with a Sagamore of the Wabash. Ostrom, an Indiana University faculty member since 1965, traveled to Stockholm, Sweden earlier this month to receive the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for her work on economic governance, especially of the commons.

Dr. Ejeta is the second recipient of the award Daniels created in 2007 to recognize outstanding Hoosier scientists for their unique discoveries, research and inventions, and to encourage young people to consider careers in science. The award is named to honor of Dr. Phillip E. Nelson, a Purdue University scientist awarded the 2007 World Food Prize for his revolutionary achievements in the field of food processing. The Nelson Innovation Award selection committee consisted of five Hoosier scientists from the state’s universities and private industry. Ejeta will receive a commemorative plaque and a $5,000 honorarium from the privately funded Indiana Economic Development Foundation.

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