Steve A. Kay

Steve Kay, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, received his bachelors' degree in biochemistry from the University of Bristol in 1981 and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the same institute in 1985. His research involves the large scale application of genomics technologies and systems approaches to understand complex regulatory networks in plant and animal cells. Dr. Kay was recently the founding Director of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology (SD-CAB) which is a research hub dedicated to the development of large scale algal platforms for bioenergy, production of green chemicals and therapeutic proteins. His work has been cited in Science magazine’s “Breakthroughs of the Year” consecutively in 1997, 1998 and again in 2002. His awards and honors include being elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences USA, receiving the 2010 UCSD Chancellor's Associates Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, and the 2011 Martin Gibbs Medal by the American Society for Plant Biology as recognition for pioneering work in plant sciences.

“Humanity’s Greatest Challenge – Food, Fuel and the Future”

Steve Kay will speak about what challenges humanity will face in the future as the world population is expected to exceed 9 billion in the next 50 years. Modern biology will provide some solutions, but real problem-solving power comes from intersection of basic science, technology and public policy as we face the challenge of providing food and fuel to sustain our lives while balancing the use of our natural resources.