Melinda Smale MA, MS, PhD

Melinda Smale joined the Food Security Group at Michigan State in 2011 as a fixed-term faculty member, after working for a number of years with researchers in developing countries through the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). From 2002, as a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Economist at Bioversity International, she led a global research program about the impacts of biotech crops, agricultural biodiversity, local seed markets, and underutilized crops. She conducted extensive research in Uganda and Mali. From 1989 to 2000, while living in Malawi and later in Mexico, she analyzed the adoption and impacts of improved wheat and maize seed for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). During the 1980s, Melinda worked in Pakistan, Somalia, Mauritania and Niger on shorter-term assignments for CIMMYT, Chemonics International, Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA), and USAID. She has served as an Honorary Fellow with Bioversity International, on the Advisory Committee of the Collaborative Crops Research Program of the McKnight Foundation, and on the editorial committees of several journals.