Order of the Knoll Faculty/Staff Award



Manjit Misra

Ames, Iowa

The professional contributions of Manjit Misra, director of ISU’s Seed Science Center, have brought honor and distinction to Iowa State University.

ISU’s Seed Science Center is considered a national and international leader in seed research and technology, and because of Misra’s outstanding leadership it is today also home of the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Seed Health System (NSHS). The NSHS is responsible for providing specific standards for laboratory seed health tests and seed crop field inspections that are used at the federal level and in establishing export regulations.

Because of his extensive knowledge about Iowa agriculture and his unbiased approach to research, Misra has also been named director of the Institute for Food Safety and Security and the Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products. These programs have a direct and vital impact on the global food chain, consumer safety, and the environment.

A native of Orissa, India, who earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Missouri, Misra came to Iowa State in 1979 as an assistant professor and was named director of the Seed Science Center in 1991.

During his time as an ISU faculty member, he has secured more than $35 million in external grants, contracts, and gifts. He has initiated multiple fundraising campaigns with the Iowa Seed Association to endow undergraduate scholarships and create graduate assistantships. And he has also been a leader in establishing strong partnerships between Iowa State University and both the American Seed Trade Association and Food and Agriculture Organization, further cementing Iowa State’s status as an international leader in agriculture and life sciences.

Misra has received five patents and has served on more than 60 local, national, and international committees. Among those committees are ISU’s Biocontainment Task Force for Plant Made Pharmaceuticals, which he has chaired since 2002; the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture’s biotechnology working group; ISU’s Counter Agroterrorism Committee; the International Seed Network; the Iowa Seed Association’s Board of Directors; the Iowa Crop Improvement Association’s Board of Directors; and the International Seed Trade Federation’s Transboundary Movement of Seed and Biotechnology Committee. In 2001 he chaired the planning committee for the American Seed Trade Association’s Soybean Seed Research Conference, the world’s largest conference in the field.

Misra received the highest award given by the American Seed Trade Association—the Distinguished Service Award—in 1999. He received the ISU College of Engineering’s Superior Engineering Extension Award in 2001. In 1992 he was named the American Society of Agricultural Engineers’ Iowa Engineer of the Year. He is a member of Seed World’s editorial board, the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, Alpha Epsilon, Gamma Sigma Delta, and the American Seed Research Foundation’s scientific advisory council.

He and his wife, Jayne, reside in Ames. They have eight children: Joy, Maria, John (graduate student in mechanical engineering), Jason (sophomore in kinesiology and health), Michael, Jacinta, Jessica, and Jayna.