Significant Dates in IRRI History

May

1 May: 1994, Rice is featured prominently in the May issue of National Geographic, featuring a significant portion of IRRI’s work; 2001, after nearly 10 years as head of IRRI’s Genetic Resources Center, Michael Jackson is named to the newly created management position of Director for Program Planning and Coordination (DPPC); 2003, editorial in the journal Nature (Volume 423 Number 6935) states that it is essential for financial support for IRRI to be mobilized.

2 May: 2005, IRRI is the first CGIAR center on the Access Grid (for multi-point videoconferencing) as a new 6-Mbps connection to the Asia Pacific Advanced Network is commissioned with a new "local loop" to the national termination point at the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus in Quezon City; 2007, the Temperate Rice Research Consortium (TRRC) is launched during an international planning workshop on temperate rice in Suwon, Republic of Korea; 2008, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (center in photo) visits IRRI to witness the signing of an MOA between IRRI (DG Robert Zeigler, left) and the country's Department of Agriculture (Secretary Arthur Yap, right). The agreement focuses on irrigation, technology, extension services, and credit support for farmers in the Philippines to address the ongoing rice crisis.

3 May: 2005, Vethaiya Balasubramanian, senior scientist, agronomy is named IRRI's Africa Coordinator.

4 May: 1980, B.S. Vergara, IRRI plant physiologist (at right in photo), receives the Philippine’s Pro Patria Medal.

5 May: 1982, IRRI cosponsors the first IARC book exhibition in China.

6 May: 1993, M. LaRue Pollard wins the 1993 International Award of Excellence from the Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE) in the United States; 1994, the Friendship Order of the Vietnamese Government is awarded to IRRI during the Vietnam-IRRI Rice Conference.

7 May: 2003, Fazle Hasan Abed, member of the IRRI Board of Trustees and founder and chairperson of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), receives an Honorary Doctorate of Education from the University of Manchester in the UK.

8 May: 2002, The University of London confers the Doctor of Science degree on K.L. Heong (photo, left) of the Entomology and Plant Pathology Division, the first such academic award to an IRRI scientist based on his or her research work at the Institute; 2008, on a segment of ANC's Prime News (Philippines), IRRI senior scientist Bas Bouman discusses the Institute's collaborative plan with the Philippines' Department of Agriculture to look for ways to meet the future rice needs of the country. See YouTube video below.

9 May: 2002, The collaboration of IRRI and the Visayas State College of Agriculture with Vietnam to persuade a million rice farmers in Asia to stop spraying harmful and unnecessary insecticides wins the 2002 St. Andrews Prize for the Environment (photo), the only international environmental prize in the UK; 2005, IRRI kicks off a 3-day workshop on Research Prioritization on Genetic Diversification to Sustain Rice Productivity with 70 participants from China, Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia, and the Philippines; 2006, His Excellency Muhammad Naeem Khan, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, visits IRRI.

10 May: 1991, Fire breaks out and severely damages the 30-year-old Chandler Hall, which houses administration, the Library, and CPS; 2005, IRRI hosts a 3-day international workshop on Research Prioritization on Genetic Diversification to Sustain Rice Productivity.; 2008, Director General Robert Zeigler and Program 1 leader David Mackill discuss IRRI's work on rice that thrives despite climate change on a segment of CNN's Spirit of Survival series. View YouTube video below.

12 May: 2008, IRRI begins its first regional Plant Breeder Workshop in Mozambique. Eighteen plant breeders (photo above) from Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, and Mozambique come together at Chokwe in southern Mozambique to make selections from more than 1,000 advanced breeding lines being grown at the Institute Investigation of Agriculture Mozambique (IIAM) research station.

13 May: 2003, Web site of the International Rice Functional Genomics Consortium (IRFGC) is launched; 2008, Federico V. Ramos (photo, right), former superintendent of the IRRI Farm (now the Experiment Station) from 1961 to 1985, and father of University of the Philippines President Emerlinda Roman (ex officio BOT member), passes away.

14 May: 1990, The 2nd International Rice Genetics Symposium (Rice Genetics II) begins, attracting 300 scientists from 24 countries; 2007, an exciting new course at IRRI, Rice: research to production, kicks offs for its initial 3-week run to encourage some of the world’s best and brightest young scientists to consider careers helping developing nations, instead of taking jobs focused on the developed world. Twenty-six participants (photo) are from Bangladesh, Egypt, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Rwanda, Thailand, UK, and USA.

15 May: 2008, In a special 45-minute program on Bloomberg Television, IRRI Director General Robert Zeigler talks with Bloomberg's Michael McKee (right and left, respectively in screen capture) about the rise in food prices and its impact on the global economy. Click the image to link to the video on Bloomberg.

18 May: 2008, Major article above the fold in the Sunday New York Times appears about the world's poor paying the price as crop research is cut. IRRI DG Robert Zeigler states that "Cutting back on agricultural research today is pure folly"; 2009, Twenty-eight participants from 16 countries in Asia, Africa, Oceania, Europe, and North America are at IRRI for the third offering of the Rice: Research to Production (RR2P) course of the Training Center.

19 May: 1995, 1) IRRI is recognized as an international organization through an international agreement signed by Philippine President F.V. Ramos and representatives of 10 countries; 2) President Ramos confers the Golden Heart Presidential Award on K.J. Lampe, former IRRI director general; 2008, over 3 weeks, 19 May-6 June, 28 participants (photo below, left) from around the world are attending the second Rice Research to Production training course. This course began as an idea of Susan McCouch of Cornell University and IRRI's Bob Zeigler and Hei Leung. It is funded by the National Science Foundation USA, the United Kingdom’s Gatsby Foundation, and IRRI.
 
20 May: 2008, DDG-R Achim Dobermann is the recipient of the 2008 IFA International Crop Nutrition Award. He is recognized for his pioneering research to raise yields and reduce nutrient losses.

21 May: 2008, The 14th Inter-Institutional Communication Workshop (ICW) is held at IRRI attended by more than 50 communications specialists from Philippine institutions in the region and IRRI. 

23 May: 2008, Acting IRRI Director General Michael Jackson (left) meets with the Prime Minister of Thailand, H.E. Samak Sundaravej at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Manila. Among many issues they discussed are new technologies for rice production, including varieties and hybrids that IRRI can share with Thailand.

24 May: 1971, IRRI announces the naming of its fifth variety, IR24.

25 May: 1987, IRRI and CIMMYT in Mexico jointly receive the USAID-US National Research Council Science and Technology Development Award; 2005, Environmental Radio Soap Opera for Rural Vietnam, an IRRI-Vietnam project wins a World Bank Development Marketplace Award. 2006, DG Robert Zeigler unveils to staff IRRI’s new, BOT-approved strategic plan, Bringing Hope, Improving Lives. 2009, a new decision tool, Nutrient Manager for Rice, which helps rice farmers in the Philippines optimize their use of nutrient inputs, is made available on the Web.

27 May: 1985, IRRI kicks off the first of four symposiums over the next 2 weeks to commemorate its 25th anniversary: the International Rice Genetics Symposium (IRGS), the International Rice Research Conference (IRRC), the 25th Anniversary Symposium, and the FAO International Rice Commission (IRC) meeting. It is also the 1st day of issue in the Philippines for IRRI's 25th anniversary postage stamps (see at left); 2003, IRRI agronomist Vethaiya Balasubramanian receives the 2003 International Fertilizer Association (IFA) International Award; 2008, an external surveillance audit team awards the ISO 14001:2004 to the IRRI Experiment Station in recognition of its commitment to environmental, safety, and health standards.

28 May: 2009, IRRI director general Robert Zeigler receives the 2009 E.C. Stakman Award for outstanding achievements in and contributions to plant pathology.

30 May: 2009, IRRI's 2007 Annual Report on DVD wins the Outstanding Professional Skill (OPS) Award in the 2009 Critique and Awards Program of the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences.

31 May: 1972, Chandler Hall (at the time housing Administrative offices, the Library, and Communication and Publications Services) is dedicated; 2005, Gene Hettel, head of Communication and Publications Services, receives the Service Award of the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE).

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