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• May 2024 Meeting

  • When
    15 May 2024
  •  
    5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    Barber Park, 4049 S. Eckert Rd., Boise, 83716

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  Speaker: Dr. Julie Callahan, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs and Commodity Policy, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)

  Topic: Food Security, Sustainability, and the Evolution of Agricultural Trade Policy

  
  

  Bio: Julie Callahan serves as the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs and Commodity Policy. In this role, she oversees work to promote the interests of U.S. farmers, ranchers, and food manufacturers, including oversight of agricultural trade policy development, work to reduce tariff and nontariff barriers to U.S. agricultural exports, negotiation and implementation of free trade agreements (FTAs), and work in the WTO and multilateral organizations on agricultural trade-related issues for USTR.

  Dr. Callahan previously served as a Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative and Senior Director in the USTR Agriculture Office, focusing on strategic engagement in UN organizations, EU, UK, Turkey, and Eastern European Sanitary and Phytosanitary Issues and agriculture-related Technical Barriers to Trade.

  Prior to joining USTR, Dr. Callahan held senior leadership positions in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, executing strategic and operational planning, aligning FDA analytical and policy approaches to preempt or resolve regulatory issues that arise in international trade, and promoting U.S. public health objectives in US trade positions, including in WTO SPS and TBT Committees, trade negotiations, and FTA implementation. She has also served in the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, and the American Chemical Society.

  Dr. Callahan earned her doctoral degree in Marine Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts and a Bachelor of Science in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science from MIT.

  
  

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• June 2024 Meeting

  • When
    4 Jun 2024
  •  
    5:30 PM - 8:30 PM
  • Location
    The Riverside Hotel

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  Speaker: Bradley Lusk, Ph.D., CEO of Precient Technologies 

  Topic: International Water Security, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WSSH) through a Public, Private, and Non-Profit Lens 

  
  

  Bio: Brad is a serial entrepreneur and biotechnology specialist with over 15 years of experience in developing, evaluating, and commercializing water and remediation-based technologies. He has served as the CEO for a biotech firm that employed microorganisms to filter and recover critical materials from waters influenced by mining and recycling.

  As a fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Brad served as a water and climate change expert on international development projects as a Water Resources Specialist for the U.S. Department of State, a Bureau Environmental Adviser at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and an Activity Manager for Climatelinks at USAID. As a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine fellow, he conducted research on integrating biotic and abiotic materials at the Naval Research Laboratory. As a former professor, Brad encouraged students to think creatively about how to ensure sustainable access to water in a rapidly changing climate and how advances in biotechnology may reshape our perspective of what is possible.

  Currently, Brad serves as the Senior Technology Adviser for a firm that advises water utilities in the US that supply water to ~135 million people. He is also the founder of multiple non-profit organizations focused on science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) engagement, climate action, and sustainability. In his free time, Brad enjoys running, climbing, hiking, and the outdoors.

  Brad earned a Ph.D. in Biological Design (Environmental Biotechnology) and BS in Biology at Arizona State University.

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