Ricardo Salvador of Ames, Iowa, is an expert in maize physiology with a special interest in the history and sustainability of human societies and their modes of subsistence.

Dr. Salvador is associate professor of Agronomy at Iowa State University, Chair of the Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture and Coordinator of his department's Global Agricultural Science and Policy Initiative, an endowed activity with the goal of providing an international arena to analyze critical emerging agricultural issues and their interrelationships with society, natural resources and scientific research.

In addition to his teaching responsibilities in crop physiology, Dr. Salvador teaches courses on world food issues and sustainable agriculture, and is a frequent speaker for farmer groups within Iowa and throughout the United States and Latin America.