An adventure in applied science - IRRI books - International Rice ...

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Developing and staffing the program 79to be kept in repair, and an emergency generating plant had to be operatedwhenever commercial electric power failed. An engineer was sought to serveas superintendent of property and to head the Buildings and Grounds Department.Loyd Johnson, the only trained engineer on the staff, was asked to conductthe search for a qualified Philippine engineer. He placed ads in Manila papersdescribing the position and the qualifications sought and stating that theperson hired would be paid 50 pesos a month more than his present salary.After screening the many applications received and conducting several interviews,Johnson decided that the top candidate was Hermenegildo G. Navarro,who had a degree in mechanical engineering. Wortman and I interviewed andhired him in 1961. Navarro was a man of unusual talents and much ingenuityand could identify with ease almost any mechanical equipment problem. Hecontinued to head Buildings and Grounds until retirement in 1976.ADMINISTRATIONAt this point, information on the backgroundsand contributions of the originalgroup of administrators I named in Chapter 1 seems appropriate.I had received my BS and Ph D degrees, respectively, from the Universityof Maine and the University of Maryland, majoring in horticulture (with aminor in soil science). In 1947, after 12 years as professor of Forest Soils atCornel1 University I became dean of the College of Agriculture and director ofthe Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of New Hampshire.Three years later I was elected president of that institution.During the latter part of my stay at Cornell, I was granted a one-year leaveof absence to serve as soil scientist in the Rockefeller Foundation’s Mexican,Agricultural Program. In 1954, I rejoined the foundation. After an initialperiod of travel in Asia, I was given responsibility for the foundation’sagricultural interests on that continent. My extensive travel to the rice-growingregions of Asia from 1955 to 1959 acquainted me with scientists and institutionsworking with rice. When it was decided that the Rockefeller Foundationwould provide the first director of IRRI, I was asked whether I would beinterested in assuming the post and I accepted with enthusiasm. The opportunitywas clearly one of rare challenge and interest.Wortman was equally enthusiastic about joining IRRI’s administrativestaff. His interest and optimism, like my own, were sustained at high level bythe excellent financial and moral support that IRRI received from theRockefeller and Ford Foundations. Not once did the two foundations fail toprovide the needed funds or encouragement to get IRRI off to a healthy start.Wortman was graduated from Oklahoma State University (in 3 years andat the top of his class), served in the U.S. Army in the Philippines during WorldWar 11, and in 1950 received his Ph D degree in plant breeding and geneticsfrom the University of Minnesota. He then joined the Mexican AgriculturalProgram of the Rockefeller Foundation as a geneticist in charge of the maizeimprovement program. In 1955, he left Mexico to head the Plant BreedingDepartment of the Pineapple Research Institute in Hawaii. As related earlier,
80 History of the International Rice Research Institutehe joined IRRI as assistant director in February 1960 and 2 years later waspromoted to associate director.To repeat, Wortman made a lasting contribution in helping shape IRRI’sresearch program, in getting the training well under way, and in laying thefoundation for the outreach programs that the Institute was to develop later.Wortman left IRRI in April 1964, to the general dismay of his associates, toaccept the position of director of the Pineapple Research Institute (in Hawaii).In 1966 when Moseman left the Rockefeller Foundation, Harrar invited Wortmanto become director of agricultural sciences. In 1970, Wortman waspromoted to the position of vice president of the foundation. Wortmanretained his concerned interest in food and population problems, however,and with Ralph W. Cummings, Jr., wrote a book entitled To Feed This World,published by the Johns Hopkins Press in 1978. The work received excellentreviews and is a major addition to the literature on food production and theworld’s burgeoning population.After Wortman’s departure from IRRI, Harrar and Moseman suggestedthat A. Colin McClung, the soil scientist in the Rockefeller Foundation’sColombian Agricultural Program, be considered as a candidate to replace him.They indicated their confidence in McClung and said that if he were interestedin the opportunity, they would be willing to transfer him to IRRI. I went toColombia in April 1964, interviewed McClung and his wife, and was muchimpressed. Mutual interest developed and McClung went to IRRI later thesame month. He liked what he saw, and he and his family arrived to stay inAugust of that year.With degrees in soil science from the University of West Virginia (BS) andCornel1 University (MS and Ph D), McClung had had extensive experiencewith tropical soils. After serving North Carolina State University as a researchprofessor of agronomy, he joined the IBEC Research Institute in Brazil in 1956and remained until 1960, when he joined the Rockefeller Foundation’s programin Colombia.McClung’s contributions to IRRI’s success were substantial. He ran theSaturday seminars and administered the training program through 1967. Hiscapabilities in developing a sizable and effective outreach program wereespecially outstanding. For example, during the year it took to get the Indianprogram into operation, McClung traveled in India with a USAID representativeworking out the details with government authorities in that country. Healso cooperated closely with the Ford Foundation in their rice programs inAsia. Moreover, he interviewed and recommended most of the people whoultimately filled the posts in IRRI’s outreach programs.Articulate, warm, and quietly humorous, McClung met people well andimpressed them not only with his pleasing personality and unmistakabletrustworthiness but with his logical thinking. It is not surprising that he leftIRRI in 1971 to accept the position of deputy director-general of CIAT inColombia and then joined the New York office of the Rockefeller Foundationin 1973. When IADS was formed in 1975-76, McClung was invited to becomeits executive officer, and in 1979 he was made president of that organization,
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An Adventurein Applied Science:A HI
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ContentsDedication viiAbout this pu
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About this publication . . .In 20 y
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xiname, and release varieties. Thus
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PrefaceThe International Rice Resea
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CHAPTER 1An international institute
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An international institute for rice
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Early research and training results
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CHAPTER 5Financing of IRRIThe purpo
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Financing of IRRI 149foreign assist
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156 History of the International Ri
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Creation of other international cen
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Creation of other international cen
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Aerial view of IRRI in1981.However,
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IRRI today 181neering Department: K
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IRRI today 183In spite of this high
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IRRI today 185turn, received geneti
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IRRI today 1871. Research to assist
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Appendices 189materials could readi
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Appendix 2OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENTINTER
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Appendices 193ate to concentrate on
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Appendices 195estimates for buildin
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Appendices 197(4) Development of pr
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Appendices 199was approved for the
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Appendices 201association, or perso
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Appendices 203b. To pass upon the b
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Appendices 205Article VIIMISCELLANE
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