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| Distinguished Alumni |
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Albert Lund
From his childhood studies of caterpillars and butterflies, to his global research and development responsibilities at DuPont, a scientific thought process has characterized Albert Lund’s achievements and approaches. This invaluable skill, he says, was honed at Purdue.
A native of Athens, Georgia, Lund was drawn to Purdue’s academic reputation and the university’s diverse agricultural programs. He earned both his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees at Purdue and completed his post-doctoral work at Northwestern Medical School in Chicago. In 1980, he joined DuPont as the first entomologist hired by the company to explore new crop protection compounds based on biochemical and physiological understanding of molecular target sites.
Throughout his distinguished career with DuPont, Lund’s focus has shifted from technical research leader—he is credited with the discovery of indoxacarb, now a commercial agricultural chemical in 60 countries—to organizational management. In his current position as Manager, Research and Development Asia-Pacific, he is responsible for all:
• Research and development activities,
• People,
• Facilities, and
• Resources for DuPont’s Asia Pacific Region, including organizations in 13 countries.
His primary challenge, he says, is to bring new technologies to production agriculture in ways acceptable to multiple parties. Increasing food production in the face of growing populations and declining landmasses depends on everyone, Lund believes.
The same scientific thought process that frames global food production strategies also guides Lund on a personal level. As parents of an autistic son, Lund and his wife, Rea, are leaders in the Autism Societies of Delaware and of America, organizations dedicated to increasing awareness of the autism community and promoting research to understand the mysteries of this disease.
For his outstanding contribution to the food, agriculture, and natural resources system, the Purdue College of Agriculture is proud to present the Distinguished Agricultural Alumnus Award to Albert Lund.
| Like Father, Like Son
Albert Lund will tell you first-hand: It’s a bug-eat-bug world out there. He learned the lesson early in life from a first-generation naturalist, his late father Horace Lund, former head of entomology at the University of Georgia. The pair spent many weekends hiking and camping in favorite spots such as North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest. They’d head in different directions, collect insects for hours, and then reunite at “base camp” for microscopic looks at their finds and discussions of each insect’s adaptations. “Dad taught me the power of observation and the ability to train my eye to see what others don’t see,” Lund says. “It’s a real jungle out there, and a fascinating, natural drama is always unfolding.” Through his father’s eyes, Lund learned to appreciate not only nature’s panoramic beauty—mountain meadows and deciduous forests—but also intricate snapshots of the natural world—a beetle’s tenacious fight against an anthill or a shrew’s rapid respiration rate, a stress reaction to its low level on the food chain. “In many ways, Dad’s interest in nature started me in biology and led me to entomology,” he says. Avid campers, Lund and his wife Rea, also an entomologist and Purdue graduate, have passed on the powers of natural observation to their sons, Timothy and Wesley. And, as was true decades ago, father and sons have recorded memorable adventures. “There was a hurricane off the East Coast the same weekend Timothy and I were camping in West Virginia,” Lund recalls. “The storm was predicted to move out to sea, but instead it changed direction, backed up, and dumped torrential rain on West Virginia. We spent the whole time bushwhacking over steep terrain to avoid the rising rivers. “In general, I prefer a much less athletic approach to the
outdoors!” |
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