"We have an inequality crisis facing the disability community which is just huge and it can't be resolved without business meeting meaningfully at the table," said Ms Casey.  However, she stressed Valuable 500 was not just about recruiting. "We're looking at driving systematic change in the business system [in terms of] customers and suppliers and talent."..."If you want to be able to have access to that market you need to have that talent in your business and I think when we speak about disability business inclusions we always speak about employment and we forget the huge, huge value of this market globally." (BBC, 17 May 2021)

"In the past, energy companies typically kept the operational systems that run pipelines or power plants disconnected, or “air gapped,” from the broader internet, which meant that hackers could not easily gain access to the most critical infrastructure. But increasingly that’s no longer the case, as companies install more sophisticated monitoring and diagnostics software that help them operate these systems more efficiently. That potentially creates new cybersecurity risks...Now these systems are all interconnected in ways that the companies themselves don’t always fully understand,” said Marty Edwards, vice president of operational technology for Tenable, a cybersecurity firm. “That provides an opportunity for attacks in one area to propagate elsewhere.” (New York Times, 13 May 2021)

Join Corteva Agriscience R&D to learn more about a career in agriculture. Corteva DELTA is a two-phased program encouraging diverse talent to apply their skills toward sustainable and reliable food production. This program includes a research grant for graduate students and postdocs, as well as participation in an annual symposium for all degree levels. (minimum: bachelor's degree)

 

U.S. based graduate students and postdocs can apply for an opportunity to have their research partially funded by Corteva Agriscience. In addition to funding, awardees will have the opportunity to interact with an industry mentor. There will be quarterly mentor/mentee sessions to help the awardee develop within their program and prepare for a successful career in industry. There is potential for multi-year funding if all criteria are met.

 

Participant Requirements:

Applicants must have a Ph.D. orexpect to receive one by December 2023.

 

Preferred disciplines include biology, biochemistry, biological/agricultural engineering, analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, computer/data sceince, chemical engineering, genomics, material sciences, molecular biology, plant breeding and closely related fields.

 

Corteva DELTA is in alignment with Corteva’s Inclusion, Diversity and Equity initiatives with a targeted audience of underrepresented minorities (Black/African American, American Indian, Alaska Natives, Latinos and Hispanic) in the United States. Non-U.S. citizens are eligible for participation if they meet the targeted audience requirements.

 

APPLICATION DEADLINE IS JUNE 15, 2021

"Ransomware intrusions that can reach those operational technology systems are far more rare than those that merely target IT networks. But Lee says Dragos has seen a growing number of ransomware groups working to infect the OT systems that control industrial and manufacturing equipment, with the aim of totally disrupting their victims' operations. Organizations increasingly connect those more sensitive networks to the internet for efficiency and remote automation, and a spate of vulnerabilities in the VPNs companies use to remotely connect to those networks has left them more exposed...These gangs figure out, here's a bunch of internet-facing devices, here are vulnerabilities that give us access to them, and here are the IP ranges of a bunch of big industrial companies," says Lee. "Cool, let's go big game hunting." (Wired, 8 May 2021)

"The good news: The supply chain manager’s toolkit can help. Supply chain management, the value-creation engine of every business, was largely invisible pre-COVID. But empty shelves caused by disrupted supply chains quickly caught everyone’s attention. People now appreciate their reliance on effective global supply chains. And in our view, supply chains work best when managers employ systems thinking, a tool that can mitigate the pain of the next pandemic...Systems thinking posits that managers make better decisions if they know how a system works; that is, if they pull lever “Y” what happens to the rest of the system? Systems thinking presupposes three prerequisites: An understanding how elements in a system interact to affect performance, access to information to assess tradeoffs, and insight into constraints. When managers fail to use systems thinking, they tend to make myopic decisions with costly, even painful, outcomes." (Supply Chain Management Review, 5 May 2021)

"...The industry is not without controversies. Densely stocked ponds and pens cause environmental problems, notably the release of organic materials, which promote algal blooms  and the introduction of salmon that have been genetically modified to grow faster and use food more efficiently. But fish farming is now a global business worth more than US $250 billion a year, and it will keep expanding, introducing new species to more consumers willing to pay for their favorite fish, crustaceans, and mollusks." (IEEE Spectrum, 29 April 2021)