Gebisa Ejeta to be inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — World-renowned plant geneticist and Purdue Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Agronomy Gebisa Ejeta, whose groundbreaking research and patent of grain sorghum has saved millions of people from starvation around the world, will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame Class of 2026 on May 7 in Washington, D.C., in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Ejeta, who is a Presidential Fellow and previously served as executive director of the Purdue Center for Global Food Security, helped farmers increase production of the versatile and important cereal grain by developing drought- and disease-resistant hybrids and boosting crop yields. His work has improved food security for people across Africa and globally.

Ejeta is one of 15 innovators who will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Since 1973, the NIHF has annually honored influential patent-holding innovators whose work has significantly advanced technology, society and the nation’s welfare.

Ejeta’s outstanding contributions to the science of plant genetics and his impact on the world’s ability to reliably produce resilient sorghum hybrids, along with his service as an advisor at the highest levels of science and national policy, earned him the World Food Prize in 2009 and the U.S. National Medal of Science in 2023.

Born and raised in a small, rural community in west central Ethiopia, Ejeta earned his master’s and PhD in plant breeding and genetics from Purdue. He served as a College of Agriculture faculty member and researcher from 1984 until his retirement in 2025.

Ejeta’s work is part of Purdue’s One Health initiative, a presidential initiative focused on solving complex challenges at the intersection of human, animal and plant health and delivering real-world impact.

The 2026 class also includes Frank S. Greene Jr., who received his master’s degree in electrical engineering from Purdue in 1962. Greene will be posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He developed high-speed semiconductor memory systems, including the fastest microchip then available for the ILLIAC IV supercomputer. Greene died Dec. 26, 2009. He was 71.

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