Evangelina Villegas (October 24, 1924 – April 24, 2017 ) was a Mexican cereal biochemist whose work with maize led to the development of quality protein maize (QPM). She and her colleague from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Surinder Vasal, shared the 2000 World Food Prize for this achievement. Villegas was the first woman to ever receive the World Food Prize.

Education

Villegas did a B.A. chemistry and biology at the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico and earned a M.Sc. on cereal technology from Kansas State University. She also earned a Ph.D. in cereal chemistry from the North Dakota State University.

Career

In 1950, Villegas became a chemist at the Instiuto Nacional de Nutriologia. She would also work as a librarian in the Office of Special Studies. Then in 1957, in this same office, she began work for the Wheat Industrial Quality Chemical Evaluation. A decade later, she would move to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico (CIMMYT). In the 1970s, Villegas would begin collaborative research with Vasal. Villegas was in charge of the lab investigating protein quality, while Vasal worked on developing QPM varieties that would gain widespread acceptance. Villegas and Vasal together combined existing "opaque-2" maize variety using molecular biology techniques. During this time, Villegas would be credited for the evaluation, development, and adaptation of a chemical methodology to screen large numbers of small samples for industrial wheat quality and maize nutritional and protein quality. She would go on to be named Head of the General Service Laboratory in 1992, serve as a consultant for national programs for protein quality and industrial quality laboratories for Brazil, Argentina, and Guatemala. She would also be involved in the establishment of quality laboratories in India, Thailand, Egypt, Tunis, Ghana, the Philippines, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, and Mexico.

Legacy

While at the CIMMYT, Villegas created a scholarship for the "birders" (men hired to keep birds away from the grain). This allowed the men to go and pursue an education that they otherwise would not have been able to. After her retirement, Villegas became an advisor to the Sasakwa Africa Association, to help improve agricultural technology in Africa. She would also act as an advisor to young scientists. The chemical and analytical approaches she developed continue to aid the CIMMYT in their work to monitor protein quality in QPM. In 2017, CMMIYT named a laboratory in her honor.

Awards and honors

Selected publications

Books