2008 Distinguished Alumna Chavonda Jacobs-Young

Each year the NC State Alumni Association hosts "Evening of the Stars" celebrating College Distinguished Alumni Awards and the Alumni Association Awards. The evening highlights NC State's community of alumni achievers as they are recognized for contributions and/or serivce to NC State, their communities and/or career accomplishments. The college award winners are selected by the colleges, while the Alumni Association winners are chosen by a committee of the association's board of directors.

Skyrocketing prices at the pump. Dependency on foreign oil. Global warming. The United States clearly needs alternative biofuels and the college’s 2008 Distinguished Alumnus is leading the way toward finding them.

Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young is the national program leader for Biobased Products and Bioenergy Production in the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Research Initiative. She oversees annual competitive grant allocations totaling $7 million, which she has successfully leveraged by actively perusing partnerships with other federal agencies.

Dr. Jacobs-Young also serves on the leadership team of the National Research Initiative, developing plans for the $220 million program. Currently she is providing national leadership  as a senior policy analyst in the  Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President.

Dr. Jacobs-Young earned her doctorate from NC State in 1998, becoming the first African American with a Ph.D. in Paper Science and Engineering in the United States.

She has served as a role model for young people considering careers in science and technology.  In 2002, Dr. Jacobs-Young was featured in a book titled “Black Stars: African American Women Scientists and Inventors,” in 2006, she was honored with an award of recognition by the National Consortium for Minorities in Engineering for “outstanding achievement in government.” We are proud to claim as one of our own a woman who has opened doors for herself and for those who will follow in her footsteps.

Meet More Distinguished Alumni from the College of Natural Resources at NC State University