Building housing K-State's new Biosecurity Research Institute to be named for Sen. Pat Roberts

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News release prepared by: Cheryl May, 785-532-6415, may@k-state.edu

Thursday, October 19, 2006

BUILDING HOUSING K-STATE'S NEW BIOSECURITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE TO BE NAMED FOR SEN. PAT ROBERTS

MANHATTAN -- The U.S. senator who recognized early on the risk posed by terrorists to the nation's food supply is being recognized with the naming of a new building in his honor. Pat Roberts Hall will be home to Kansas State University's new $54 million Biosecurity Research Institute. The name was approved today by the Kansas Board of Regents.

K-State President Jon Wefald said, "Sen. Pat Roberts asked us in 1999 to consider emerging threats that might face Kansas and America. K-State's food safety and security program -- launched as a result -- recognized the national need for additional biocontainment research facilities. With the senator's help, and investment by the State of Kansas, we now have the Biosecurity Research Institute coming on line in 2006. The BRI is state of the art and one of a kind in the world today.

"In America, food is quite inexpensive and plentiful and that makes us complacent," Wefald said. "Inexpensive food also provides Americans with the discretionary spending that underpins our standard of living. Sen. Roberts recognized this threat to America's economy and the need for programs and facilities to address the threat. With the BRI, K-State will be at the forefront of protecting America's agricultural infrastructure, food supply and economy. Moreover, research in the BRI can deal with animal pathogens that cause diseases in people as well, things like avian flu that we've been hearing so much about."

James Stack, a K-State professor of plant pathology and director of the Great Plains Diagnostic Network, also will direct the Biosecurity Research Institute. Stack reports to Dr. David Franz, a veterinarian and former Commander of the U.S. Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, now director of K-State's National Agricultural Biosecurity Center.

Research conducted in the Biosecurity Research Institute will examine pathways by which pathogens can spread and look at issues related to countermeasures and animal carcass disposal after a potentially catastrophic event.

Roberts is a fourth generation Kansan from Dodge City. He served eight terms as a congressman from the First District and is now in his second term as a United States Senator.

As chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and a former Marine, Roberts is leading the effort to improve the country's intelligence gathering and analysis capabilities at a critical time in our nation's history.

Prior to 9/11, Roberts cautioned the country that an attack on America's homeland was possible. After September 11, 2001, columnist David Broder wrote in the Washington Post, "In words that now appear to be eerily prescient, Roberts warned (in 1999) that there was a 'real opportunity for a handful of zealots to wreak havoc on a scale that hitherto only armies could attain.'"

Roberts chaired the House Agriculture Committee from 1995-1997, and led the reform of federal farm policies. He is a key member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, writing legislation to assist in drought relief, helping to restore beef trade with Japan and authoring reforms to the federal crop insurance program.

Following graduation from Kansas State University in 1958, Roberts served in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years, then worked as a reporter and editor for several Arizona newspapers. He joined the staff of Kansas Sen. Frank Carlson in 1967. In 1969, Roberts became administrative assistant to Kansas' First District Congressman Keith Sebelius. Roberts was elected to Congress in 1980, succeeding Sebelius upon his retirement. He was first elected to the Senate in 1996 following the retirement of Sen. Nancy Kassebaum (Baker) and won re-election in 2002.