Chavonda Jacobs-Young, Ph.D.
Administrator, Agricultural Research Service
US Department of Agriculture
Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young has served as administrator of the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) chief scientific in-house research agency since February 2014.
Previously, Jacobs-Young had served as the Agricultural Research Services (ARS) associate administrator for national programs. In this role, she led the Office of National Programs, which manages the research objectives of the Agency, and the Office of International Research Programs, which is responsible for ARS’ liaison with its international partners.
Prior to moving into her roles at ARS, Jacobs-Young served as the director of the Office of the Chief Scientist at USDA, where she was responsible for facilitating the coordination of scientific leadership across the Department to ensure that research supported by, and scientific advice provided to, the Department and external stakeholders were held to the highest standards of intellectual rigor and scientific integrity. She also served as the acting director for USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Jacobs-Young has also served as a senior policy analyst for agriculture in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where she supported science adviser and others within the Executive Office of President Bush and President Obama on a variety of agricultural scientific activities. In this post, she worked across the Federal Government to improve interagency cooperation and collaboration on high-priority scientific issues.
Jacobs-Young is a native of Georgia. She holds a master’s degree and a doctorate degree in wood and paper science, and a bachelor’s degree in pulp and paper science and technology from North Carolina State University. She also is a graduate of American University’s Executive Leadership in Public Policy Implementation Program.