288 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine SCIENCES, PHARMACEUTICALS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY pathways in plants. Dr. Maliga notes that currently this can be leveraged to aid only a small number of plant species. As such, he plans to expand his methods more broadly to be used as helpful technology in all crops. The goal is to create novel plants that are more nutritious and are a source of medical and industrial products. As a testament to his success, Dr. Maliga earned a myriad of accolades, including the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award from the Research and Development Council of New Jersey and the Lawrence Bogorad Award for Excellence in Plant Biology from the American Society of Plant Biologists. Likewise, he was honored as Inventor of the Year by the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame. Dr. Maliga maintains membership as an external member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, as well as a member of the American Society of Plant Biologists. He is also an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A native of Budapest, Hungary, Dr. Pal Maliga sought to enter the field of sciences from a young age. In 1969, he earned a Master of Science in genetics and microbiology from Eötvös Loránd University. After spending three years as a junior scientist at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Maliga received a PhD from the University of Szeged in Hungary in 1972. In 1982, he moved to the United States, where he was research director between 1983 and 1988 for Advanced Genetic Sciences, Inc., a biotech startup in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ultimately, he settled in New Jersey. Currently, he is distinguished professor of plant biology at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and laboratory director at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology. Drawing upon decades of professional expertise, Dr. Maliga is a plant molecular biologist who specializes in the engineering of chloroplast genomes. Notably, his prior research in the field culminated in a new technology to improve the efficiency of converting sunlight into biomass, as well as integrate new synthetic PAL MALIGA, PHD DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey New Brunswick, NJ
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