Dr Segenet Kelemu is Director of the BecA Hub.  A native of Ethiopia, she has experienced the challenges and successes associated with African agriculture first-hand, from field to high-tech laboratory. Under her leadership since 2007, BecA Hub research capacity, staff, facilities, funding, partners and training programs have expanded at an ever accelerating pace.  

Dr. Kelemu is a molecular plant pathologist with extensive experience in molecular determinants of host-pathogen interactions; development of novel plant disease control strategies including transgenics, biopesticides; pathogen population genetics and dynamics; and endophytic microbes and their role in plant development.

Her drive for success and achievement was ingrained from early on; she was the only woman in Ethiopia to graduate with the Haile Selassie I Honors list award in 1974, and finished at the top of her class with great distinction in Plant Sciences in 1979.  She taught Plant Protection and conducted research on cereal disease resistance from 1979-1982. She was awarded a M.Sc. degree in Plant Pathology/Genetics from Montana State University, USA, and earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Plant Pathology at Kansas State University, USA. From 1989 to 1992, she conducted postdoctoral research in molecular bacteriology at Cornell University.  Dr. Kelemu joined the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) as Senior Scientist in charge of tropical forage pathology in 1992. She was later appointed Leader of Crop and Agroecosystem Health Management at CIAT till her departure in August, 2007 to become Director at the BecA Hub. CIAT recognized her numerous contributions to the Center and its mission with the Outstanding Senior Scientist Award.

Dr Kelemu is an innate teacher and has supervised and mentored numerous B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. students.  Among her outstanding students at CIAT were Chinese, and in 2006, she received the Friendship Award granted by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, authorized by the State Council of People's Republic of China. The award is granted to foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China's economic and social development. She was the only scientist from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), Africa or Latin America, to win this prestigious award that year.

Dr Kelemu’s research has been highly productive throughout her career and resulted in a number of excellent notable research achievements.  She has published widely in refereed journals, written book chapters, manuals, conference/workshop papers, working documents, and many others. Her professional services include: Member, Editorial Board, Plant Pathology Journal; Member, Steering Committee, System-wide Program on Integrated Pest Management; Member, American Phytopathological Society Ad Hoc Committee on the Future Education of Plant Pathologists; Member, Governing Board, International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS); Member, Science Advisory Panel, TSBF-CIAT for a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded project on new chemical and biological commercial products.

Through her leadership at the BecA Hub, Dr Kelemu is helping to foster the next generation scientific community in eastern and central Africa, and beyond.