Journal of the ASABE Vol. 66(2): 393-396 © 2023 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ISSN 2769-3295 https://doi.org/10.13031/ja.14915 393 PERSPECTIVE: PREPARING LEADERS TO ENGINEER SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE ACROSS THE FOOD CHAIN THROUGH THE GRAND CHALLENGES SCHOLARS PROGRAM Richard K. Miller 1 , Yannis C. Yortsos 2,* 1 Olin College of Engineering, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 2 Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. * Correspondence: yortsos@usc.edu Collection Invited Perspective HIGHLIGHTS • Addressing the complex political, economic, and societal challenges inherent in sustainable agriculture and food produc- tion requires interdisciplinary thinking and approaches. • Relevant pedagogical models and extracurricular experiences can be provided by the Grand Challenges Scholars Pro- gram, now spread to nearly 100 universities globally. • The complexities of agriculture and food production today can be addressed by future engineering leaders based on this program. ABSTRACT. The education of engineers and other professionals to address the global grand challenge of sustainable food production will require much more than excellent technical skills. New mindsets, human-centered design principles, and collaborative leadership skills will be required to develop leaders who will be successful in addressing the complex political, economic, and societal challenges inherent in sustainable agriculture and food production today. This will require supple- menting—not replacing—the technical core of engineering education with new pedagogical models and extracurricular experiences. One such model that has proven effective in this area and has spread to nearly 100 universities globally is the Grand Challenges Scholars Program. This article explains how the complexities of agriculture and food production today can be addressed by future engineering leaders based on this program. n 2008, the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) identified fourteen Grand Challenges, which, if met, would make life on the planet more sustainable, secure, healthy, and enjoyable (National Academy of Engineering, 2008). Paralleling Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, but for the world’s population at large, they were roughly categorized in terms of the four areas of sustainabil- ity, security, health, and life enrichment. Even though they are not explicitly identified as one of the Grand Challenges, sustainable agriculture, and food security, as the global pop- ulation increases, fit clearly in the category of sustainability, as they encompass the fundamental topics of economics, en- ergy, water, the nitrogen cycle and, increasingly, climate change. Many of these concepts were echoed in the themes of the ensuing biannual meetings of three national academies, namely the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the US National Academy of Engineering, and the UK Royal Acad- emy of Engineering. In fact, at the last such meeting pre- COVID, in September 2019, in London, UK, one of the key conference themes was “How to Feed 10 Billion People,” with the expectation being that soon the world population would reach that milestone (Royal Academy of Engineering, 2019). In 2009, following the announcement in 2008 by the US NAE of the Grand Challenges for Engineering, three engi- neering institutions, the Duke University Pratt School of En- gineering, the Olin College of Engineering, and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, announced the creation of a program, the Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP), designated to help in preparing the engineers who will solve the NAE Grand Challenges (Grand Challenges Scholars Pro- gram, n.d.). This article discusses how the GCSP can help prepare the leaders to address this complex system and is partly based on a presentation by Richard K. Miller available here (National Academy of Engineering, 2021). SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ISSUES Sustainable agriculture and food security are, by nature, complex systems. This does not mean that they are merely Submitted for review on 21 October 2021 as manuscript number NRES 14915; approved for publication as an Invited Perspective Article and as part of the Circular Food and Agricultural Systems Collection by Associate Editor Dr. Ana Martin-Ryals and Community Editor Dr. Kati Migliaccio of the Natural Resources & Environmental Systems Community of ASABE on 12 January 2023. I