The fourth finalist for the position of founding executive director of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska is visiting campus Friday through Monday. Michael (Mike) Young will make a presentation Monday at 3 p.m. at the Van Brunt Visitors Center, 13th and Q streets. NU faculty and staff are invited to attend or to view the live web stream, which is available via login at the Water For Food website. Presentations also will be archived on this web page. Young is the final candidate to participate in interviews and make a public presentation as part of a visit to Nebraska.

He is executive director of the Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide, Australia, where he holds a research chair in Water Economics and Management in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He earned his master’s degree in agricultural sciences and bachelor’s degrees in economics and in agricultural sciences from the University of Adelaide. He worked in several roles for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia’s national science agency, including chief research scientist and director of the Policy and Economic Research Unit. He is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and serves on the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. He serves on the International Advisory Board for Alberta Ingenuity Water Research Centre and as a consultant for Environment Canada.