Pioneer Plant Researcher Ryan to Receive Honorary Doctorate

PULLMAN, Wash. — Clarence A. “Bud” Ryan, a pioneer researcher in plant biochemistry and the first Washington State University faculty member to be admitted to the National Academy of Sciences, will receive an honorary doctor of science degree from WSU.

The WSU Board of Regents approved the honor at its meeting Friday (Jan. 28). The university has not awarded an honorary doctorate since 1995 and has awarded only four such degrees in the last half-century.

“It is rare for Washington State University to award the honorary doctorate degree and still more rare for us to award it to one of our colleagues,” said WSU President V. Lane Rawlins. “In the case of Bud Ryan, I enthusiastically endorsed the nomination and the recommendation of the committee.  Bud has made such an impact on the world and is so much a part of the fabric of WSU that this honor seems especially appropriate.  It is awarded only to those whose work is truly significant in a global environment. The whole community joins with me in rejoicing over this selection.”

The award will be presented during spring commencement ceremonies in May.

“Dr. Ryan’s 40-year career at WSU is one of lasting scientific triumphs and one that has set the compass course for campus research in the foreseeable future,” wrote College of Sciences Dean Michael Griswold and College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences Dean R. James Cook in their letter nominating Ryan for the award.

Ryan, an emeritus faculty member in the Institute of Biological Chemistry who has continued an active research effort well into his “retirement” years, is internationally known for his discoveries that plants produce natural insecticides to protect themselves from predation by herbivores. These natural insecticides, known as protease inhibitors, prevent insects and microorganisms from digesting food proteins.

“Today, Bud’s research on the protease-inhibitors, used by potatoes and tomatoes as natural chemical defenses in response to leaf-chewing (herbivorous) insects, provides the most comprehensive and unambiguous understanding of any of the thousands of known and suspected mechanisms used in the plant kingdom against insect pests,” Griswold and Cook wrote.

“WSU is well-known around the world among scientists and educated people, especially in the area of plant research, because of the accomplishments of Clarence A. Ryan.,” they wrote. “Perhaps if Bud had not come to WSU, we would still have a good plant science program, but his presence and his reputation have catalyzed the excellence we currently have.”

Born in Butte, Mont., Ryan earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Carroll College in Helena and a master’s and doctoral degree in chemistry from Montana State University. He came to WSU in 1964 as an assistant agricultural chemist and assistant professor of biochemistry.

In 1981 and 1982, he took a sabbatical to learn more about molecular biology at the University of Washington and Harvard University. He then returned to WSU to continue and expand his research. Ryan was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1986, and throughout his career, has received a long list of honors and awards from professional organizations and from WSU. Several of his research articles have been ranked among the most-cited in their discipline.

Ryan served as chair of the Department of Agricultural Chemistry from 1977 to 1980, as acting director of WSU’s Institute for Biological Chemistry from 1989-90, and was named the Charlotte Y. Martin Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Plant Physiology in 1991.

For more information on the Honorary Doctoral Degrees Committee and past recipients, visit https://www.wsu.edu/president/committees/honorary-doctoral.html.