Remembering Jason Beddow

November 23, 2021

Jason Beddow joined the University of Minnesota Department of Applied Economics faculty in 2013 after completing his Ph.D at Minnesota and several years of postdoctoral work focused on the HarvestChoice initiative for InSTePP. Earlier in 2016, he was one of a dozen early-career faculty featured in the “The Future is Now” edition of CFANS Solutions magazine. Jason was leading the development of new spatial bio-economic analytical methods to address key global food security challenges. He was a rising star with a broad professional reach around the college, the campus and internationally. He was also one of the first MnDRIVE Fellows, selected to be a key leader in discovering new paths to solving the problems of food insecurity. He died unexpectedly in April of 2016 at the age of 41.

In honor of Jason, CFANS has established the Jason Beddow Memorial Fund. The purpose of the Fund is to provide research support to early-career faculty in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences conducting research projects across multiple disciplines, especially for research that focuses on food security.  The fund has reached the level required to establish an endowment, guaranteeing a steady stream of support dollars for early-career faculty.  If you’d like to contribute in Jason’s honor, checks may be made out to “University of Minnesota” and mailed to: Jason Beddow Memorial Fund, Univ of MN Foundation, P.O. Box 860266, Minneapolis, MN 55438.

"As my academic advisor and close friend, Jason guided me through my PhD studies by sharing his own experience and teaching me how to think like an agricultural economist to solve real-world problems. His brilliant mind and caring personality make working with him always very rewarding. Even today after so many years of his passing, I am still actively applying the thinking processes and data techniques he taught me to my current research. His influence on my life can never be erased, and he will be remembered by the great work he has done.” -Yuan Chai

 

“Jason was a rapidly rising star in the profession who was already gaining international attention. His technical skills were par excellence, he had a truly inquisitive and creative mind that pushed the analytical boundaries, and above all, was motivated by questions that really mattered. On top of all that he was among the most caring and considerate individuals I’ve been fortunate to know. We all still miss him on many fronts.” –Phil Pardey

 

“Jason was one of the most brilliant and humble researchers I have ever met. He should be remembered for his mind and impressive contributions to the field of economics during his all-too-short career. He was also an incredibly kind and caring man who always had time for his colleagues, friends, and family. I cannot thank Jason enough for the countless times he would interrupt his own work to help me navigate my own Ph.D. and early career journeys. I miss his dry humor, wry smile, and quiet, yet still seemingly large presence in our module. Even today, five years after his untimely death, he is still brought up often in conversation -- be it to marvel about one of Jason's ideas that is still bearing fruit or to lament on how excited he would have been to be part of one of our team's current projects.”  –Ali Joglekar

 

"Jason was the first person I interacted with when I first started working for the University of Minnesota, he was also my mentor. He was very caring always very concerned about injustice be it a systemic one or a specific isolated incident. Jason always had a brilliant way of solving problems, he always thought of things from a different angle cutting the time we need to find a solution. It was truly an honor and privilege that I have worked with him. He is very much missed in our research group. I still think of what his feedback would be when dealing with new ideas.” -Senait Senay