First woman to receive the World Food Prize and inventor of Quality Protein Maize.

Evangelina Villegas was born in Mexico City, MX on October 24^th, 1924. Villegas double majored at National Polytechnic Institute and obtained a B.A. in chemistry and biology, often finding herself as one of few women in her classes. In 1950, Villegas began working as a chemist at the Instituto Nacional de Nutriología and Office of Special Studies. In the late 1950s, Villegas pursued higher education in the U.S., obtaining a M.S. in cereal technology from Kansas State University in 1962, and a Ph.D. in cereal chemistry in 1997 from North Dakota State University, before returning to work at the new International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Here, Villegas worked to improve the levels of lysine and tryptophan in maize kernels to combat malnutrition in corn-based diets. Breeding and testing over 25,000 maize samples a year, Villegas eventually developed ‘quality protein maize’ (QPM) and helped distribute kernels throughout East Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. For her work, Villegas was awarded the world food prize and 2000’s Woman of the Year in MX among other awards. Beyond research, Villegas also established scholarships for many farm workers.