Keiko Tanaka holds a M.A. and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. She joined the faculty of the University of Kentucky in 2001 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology.

Her research focuses on the role of science in social transformations of the agri-food systems, moral and ethical issues surrounding food safety governance, and transformations of East Asian societies.

Her current research projects include “Rebuilding Trust in Beef: The Case of the New Science-Based Food Safety Regime in Japan” (funded by the National Science Foundation); “Lexington Community Food Assessment” (funded by the UK College of Agriculture).  Since 2004, she is also involved in “4H Initiatives on Biotechnology/DNA Science,” as a expert panelist on the social dimension of genetic engineering at 4H camps.  In the 2006-07 academic year, she teaches SOC517: Rural Sociology (fall) and SOC565: Environmental Sociology (spring).

Her work has been published by both Japanese and English journals, including Rural Sociology, Sociologia Ruralis, and Agriculture and Economy (Japanese). She is an international consult on three separate research teams funded by the Japanese government. Between 2001 and 2003, she was elected co-Chair of the Sociology of Agriculture Interest Group of the Rural Sociological Society. In the 2005-06 academic year, she served on the RSS Council as the Chair of the Membership Committee.