International

A newly created External Advisory Committee for International Programs in the College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois will provide feedback on ACES international activities and offer advice and support to develop partnerships and identify external opportunities. 

Food security practitioners from around the world gathered at the University of Illinois in early April for the Fifth Annual International Food Security Symposium sponsored and coordinated by the Office of International Programs in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES).

The Office of International Programs in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) hosted Dr. Sheryl Hendriks, a distinguished guest from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, to speak about opportunities and challenges for research on food and nutrition security and agriculture in Africa.

Article submitted by Gregory French, ACES Advisor and Graduate Student Intern

Opportunities to step outsides of one’s comfort zone are among the many reasons students choose to study abroad. For many students, winter break is a convenient time to experience a new culture while earning academic credit by participating in a faculty led study-abroad program.  

The following are reflections from Yushu Xia, a PhD student in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, on her research project partially funded by an ACES International Graduate Grant: “Improving Agricultural Nitrogen Models for Nitrogen Management Assessment at a Field Spatial Scale.” Yushu’s advisor is Dr. Michelle Wander.

From classifying mosquitos in the Amazon to conserving natural resources in a war zone, Dr. McKenzie Johnson brings significant international experience to the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), where she recently joined the faculty as an assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences.  

Johnson is also a recent recipient of an ACES International Seed Grant for a project she will initiate this spring: “Environment and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding in Colombia.”

URBANA, Ill. – During the Vietnam War, United States aircraft sprayed more than 20 million gallons of herbicides, including dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange, on the country’s rain forests, wetlands, and croplands. Agent Orange defoliated the thick jungle vegetation concealing Viet Cong fighters and destroyed a portion of the country’s food crops, but it was primarily the dioxin contaminant that harmed so many Vietnamese and U.S. military personnel.

URBANA, Ill. – Photosynthesis drives yields, but in cold conditions, this process that turns sunlight into biomass takes a hit. Miscanthus is a popular, sustainable, perennial feedstock for bioenergy production that thrives on marginal land in temperate regions.

URBANA, Ill. – Adding soy flour to school lunches in Ghana provides a cost-efficient way of increasing the protein level, according to a new study co-authored by a University of Illinois researcher.

Soy is known to be a low-cost protein source, says Peter Goldsmith, professor of agricultural and consumer economics at the U of I. “But the thesis that soy is a good ingredient in a national school lunch program had yet to be proven, though everyone assumed it.”

URBANA, Ill. – At the southern tip of the Himalayas, farmers in the Kangra region of India’s Himachal Pradesh graze cattle among rolling hills and forests. The forests, under management by the state or farmer cooperatives, are thriving. But a new University of Illinois study shows, unlike state-managed forests, farmer cooperatives directly benefit both forest health and farmers.