Purdue to host fifth Borlaug institute on global food security

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The 2016 Borlaug Summer Institute on Global Food Security will be held June 5-18 at Purdue University.

In attendance will be 40 graduate students selected from 20 universities from across the United States, including Purdue. Participants are selected based on their demonstrated interest and commitment to finding solutions to world hunger, and have chosen dissertation research that addresses the challenges of global food security.

 The two-week program, hosted by the Purdue Center for Global Food Security, engages students through lectures by prominent faculty and guest speakers, practicums, small-group research work, and visits to area farms and research infrastructures at Purdue and the region.

The 2016 cohorts include 14 students from India, Nepal, Brazil, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mauritius, Rwanda, Malawi, Colombia, Afghanistan, Madagascar and Pakistan, in addition to 26 U.S. students. Their collective academic disciplines range from agronomy, plant pathology, human nutrition, to agricultural and biological engineering, economics and other social science areas such as conflict resolution.

Students will develop country-specific food security group-project reports in response to a simulated request for proposals from the United States Agency for International Development. Purdue professors with experience in international development will simulate a donor panel on the last day, challenging students to defend their proposals.

"The goal of the summer institute is to provide participants with a more holistic understanding of the conceptual challenges around global food security, with a focus on cross-disciplinary approaches in addressing major global development challenges," said Gebisa Ejeta, director of the Center for Global Food Security, based at Purdue's Discovery Park.

Ejeta, distinguished professor of agronomy and the 2009 World Food Prize laureate, and several Purdue faculty work with these students throughout the two-week period of the institute. The following Purdue officials will address the students: Suresh Garimella, executive vice president for research and partnerships; Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, chief scientist and executive director of Discovery Park; and Jay Akridge, the Glenn W. Sample Dean of Purdue Agriculture.

Other speakers include:

* Julie Borlaug, assistant director for partnerships of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University. She is the granddaughter of the late Norman Borlaug, an agronomist and humanitarian for whom the institute is named.

* Alesha Black, director of the Global Food and Agriculture Program, Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

* Margot Ellis and Clara Cohen, from the USAID Bureau for Food Security Office of Agricultural Research and Policy.

* Charles Owubah, vice president of World Vision International.

The summer institute is part of the U.S. Borlaug Fellows in Global Food Security program, funded by USAID under the Feed the Future initiative. The program is aimed at preparing the next generation of U.S. food security professionals with the scientific foundation needed to effectively study and manage the global landscape in support of sustainable food systems. 

Media Contacts: Pamela McClure, 765-494-45441, pmcclure@purdue.edu

Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu 

Source: Gebisa Ejeta, 765-494-4320, gejeta@purdue.edu