# globalwork_edited_2.xlsx - Google Fusion Tables

Lawrence Baker
Department: Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering
Location: Burkina Faso
Description: Involved in UNESCO workshop on urban sustainability and developing theory of urban drought resilience; co-PI for Research Coordinating Network on urban sustainability.

Joe Magner
Department: Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering
Location: South Africa
Description: Developing a surface and ground water exchange to examine source waters and classify streams for protection and restoration, involving students from University of the Free State in Bloemfontain. John Nieber is a collaborator.

David Mulla
Department: Soil, Water, and Climate
Location: Morocco
Description: Improving the rural economy, water quality and carbon sequestration through a project that involves planting olive trees and installing erosion control structures on 60,000 hectares in rainfed, hilly regions across Morocco. To date, 6 million olive trees have been planted on farms managed by over 50,000 beneficiaries.

Elizabeth Mumia
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Tanzania
Description: Analyzing community wildlife management, its costs, benefits and devolution, as well as intra-household dynamics.

Raymond Newman
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: South Africa
Description: Researching biocontrol of Eurasian watermilfoil and its status as a native or introduced species. Evidence suggests Eurasian watermilfoil is native to South Africa, so future study will examine that question and the ecological role of Eurasian watermilfoil.

Philip Pardey
Department: Applied Economics
Location: Africa
Description: The HarvestChoice Project is a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded initiative, jointly executed by the International Science and Technology Practice and Policy Center, University of Minnesota and the International Food Policy Research Institute. It is designed to develop new data sets and conduct analysis that enable BMGF and others to better target their investment efforts. The goal is to promote sustainable agricultural growth to improve the welfare of the poor.

Jim Perry
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Africa
Description: Each country is implementing a range of climate change adaptation practices. This knowledge management project looks among countries and asks what we are learning about climate change adaptation.

Jim Perry
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Africa
Description: Developing a global training program on ecosystem management with partners based in Nairobi and Winnipeg; the materials have been pilot tested in Kenya and we are now moving into a Train the Trainers phase.

Terry Roe
Department: Applied Economics
Location: Ghana
Description: The Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy is helping develop a new organization: the African Food and Agricultural Policy Platform. CIFAP is helping organize, plan and implement policy seminars and regional agricultural economic research activities, intended to strengthen the research capabilities of agricultural economists working in the region.

Majory Silisyene
Department: Natural Resources Science and Management
Location: Tanzania
Description: Exploring effective communication methods in an effort to increase participation of local people in managing their forest resources.

Brian Steffenson & James Anderson
Department: Plant Pathology
Location: Kenya, South Africa
Description: Testing wheat lines for resistance to Ug99 races of stem rust; stem rust nurseries in Kenya and South Africa are used to test new U of M varieties. Collaborators include faculty Yue Jin and Matt Rouse.

Valerie Were
Department: Water Resources Center
Location: Kenya
Description: Studying the links among non-governmental organization water projects, water law and local participation in western Kenya.

Robert Blanchette
Department: Plant Pathology
Location: Antarctica, Deception Island
Description: Identifying the causes of deterioration that are destroying historic structures at a whaling station built during the last century. Benjamin Held, a graduate student in Plant Pathology, also is doing research for his Ph.D.

Michelle LaRue
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Antarctica
Description: Using high-resolution satellite imagery with remote sensing techniques to estimate abundance and detect population trends among Weddell seals and emperor penguins in the Ross Sea, as climate change and a fishery in the region may have an impact on these species.

Kurt Spokas
Department: Soil, Water, and Climate
Location: Antarctica
Description: Examining the greenhouse gas production of soils from Antarctica, in collaboration with colleagues from the FCAV/UNESP–University in Jaboticabal, Brazil.

David Andow
Department: Entomology
Location: Delhi, India
Description: Evaluating environmental risk assessment for Bt brinjal (eggplant), which was developed to resist destructive insects.

Samuel Baidoo
Department: Animal Science
Location: Vietnam, Indonesia
Description: Developing an agricultural exchange program with swine nutritionists and producers; the program involves outreach, and will incorporate research into the exchange program.

Robert Blanchette
Department: Plant Pathology
Location: China
Description: Finding ways to conserve historic wooden buildings and prevent wood decay, in cooperation with the World Monument Fund and Palace Museum, Beijing.

Robert Blanchette
Department: Plant Pathology
Location: Vietnam
Description: Developing a method to produce agarwood in plantation-grown young Aquilaria trees in order to produce a sustainable yield of this valuable resin. The technique provides a new economic, non-timber forest product for southeast Asia and other tropical regions of the world.

Andrea Claassen
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Cambodia
Description: Studying ecology and conservation of river birds in the Mekong Basin.

Francie Cuthbert Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology Location: Cambodia; Thailand Description: Researching colonial waterbird population dynamics and conservation. | Francie Cuthbert Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology Location: Thailand Description: Co-instructing winter break course on field methods for research on mammals and birds.

Karlyn Eckman
Department: Water Resources Center
Location: Lower Mekong basin (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam)
Description: Collaborating with Lao researcher and CFANS alum Lilao Bouapao on assessing how human populations are affected by construction of dams on the Upper Mekong.

Paul Glewwe
Department: Applied Economics
Location: China
Description: Investigating education and employment outcomes for a group of 2,000 children in Gansu province through a series of interviews beginning in 2000, with research partners at U.S., British and Hong Kong universities.

Paul Glewwe
Department: Applied Economics
Location: China, South Africa, Mexico, Senegal & India
Description: Developing a two-week course on program evaluation for the World Bank; it’s been given in China and South Africa and will be offered soon in Mexico, Senegal and possibly India.

Thomas Halbach
Department: Soil, Water, and Climate
Location: China
Description: Studying compost, compost substrate media properties, mineland reclamation, restoration of contaminated soils and organic compounds in soils with Chinese research partners.

Qiuqiong Huang
Department: Applied Economics
Location: Pakistan, China
Description: Analyzing the economics of irrigation water management in north China.

Ted Labuza
Department: Food Science and Nutrition
Location: China
Description: Ongoing work, in collaboration with Mary Schmidl of the FScN department, with the Chinese Institute of Food Technology and Ministry of Health to provide food-safety training and industry consulting.

Ted Labuza
Department: Food Science and Nutrition
Location: China
Description: Establishing a 3-1 program with the Food Science program at Jiangnan University in Wuxi (3 years at Wuxi, 1 year at Minnesota) followed by an internship at a Minnesota food company; several large companies are looking for Chinese students to train here who would then work at their plants in China. The food science program at Wuxi has 120 faculty, 2,000 undergrads and 800 grad students.

Purevjav (Pujii) Lkhagvajav
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Mongolia
Description: Mapping the distribution of snow leopards in southern and western Mongolia and developing conservation strategies for one of the world’s most endangered cats.

Dylan Millet
Department: Soil, Water, and Climate
Location: India
Description: Examining the link between urbanization and air pollution in and around Hyderabad using field measurements in several communities along a rural-to-urban gradient in collaboration with colleagues from the College of Science and Engineering and other agencies.

Seth Naeve & Jim Orf
Department: Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Location: China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea
Description: Each November, Naeve and Orf travel to north Asia to provide soybean purchasers with detailed information about the quality of the new U.S. crop. Their information is based on the roughly 2,000 soybean samples collected from U.S. producers each year. This project affects purchasing decisions of buyers who, together, represent more than $12 billion in sales.

Passanan Namfon Cutter
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Thailand
Description: Documenting the distribution of the once-abundant but now rare fishing cat using sign surveys, camera traps and radio telemetry techniques as well as exploring the role that this and other carnivore species play in the transmission of emerging zoonotic diseases.

Sabrina Peterson Trujo
Department: Food Science and Nutrition
Location: Singapore
Description: Developing a biomarker for the consumption of the carrot family of vegetables. The project will use urine samples from the Singapore Chinese Health Study to validate the biomarker for use in observational studies.

Terry Roe
Department: Applied Economics
Location: China
Description: Cooperation with China’s Agricultural University in Beijing to provide faculty from the U of M for lectures, seminars and workshops and eventually research through the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy.

Michael Sadowsky
Department: Soil, Water, and Climate
Location: Korea
Description: Collaborating with South Korean universities to determine sources of fecal bacteria in waterways using next generation sequencing to isolate and characterize bacterial genes involved in transformation of metals and organic pollutants.

Lorraine Scotson
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Laos
Description: Assessing the population and habitat of Asiatic black bears (moon bears) and Malaysian sun bears in Laos, the last stronghold for bears in southeast Asia, and developing conservation management strategies.

Steve Severtson
Department: Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering
Location: China
Description: Developing more sustainable polymeric materials through the use of renewable monomers and new synthesis techniques, working with students at the State Key Laboratories of Chemical Engineering at Zhejiang University via Skype and eventually in person.

Kevin Smith
Department: Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Location: China
Description: Testing new varieties of barley for disease resistance in barley, in cooperation with Zhejiang University.

Tim Smith
Department: Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering
Location: China
Description: Working to improve the access of resource efficiency opportunities to large-scale global financial markets by identifying and using these opportunities to understand how to bundle and aggregate sustainability improvements such as a “saved kilowatt hour,” a “saved gallon of water” or “saved unit of toxic material.”

Chery Smith
Department: Food Science and Nutrition
Location: China
Description: Investigating the impact of rural-to-urban migration on dietary behavior and the impact on body mass index, in collaboration with graduate student Robert Skoro.

J.L. David Smith
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Nepal, Thailand, Bangladesh, China, Cambodia
Description: Studying the behavior, ecology and conservation of tigers in south and southeast Asia, specifically tiger social organization and dispersal patterns. This research has recently expanded to include projects on small carnivore communities, tropical bear ecology, and the ecological separation of gaur and banteng.

Andrew Simons
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Okinawa
Description: Examining the evolution of teeth in blenny, a group of fishes, with Ph.D. candidate Peter Hundty. The questions: Do the teeth evolve with changes in diet? Do the changes in teeth correlate with other evolutionary changes?

Chery Smith
Department: Food Science and Nutrition
Location: Nepal
Description: Studying dietary behavior, changing food systems, food security and the impact of diet on health.

J.L. David Smith
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Nepal
Description: Developing “Assessment of Ecological and Biodiversity Services in Nepal’s Community Forests,” a new interdisciplinary CFANS semester abroad program in Nepal that will give students a unique opportunity to collaborate directly with local leaders on an integrated social and environmental assessment of the services that protected areas and community forests provide to local, regional, national and global communities. Collaborators include a variety of conservation agencies and NGOs.

Cindy Tong
Department: Horticultural Science
Location: Korea
Description: Serving as a member of the editorial board of Postharvest, a Korean journal.

Hung Tran Department: Natural Resources Science and Management Location: Vietnam Description: Developing a theory of spiritual tourism in Da-Nang city as Ph.D. dissertation research. | Mike Boland Department: Applied Economics Location: Honduras Description: Teaching annual agribusiness courses at Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School.

Petra Kranzfelder
Department: Entomology
Location: Costa Rica
Description: Examining the cumulative effects of urbanization and agriculture on Chironomidae communities in nine estuaries on the Caribbean coast. Chironomidae, commonly known as the non-biting midge, is an abundant fly found in many aquatic systems. Estuaries with greater watershed impact should alter Chironomidae community composition and diversity in various ways.

Peter Reich
Department: Forest Resources
Location: Panama
Description: Addressing questions about the diversity of plant function in tropical forests through an ongoing working group and long-running experiments with researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Research fellow Joe Wright leads the project.

Tim Smith
Department: Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering
Location: Costa Rica
Description: Conducting a field seminar in sustainable development in which students experience development in action across agricultural production, tourism, energy generation and urbanization. Through hands-on exposure, students learn the synergies and tension between positive and negative economic, social and environmental impacts.

Neil Anderson
Department: Horticultural Science
Location: Czech Republic
Description: Studying molecular genetic variation in reed canarygrass in the Czech Republic and Minnesota, and cytogenetic variation in European and Minnesota Eurasian watermilfoil, in part through a Fulbright sabbatical leave at the University of South Bohemia.

David Andow Department: Entomology Location: Madrid, Spain Description: Modeling the evolution of resistance to transgenic Bt maize in the Mediterranean maize borer. | David Andow Department: Entomology Location: Denmark Description: Characterizing the non-utilitarian environmental values associated with GMOs and developing methods for incorporating these values into scientific risk assessment.

Roger Becker
Department: Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Location: Switzerland
Description: Researching biological control of garlic mustard with colleagues at CABI International, a not-for-profit international organization working to solve problems in agriculture and the environment.

Dennis Becker
Department: Forest Resources
Location: Norway, Sweden
Description: Analyzing U.S. and Scandinavian policies pertaining to forest carbon analysis, renewable energy policy and bioenergy development.

Carrie Earthman
Department: Food Science and Nutrition
Location: Netherlands
Description: Collaborating with researchers and educators to compare data on the prevalence of malnutrition in head and neck cancer patients in the U.S. and the Netherlands, and to make opportunities for student exchanges.

Marcia Endres
Department: Animal Science
Location: Turkey
Description: Research into preventing lameness in dairy cows, in collaboration with colleagues from Mehmet Akif University.

Marcia Endres Department: Animal Science Location: Denmark Description: Studying management and welfare of dairy cows in compost bedded pack barns. | Lee Frelich Department: Forest Resources Location: Estonia Description: Modeling of natural and anthropogenic disturbance risk for long-term sustainable forestry in collaboration with Estonian University of Life Sciences colleagues.

Bill Ganzlin
Department: CFANS
Location: Norway
Description: Leading “Natural History of Norway,” a May term course in which students learn about the physical geography and natural resources of the Nord Trondelag region of central Norway, as well as the area’s history and culture and its close ties to Minnesota.

Bradley Heins
Department: Animal Science
Location: France, Sweden
Description: Working with producers and international breeding companies to share information about crossbreeding dairy cattle to identify breeds that may improve the health and performance of dairy cattle under grazing and confinement production systems.

Stan Hokanson
Department: Horticultural Science
Location: Belgium, Germany
Description: Collaborating with colleagues at Leibniz University on Black Spot Disease in roses and at ILVO (the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research) in Melle, Belgium on breeding and genetics of woody landscape plants.

Brian Horgan
Department: Horticultural Science
Location: Norway, Sweden
Description: Researching turfgrass management in Scandinavia and Minnesota.

Bill Hutchison Department: Entomology Location: England Description: Assessing the impact of genetically modified crops on pests, primarily the European corn borer. | Larry Jacobson Department: Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering Location: Denmark Description: Exploring how climate change affects animal environments, with colleagues at Aarhus University.

William Koskinen
Department: Soil, Water & Climate
Location: Spain
Description: Determining and quantifying the mechanisms and factors controlling the degradation, movement and activity of pesticides and their metabolites in soil; this knowledge will be used to reduce pesticide use by increasing herbicide efficacy in agricultural production systems, and to decrease the risk of ground water contamination.

Mindy Kurzer
Department: Food Science and Nutrition
Location: Switzerland, Italy
Description: Analyzing the transition in the developing world from nutrition-related problems due to undernutrition to those due to overnutrition, and how these might be prevented by evaluating and intervening in the food systems of local countries.

Ted Labuza
Department: Food Science and Nutrition
Location: Italy
Description: Researching protein-aggregation kinetics, a process that causes protein bars to harden over time, in collaboration with University of Udine faculty. A master’s degree student spent last year doing his research here using egg proteins to address the problem.

Ted Labuza
Department: Food Science and Nutrition
Location: Greece
Description: Collaborating with colleagues at the National Technical University on evaluation and validation of time-temperature shelf life tags.

F. Abel Ponce de Leon
Department: Animal Science
Location: Spain
Description: Collaborating with colleagues at the SERIDA food and agricultural research institute on Bovine Y chromosome genomics.

Peter Reich
Department: Forest Resources
Location: Sweden, Poland
Description: Studying whether climate warming and rising CO2 levels during the past century have altered pine needle traits along a transect from southern to northern Sweden, by retracing the steps and measurements of pioneering researchers from a century ago. The same group of Polish and U of M researchers are examining a variety of tree physiology and forest ecosystem ecology research questions using ongoing field experiments at sites in Poland.

Gary Sands
Department: Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering
Location: France
Description: Conducting workshops with farmers and agricultural cooperative organizations in southern France on techniques for mitigating water quality impact agricultural drainage systems. We hope to establish several on-farm demonstration sites in the coming months.

Kurt Spokas
Department: Soil, Water, and Climate
Location: Germany
Description: Examining the impact of biochar composting and its impact on greenhouse gas production effects following soil incorporation of the composted biochar.

Jeffrey Strock
Department: Soil, Water, and Climate
Location: Sweden
Description: Working with colleagues at Swedish Agricultural University to study the impact of agricultural management on soil and phosphorus mobility and export to the Baltic Sea.

Mike White
Department: Animal Science
Location: Italy
Description: Leading “Sustainable Food Systems of Sicily,” a May-term Learning Abroad Center course in which students study Italy’s sustainable food systems and the ethical and environmental considerations for food production and consumption.

Nevin Young
Department: Plant Pathology (joint with Plant Biology)
Location: France
Description: Researching the genetic basis of symbiosis involving legume plants and rhizobial bacteria, which leads to biological nitrogen fixation.

Ted Labuza
Department: Food Science and Nutrition
Location: Israel
Description: Collaborating on research with two former post-doctoral assistants who have faculty appointments at the Technion University and are both research leaders at food/biotech companies in Israel.

Sally Noll
Department: Animal Science
Location: Egypt
Description: Participating in international visiting student program with Zagazig University.

Marla Reicks
Department: Food Science and Nutrition
Location: Oman
Description: Surveying and interviewing parents of Omani school-aged children with respect to whole grain intake and acceptability of substituting whole- for refined-grain foods, as well as analyzing and interpreting the results.

Carl Rosen
Department: Soil, Water, and Climate
Location: Israel
Description: Evaluating hyper-spectral and thermal imaging as techniques to detect nitrogen and water stress in irrigated potato crops, with the goal of using remote sensing to improve efficiency of water and nitrogen inputs for potato production. David Mulla is a co-principal investigator.

Kevin Smith
Department: Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Location: Syria
Description: Researching new barley breeds in collaboration with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas.

David Bedford
Department: Horticultural Science
Location: EU, New Zealand, Chile, South Africa, Australia
Description: Testing and commercialization of U of M-developed apple varieties.

Dean Current
Department: Forest Resources
Location: Guatemala, Mexico, Nepal
Description: Developing sustainable, natural resource-based enterprises in areas where community forestry is practiced by identifying markets and strategies for adding value to forest-harvested products like palm leaves that contribute to community livelihoods and conservation of important biosphere reserves and forests. Partners include private sector importers and wholesalers, religious organizations and community forest user groups.

Paul Glewwe
Department: Applied Economics
Location: Ethiopia, India, Peru, Vietnam
Description: Children in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam are being studied as part of the “Young Lives” project. Paul Glewwe, a professor in the Department of Applied Economics, is part of the Oxford University-based team that is gathering data about the health and education of children in those countries. The project began in 2002 with surveys of 12,000 1- and 8-year-olds; follow-up surveys were conducted in 2006 and 2009 and will expand to include transitions to work and adulthood as the children are revisited in 2013 and in future years. By gathering the data, researchers can track the factors contributing to hunger and poverty, and develop solutions to address those challenges. Glewwe is one of three recipients of the University of Minnesota’s 2012 Award for Global Engagement.

Jim Luby
Department: Horticultural Science
Location: France, Britain, Italy, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Chile
Description: Developing, evaluating and introducing fruit cultivars with horticultural, disease and pest resistance, and fruit quality characteristics desired by growers and consumers.

Kent Olson
Department: Applied Economics
Location: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
Description: Evaluating the short-term benefits of using crop residues for livestock feed, construction materials, cooking fuel, and as a source of cash versus the longer term benefits of leaving the residues in the field to improve soil productivity, with collaborators from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

Jim Perry
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Global
Description: Working with UNESCO Paris to develop a climate change adaptation manual for natural and mixed World Heritage Sites and determining which are most at-risk from climate change as well as possible adaptation choices are for those at-risk sites.

Paul Porter
Department: Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Location: Costa Rica
Description: Teaching a course called “Agroecosystems of the World” with collaborators in which students confront real-world problems associated with agricultural production, water usage, human population pressure, and global climate change.

Peter Reich
Department: Forest Resources
Location: Global
Description: Collaborating with colleagues around the world to develop and use the world’s largest plant trait data base, which is hosted at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Germany.

Jerry Shurson
Department: Animal Science
Location: Global
Description: Training and outreach to a variety of audiences about animal nutrition and the role of Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles, a byproduct of ethanol production.

Timothy Smith
Department: Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering
Location: Global (Lead Institutions in Italy, Austria, U.S.)
Description: One of three core institutions providing leadership to the Global Organizational Learning and Development Network, a unique global network of leading research centers, corporations and other stakeholders that provides a platform for sharing data, developing knowledge and stimulating action to navigate the pathways toward sustainable enterprise.

David Andersen
Department: MN Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Location: Canada
Description: MN Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Part of a multi-agency team studying the population ecology of the endangered golden-winged warbler.

Todd Arnold
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Canada
Description: Analyzing banding data from mallards and American black ducks, to determine where ducks are produced that end up in regional duck harvests (i.e. how many of the mallards that Minnesota hunters shoot each fall were produced in Minnesota, other states or different Canadian provinces).

Brian Aukema
Department: Entomology
Location: Canada
Description: Improving risk models of the spread of mountain pine beetle eastward through the boreal forest of Canada to the Great Lakes region (and Minnesota) by incorporating genetics and genomics understandings of the insect, its vectored fungi, and its host trees. It’s an innovative project examining a serious range expansion of a native insect.

Francie Cuthbert
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Canada
Description: Two ongoing projects: recovery of the Great Lakes Piping Plover population (birds nest in the U.S. and Canada and move between the countries) and studying colonial waterbird population dynamics via a Great Lakes-wide census of the birds.

Francisco Diez-Gonzalez Department: Food Science and Nutrition Location: Mexico Description: Evaluating the effect of natural plant extracts on the pathogen E. coli, in collaboration with a colleague from Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon. | Marcia Endres Department: Animal Science Location: Canada Description: Finding best practices for automated feeder use by dairy calves.

Leonard Ferrington
Department: Entomology
Location: Canada
Description: Determining how recent water level regulations affect aquatic resources such as biodiversity and ecological function at Voyageurs National Park. The work is funded by the International Joint Commission, which sets policy for the U.S./Canadian park.

Tom Michaels
Department: Horticultural Science
Location: Canada
Description: Researching dry bean germplasm improvement and exchange with colleagues at two Canadian universities.

Karen Oberhauser
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Mexico
Description: Supporting reforestation, community development and conservation research as an officer of the Monarch Butterfly Fund, a non-profit organization that supports conservation of the monarchs’ wintering sites in Mexico.

Peter Reich
Department: Forest Resources
Location: Canada
Description: Testing, with a group of researchers from Quebec and Minnesota, questions about biodiversity effects on forest ecosystem function at three unique, world-class experiments. The experiments were begun in 2009-2010 and will continue for several more years, each with about 150 plots planted with different numbers and types of tree species.

Peter Sorenson
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Bahamas
Description: Leading “Tropical Marine Biology and Shark Ecology,” a hands-on summer term course in which students learn about tropical marine ecosystems and the biology of sharks first-hand while living at the world-famous Sharklab and working side-by-side with its scientists.

Seth Stapleton
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Canada
Description: Estimating polar bear populations through aerial survey techniques in Nunavut and analyzing the actual and potential effects of climate change on polar bears.

Paul Venturelli
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Canada
Description: Evaluating the efficacy of induced nest failure as a mechanism for controlling invasive smallmouth bass in whole-lake field experiments.

Stephan Carlson
Department: Forest Resources
Location: New Zealand
Description: Teaching “Environmental Issues in New Zealand,” a Learning Abroad Center winter-break course. This 3 week course looks at the invasive species that have impacted the various islands and how eco-tourism plays a role in the country’s GNP.

Bridget Henning
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Papua New Guinea
Description: Using anthropology, economics and biology in a case study of the first conservation project to use direct payments in Papua New Guinea.

Peter Reich
Department: Forest Resources
Location: Australia
Description: Partnering with scientists at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (University of Western Sydney) on fundamental ecology and research examining global environmental change effects on Australian and global woodland and forest ecosystems. Developing a program for students, postdocs and faculty to build bridges between the Universities of Minnesota and Western Sydney.

George Weiblen & Rebecca Montgomery
Department: Plant Biology, Forest Resources
Location: Papua New Guinea
Description: Building infrastructure for long-term forest dynamics research in rain forests and evaluating the structure, composition and dynamics of tropical forests in Papua New Guinea. Rebecca Montgomery of Forest Resources is a collaborator.

David Andow
Department: Entomology
Location: Brazil
Description: Co-coordinating the International Project on GMO Environmental Risk Assessment Methodologies (GMO ERA Project) and named an international delegate to the Brazilian Entomological Society.

David Andow
Department: Entomology
Location: Brazil
Description: Developing a framework for comparing the value of ecosystem services derived from vegetational diversity across several cropping systems. Frances Homans from Applied Economics is a co-investigator.

Robert Blanchette
Department: Plant Pathology
Location: Uruguay
Description: Studying pathogens that affect eucalyptus trees, an important and expanding crop. A new course on forest pathology will be taught in October 2012.

Robert Blanchette
Department: Plant Pathology
Location: Ecuador
Description: Researching the biodiversity of forest fungi in Yasuni National Park.

Rodrigo Castro Bustamante & Stephania Galuppo Gaete
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Chile
Description: Studying the Kodkod cat, the smallest cat in South America, to predict its potential movements, crucial fragments and corridors which allow its dispersal under the pressure of habitat loss, in a landscape matrix of forest fragments, agriculture and human presence in the pre-Andean zone of southern Chile.

Omar Espinoza
Department: Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering
Location: Bolivia
Description: Assessing the state of forest sustainability certification, identifying status and trends, the role and positions of major stakeholders, and benefits and challenges to certification.

Craig Hassel
Department: Food Science and Nutrition
Location: Ecuador
Description: Teaching “Globalization and Indigenous Communities in Ecuador,” a spring break course in which students learn about the impact of globalization on indigenous Andean communities.

George Heimpel
Department: Entomology
Location: Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Description: Investigating the possibility of importing specialized enemies of the fly Philornis downsi from its native range in Trinidad & Tobago as a means of controlling the flies and protecting Darwin’s finches. The fly lays its eggs into the nests of songbirds, and the larvae feed on nestlings by sucking their blood. This invasive species is attacking Darwin’s finches and causing severe nestling mortality.

Tom Michaels
Department: Horticulture
Location: Colombia
Description: Researching dry bean germplasm improvement and exchange at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

Seth Naeve & Jim Orf
Department: Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Location: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay
Description: The winter nursery in Chile has been in operation since the 1950s; it is used for making crosses, generation advance of breeding materials, graduate student research, multiplication of seed for graduate student theses, and seed increase for new soybean varieties released by the university. In 2012, the soybean sample collecting project expanded from Asia, and these samples will be fully characterized for chemical composition and compared with U.S. soybeans.

Jim Perry
Department: Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Location: Peru
Description: Teaching a global seminar called “Climate Change in the City of the Gods: Machu Picchu and the headwaters of the Amazon.” During their three-week stay, students conduct research in the Amazon (a natural World Heritage site), visit Cuzco (a cultural World Heritage city), and visit Machu Picchu (a mixed World Heritage site).