News

INTAD 820 traveled to Costa Rica over spring break in order to learn about the Costa Rican agriculture system and meet with researchers, farmers and government officials.

Two students in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are the recipients of the Guyton Award, a global learning scholarship established recently by Bill Guyton, an agricultural economist and internationally recognized expert in sustainable development. Julie Baniszewski and Bipana Paudel Timilsena, entomology doctoral candidates in the college's International Agriculture and Development (INTAD) dual-title degree program, plan to use the awards to advance their international research in pest management.

Bipana Paudel Timilsena, a doctoral student in entomology with a dual title in international agriculture and development, received the Graduate Student International Research Award. The purpose of the award is to promote and support international research and scholarship by graduate students that has the potential for global impact.

Thirteen graduate students received the Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award, Distinguished Doctoral Scholar Medal in recognition of their outstanding professional accomplishment and achievement in scholarly research in any of the disciplinary areas of arts and humanities; social sciences—applied and basic; physical and computational sciences—applied and basic; life and health sciences; and engineering.

Penn State graduate student Ilse Huerta Arredondo has been awarded the Ardeth and Norman Frisbey International Student Award. This award, in honor of the Frisbeys, recognizes the personal support the late Norman Frisbey offered during the 27 years Ardeth Frisbey served in the Office of International Students.

Jacob Johnson, a doctoral candidate in forest resources and in international agriculture and development in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, has received a Fulbright Study/Research Award.

Sulav Paudel, a doctoral candidate in entomology and in international agriculture and development in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, traveled to Washington, D.C., in June to participate in two conferences aimed at advancing international agriculture and rural development.

AIARD is pleased to announce that the application for the 2018 Future Leaders Forum is now available! As part of the annual Future Leaders Forum in Washington, DC, fellows attend the annual Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development conference and additional programming just for Future Leaders. Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis to students who have a sincere interest in international agriculture and rural development issues and their solutions.

Faculty and graduate students in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences illustrated how their research touches every corner of the world during the inaugural Global Gallery, a symposium hosted by the International Agriculture and Development dual-title graduate program (INTAD) and its student association.

Submitted by Christian Kelly Scott, a second-year dual doctorate PhD student studying Rural Sociology and International Agriculture & Development at Pennsylvania State University in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education.

Christian Man, Ph.D. candidate in Rural Sociology and INTAD, provides perspective on attending professional development events such as the annual meeting of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD).

Matthew Hancock, M.S. student in International Agriculture and Development (INTAD) and Rural Sociology, shares his perspective on the annual meeting of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD).

Contributed by Christian Scott, Ph.D. candidate in INTAD and Rural Sociology

For the past 6 months, since March of 2018, Po-An Lin, Ph.D. candidate in INTAD and Entomology has been collaborating with National Taiwan University (Taiwan) and University of Tsukuba (Japan) to conduct field research focusing on how environmental stress affect the communication between plant and enemies of plant-feeding insects.

Lina Tami is a second-year dual-title MSc student of Rural Sociology and International Agriculture & Development at Pennsylvania State University. Lina is a Fulbright-USDA Scholar and her research is in the framework of the Cocoa for Peace Project headed by Penn State.

Jacob Johnson, a doctoral candidate in forest resources and in international agriculture and development (INTAD) in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, has received a Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Award in recognition of his service to others.

Erika Pioltine Anseloni is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in Agricultural Extension & Education and International Agriculture & Development at Penn State, who is passionate about communities and community development.

The International Agriculture and Development Competitive Grants Program provides an opportunity for graduate students enrolled in the INTAD dual-title degree program to conduct research in an international setting. Five student research projects were awarded funding in the Fall 2016 grant cycle.

Food Science is the newest graduate program to join the INTAD dual-title degree program.

Sarah Eissler, Ph.D. candidate and INTAD alumna, shares her experience of developing an international research project and identifying appropriate funding sources.

The 2017 U.S Borlaug Summer Institute on Global Food Security at Purdue took place during July 4-17 bringing together 40 graduate students from all over the USA interested in areas of global food security. I was fortunate enough to be one of the 40 who were selected to represent the Borlaug’s vision of a world without hunger.

As a dual-title doctoral candidate in Entomology and International Agriculture & Development, I dreamed of living in a developing country to offer my expertise and transform the deprived lived of marginalized small farmers. Funding from Penn State University and the USDA Norman Borlaug Fellowship afforded me the opportunity to spend a year in Ghana alongside cocoa farmers to document arthropod communities, conduct sociological investigations and test the effectiveness of pesticide replacements.

Five students enrolled in College of Agricultural Sciences programs will represent Penn State at the 2017 Borlaug Dialogue, one of the events planned during the annual World Food Prize International Symposium, Oct. 18-20 in Des Moines, Iowa.

This year, two graduate students from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, Ilse Huerta Arredondo and Celize Christy, will represent the University at World Food Prize events in Des Moines, Iowa, Oct.18-20.

Four new Fulbright Scholars, who arrived at the College of Agricultural Sciences in August, are looking to economics, sociology, and soil and plant science research for ways to put Colombia at the forefront of the world's cacao production. Under the guidance of faculty at Penn State, they will attempt to tackle some of the country's most pervasive issues, from education to production challenges and corruption.

Penn State University is currently seeking Cambodian scholars to apply for Ph.D. training. A Graduate Research Assistantship stipend and tuition waiver is available for a qualified applicant.

This spring semester PPEM welcomes new Plant Pathology M.S. student and visionary Genna Tesdall.

Gugino and Mazzone visited Zamorano Agricultural University in Honduras to obtain information for educational materials to help Western Honduran growers.

Featuring the caterpillar research of Loren Rivera-Vega, doctoral candidate in entomology and International Agriculture and Development.

Ph.D. candidate Freddy Magdama reports on the emergence of FocTR4 and int'l efforts to address this banana industry threat.

Megan Wilkerson, Ph.D. candidate in INTAD and Entomology won first place in the Second Annual Pitch Competition.

INTAD/Plant Pathology graduate students Laura del Sol Bautista Jalon and Jennie Mazzone showcased research and answered gardening questions at North Atherton Farmers Market.

Penn State and the Peace Corps have finalized a new partnership that will help returning Peace Corps volunteers pursue their graduate education in the School of International Affairs, Smeal College of Business, or the College of Agricultural Sciences.

Po An Lin is a Ph.D. student in Entomology and International Agriculture and Development. He is currently studying the impact of drought stress on the interaction between plant feeding insect and their host plant, and trying to understand how insect saliva could potentially involve in these interactions.

Sulav Paudel is a native of Nepal and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. dual degree title in Entomology and International Agriculture and Development at Penn State.

Asifa Hameed is Fulbright fellow, public outreach officer, and Ph.D. student in Entomology and International Agriculture and Development at Penn State University.

Sarah Osmane, a recent graduate of the International Agriculture and Development Agriculture dual-title, is now serving as the Agriculture Officer at Concern Worldwide.

INTAD student Christian Man part of Catholic Relief Services research team in Ethiopia.

Megan Wilkerson, Ph.D. candidate in Entomology and International Agriculture and Development, was featured in the Innovation Showcase at the World Cocoa Foundation Meeting in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

Sulav Paudel is a native of Nepal and graduated with a M.S. in Entomology and International Agriculture and Development at Penn State. Sulav has returned to Penn State to pursue a dual-title Ph.D. and shares his thoughts on why he returned.

Two graduate students in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have been selected to attend the Future Leaders Forum, to be held as part of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development annual meeting, May 31-June 2 in Washington, D.C. Sarah Eissler and Megan Wilkerson were among only 12 students selected to participate out of nearly 100 applicants from universities across the country.

INTAD student Anita Behari received an INTAD Competitive Grant to arrange wheat research in Turkey.

Graduate students enrolled in the International Agriculture and Development dual-title degree program practiced teaching skills in the Global Agriculture course during the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Agricultural Sciences.

INTAD student interviews school teachers in rural Peru concerning new education policies introduced in 2013.

Where are they now? Three recent Penn State INTAD graduate students are pursuing successful careers.

Sarah Eissler, PhD student in Rural Sociology and International Agriculture and Development (INTAD), was appointed a Visiting Researcher at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

The Office of International Programs at Penn State University will sponsor AIARD memberships for students currently enrolled in the International Agriculture and Development (INTAD) dual-title degree program.

Jennie Mazzone was awarded funding to develop educational materials to empower Honduran women in the horticultural value chain.

INTAD graduate, Sulav Paudel, shares research with USAID Administrator Raj Shah on his recent visit to Nepal.

Agricultural & Extension Education and INTAD student, Roshan Nayak, gains teaching experience with the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Agricultural Sciences (PGSAS).

A micro-teaching experience in the Republic of Korea inspires empathy of English Language Learners in INTAD/Agricultural & Extension Education student Amanda Forstater.

INTAD student, Hilary Cheesman, traveled in April to Bolivia to begin research that will support the sustainability and productivity of Andean farmers.

Laura Sankey, Ph.D. candidate, shares a first-hand account of her experience conducting research in Sweden in May 2013.

In the Spring 2013, INTAD proudly celebrated two of its first graduate students, Anna Testen and Brad Olsen.

Read a first hand account of Ariel's research interests and her time spent at CIMMYT in Central Mexico. Ariel is a Borlaug Fellow and Ph.D. Candidate in Entomology and INTAD.

Effie Smith recently spent two and a half months in a former sugar-cane laborer community in the Dominican Republic conducting in-depth interviews to uncover the sources of income of contemporary batey residents.

INTAD student Divya Pant shares her experience working in a livelihood project in Nepal before beginning her master's program at Penn State.

International Agriculture and Development alumna Ariel Rivers was recently elected to vice president of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development.

Kelly Chege, a doctoral candidate in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been selected as a member of the inaugural class of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s Next Generation Global Leaders Network

Faculty and graduate students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences will showcase their international research during the third annual Global Gallery, a symposium hosted by the international agriculture and development dual-title graduate program, known as INTAD, and its student association.

Isabel Gutierrez traveled to Java, Indonesia in December 2019 to learn about cloves and clove farming practices.

Depending on how it occurs, the development of cellular agriculture — food grown in factories from cells or yeast — has the potential to either accelerate socioeconomic inequality or provide beneficial alternatives to the status quo. That’s the conclusion of a new study led by Penn State researchers, who assessed the potential trajectories for a new technology that synergizes computer science, biopharma, tissue engineering and food science to grow cultured meat, dairy and egg products from animal cells and/or genetically modified yeast.

Fourth-year Soil Science and INTAD PhD candidate Nina Camillone is currently in Costa Rica conducting field research on soil health on coffee farms in Costa Rica in partnership with EARTH University.

The lead researcher in this study is Hannah Tiffin, a doctoral candidate in entomology and INTAD.

In rural Ghana, where most rely on farming for survival, families face many challenges, including scarcity of food, running water and electricity. Women carry a hefty workload because they are responsible not just for child-rearing and household tasks but also for farm chores. Though their contributions often leave women with less free time than men, their work is undervalued, and most women are not equal partners in financial decision-making, according to Kaitlin Fischer, a doctoral degree candidate in rural sociology in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

In East Africa, beekeepers set up empty hives hoping that migrating swarms of honey bees will take up residence and provide them with honey. However, it is difficult for beekeepers to predict when migrating swarms will arrive and leave and when to harvest honey. Darcy Gray, a graduate student in Penn State's intercollege graduate degree program in ecology, has received a Fulbright Study/Research Award to help beekeepers by examining how habitat and weather patterns drive bee migration and honey production in Kenya.

Marjorie Jauregui, Nixon Meneses-Marentes, Jennifer Goza, and Laura Rolon, four graduate students from the Food Science department taking the INTAD dual-degree option had the chance to assist, participate, and coordinate the 130th edition of the Penn State Ice Cream Short Course (ICSC). ICSC is a week-long class directed by Dr. Bob Roberts, Professor and Head of the Department of Food Science, who has served for the ICSC for the last 24 years.

Ram Neupane, a graduate student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, will be one of 20 members of the inaugural Young Scientists Cohort at the World Food Forum. The World Food Forum is an independent, youth-led global network of partners facilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The goal is to encourage and empower young people to raise awareness about the global hunger crisis and shape sustainable development goals for agrifood systems.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Olanrewaju Shittu, a doctoral candidate in the Penn State Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, has been named a Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research Fellow for 2022-2025.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — When Penn State graduate student Divya Pant entered the Miss Nepal North America pageant, it wasn’t simply the crown she was after — it was the opportunity to promote her waste management organization, Carbon Away. Pant, a doctoral candidate in the BioRenewable Systems graduate program in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, participated in the contest this summer to help raise awareness about the project, which she founded in 2021 with the goal of converting waste generated during the agricultural process into energy and fertilizer.

Written by graduate students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, the book is an in-depth examination of the ecological, economic, social, political and technological factors that influence whether a person, community or nation is considered food secure.

Penn State Global has announced the 2022-23 recipients of its annual awards that recognize the outstanding contributions of individuals and academic programs at Penn State who have helped to advance the University’s global engagement goals.

Seventy-six Penn State graduate students earned first-, second- or third-place prizes at the 2023 Graduate Exhibition, held March 20-24 on the University Park campus and online. More than 275 students from more than 65 graduate programs participated in one of five categories: research, design, performance, visual arts and video.

In a recent study, an international team of researchers led by Penn State University delved deep into the relationships between heat waves, solitary bees, and the protozoan pathogen, Crithidia mellificae.

A team of Penn State researchers recently held a workshop in Ghana, exploring how gender affects dynamics within the agriculture industry. The trip capped a multi-year effort to better understand time poverty among women peanut farmers.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Sarah Richards has big plans for her future — she wants to be a leader in finding new ways to help farmers grow food more sustainably, using tiny living things called microbes. To make that happen, the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences doctoral student knows it’s crucial to improve how scientists and farmers communicate and work together to create science and policy that meets real farming needs. She saw this practice firsthand as part of a team of faculty, students and early career professionals from Penn State, Michigan State University, Texas A&M University, Stockholm Environment Institute and African institutions hosted in July by Makerere University in Uganda.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For doctoral student and agricultural educator Mia Sullivan, traveling to Uganda this past summer with Penn State’s Global Teach Ag Network will be the foundation for her studies and future career.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An often-overlooked water plant that can double its biomass in two days, capture nitrogen from the air — making it a valuable green fertilizer — and be fed to poultry and livestock could serve as life-saving food for humans in the event of a catastrophe or disaster, a new study led by Penn State researchers suggests.

Zilfa Irakoze, doctoral student in food science and INTAD, has been selected for the Ardeth and Norman Frisbey International Student Award in the graduate student category. These awards honor and recognize outstanding contributions to international understanding by graduate and undergraduate international students.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Eleven graduate students have been selected for the final round of the inaugural Penn State Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition including Auja Bywater, doctoral student in food science and INTAD, College of Agricultural Sciences, “Improving Food Safety: Exploring Bacterial Diversity in Hydroponic Farming”.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Three graduate students were honored on March 23 as award recipients in the final round of Penn State’s inaugural Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, held at the Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center.

We are proud of Lanre Shittu and Sarah Richards, two INTAD students who have received awards from the Graduate School

During its annual meeting on April 3, the Penn State chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, the agricultural honor society, honored faculty and students from the College of Agricultural Sciences - many of them affiliated with the INTAD dual-title degree program.

At the Global Gallery event in February 2024, INTAD students shared their thoughts and experiences about the INTAD dual-title. Hear firsthand how this program is shaping their academic and professional journeys.

The J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School at Penn State and Penn State Global have announced the awardees for the Fall 2024 Graduate Student International Travel Grants. Of 39 applications, seven were selected for $1,500 grants to assist them in presenting their research at international conferences outside the United States.