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Gender and Ethnicity on Nicaragua’s Mosquito Coast Published: Thursday, 26 Apr 2012A team of researchers from MSU was recently awarded a grant from the NSF Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems program to study the impact of a new road connecting Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, with Pearl Lagoon, a previously remote area of the country. The study will monitor the flow of people, technology and markets, along with the resulting impacts on the natural systems in which the people reside.
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Sustainable Community Development Activities Begin in Tanzania Published: Thursday, 26 Apr 2012The MSU-based Partnerships for Sustainable Community Development program is an alliance of local and international organizations working together to make communities more sustainable in their health, education, economic and general well being. Several MSU colleges are involved, as the initiative was designed to take an interdisciplinary, holistic approach to addressing community sustainability issues. The Center for Advanced Study of International Development (CASID), a joint initiative be
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Sri Lanka Working with MSU to Rebuild Published: Monday, 23 Apr 2012This past spring, a Sri Lankan delegation of academic officials consisting of two vice chancellors and a former dean from three universities and an executive director of agriculture who also represents the University Grants Commission visited Michigan State University in hopes of furthering higher education partnerships and creating a path toward rapid development in Sri Lanka.
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Spartans VS. Mosquitoes: MSU Researchers Battle Mosquito Borne Virus Published: Monday, 23 Apr 2012Severe headache, intense pain behind the eyes, muscle and bone pain, joint pain, high fever, rash and mild bleeding of the nose or gums are all symptoms of dengue fever, leaving little doubt as to why the disease is also known as break-bone fever and bone crusher disease.
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Fighting Malaria in Southern Africa Published: Monday, 23 Apr 2012In Africa the journey toward improved health care is long and difficult. The problems begin early in life, with Africa’s infant mortality rate being ten times higher than the average rate for developed countries, and continue throughout life, with risks of life-threatening diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The lack of diagnostic equipment compounds the challenges.
Yet there is hope for improved health care in a hospital in Malawi, located in southeast A
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MSU Researchers Study Importance of Increasing Vitamin A in Corn Published: Monday, 23 Apr 2012A Michigan State University researcher is among a team of scientists that has uncovered the mechanism by which the amount of beta-carotene, or provitamin A, is increased in corn, a finding that can help combat vitamin A deficiency and improve human health in the developing world.
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Building a Science and Technology Bridge to a Brighter Future Published: Monday, 23 Apr 2012Karim Maredia, a professor of entomology at Michigan State University, has earned a reputation for his ability to utilize new science and technology to bridge the gap between the healthiest, wealthiest nations and developing nations.
For instance, with many African nations struggling with food and nutritional security issues, MSU’s World Technology Access Program (WorldTAP) and Maredia, as WorldTAP’s director, were called upon to help address the problem through a bi
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MSU, African Educators Expand Agricultural Education Published: Monday, 23 Apr 2012Michigan State University researchers are using a $1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help African educators develop free and open access to agriculture education material, which they hope could improve agricultural practices and contribute to a sustainable economy.
AgShare Open Education Resources is an 18-month pilot project that will enable African educational institutions to create a virtual hub of resources and curriculum for Master of Science d
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Spartans Spring into Action to Aid East African Farmers Published: Monday, 23 Apr 2012Devastating droughts in East Africa are not new. However, since the 1980s, villagers have noticed changes in the rainy seasons. Year by year, erratic rainfall has led to more failed harvests. In the past 10 years, droughts have started to occur more frequently — every 3 or 4 years. Meanwhile, temperatures have been rising, and crops and forage plants are drying out faster. The combination of warming temperatures and unreliable rainfall is spelling disaster for the region’s farm
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Malawi Partnerships Encourage Innovation Published: Monday, 23 Apr 2012Sieglinde Snapp, an associate professor of Crop and Soil Sciences with MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, is putting the university’s strong agricultural heritage to work in Malawi in southern Africa.
A Fulbright scholar in Diversity Dimensions of Healthy Agroecosystems, Snapp sees the ongoing communication and cooperation between biological and social scientists, as well as local farmers, as key in developing new innovations in sustainable farming t
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MSU Leads Global Effort to Study Link Between People, Planet Published: Monday, 23 Apr 2012Hundreds of scientists from around the world are involved in a new initiative at Michigan State University to improve cutting-edge research on the increasingly fragile relationship between humans and the environment.
The National Science Foundation recognized this research as a priority and has selected MSU to lead the effort, called the International Network of Research on Coupled Human and Natural Systems, or CHANS-net. The NSF is supporting the project with a $1.5 million, fi
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Study Says Brazil’s Policies Protect the Amazon Published: Monday, 23 Apr 2012Brazil’s policy of protecting portions of the Amazonian forest from development is capable of buffering the Amazon from climate change, according to a new study led by Michigan State University researcher Robert Walker, professor of geography.
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Farmers more likely to be green if they talk to their neighbors Published: Friday, 20 Apr 2012MSU researchers find that farmers are more likely to reenroll their land in a conservation program if they talk to their neighbors about it.
Scientists from MSU’s Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability used a simulation model to study the amount of land farmers in the Wolong Nature Reserve in southwestern China reenrolled in the Grain-to-Green Program (GTGP), which aims to reduce soil erosion by converting sloping cropland to forest or grassland. Farmers receive
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Uncovering the Secrets to Better Medicine in Costa Rica Published: Friday, 20 Apr 2012Costa Rica’s average life expectancy and infant mortality rates are virtually identical to that of the United States. Assistant Professor C. Patricia Obando, Director of Medical Education in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology in the College of Human Medicine, hopes to share the secrets of her home country’s health care success via a unique exchange program.
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Brazil Trip Immerses Med Students in Tropical Medicine Published: Friday, 20 Apr 2012Aboard a traveling hospital on the Amazon River, a group of Michigan State University medical students had a lesson in tropical medicine, working with patients suffering from parasitic infections, malnutrition and malaria.
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China’s Agricultural Development at a Crossroads Published: Friday, 20 Apr 2012New research conducted by Michigan State University, Renmin University and Landesa shows China is at a crossroads in its agriculture development. As a result, MSU researchers suggest that China should protect land rights of all farm families and restrict corporate farming if it wants to close the income gap between cities and countryside.
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MSU Experts Tapped for Project in Senegal Published: Friday, 20 Apr 2012Researchers at MSU and four partnering institutions in the U.S. will use a $28 million, five year grant from USAID to bolster agricultural education and research systems in Senegal, in hopes of increasing food supply and improving nutrition.
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MSU Strengthens Partnerships in Brazil Published: Friday, 20 Apr 2012In a move designed to strengthen research collaborations and educational resources, Michigan State University, Federal University of Para (Universidade Federal do Pará), Federal University of Bahia (Universidade Federal da Bahia) and University of São Paulo have joined to launch The Brazil Partnership Program.
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Three- it might be a magic number for development Published: Thursday, 19 Apr 2012Helping a developing African nation reduce hunger and create economic opportunity is a job for not one— or even two—but three equal partners. Michigan State University’s Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics is a key part of a unique triad working to improve agriculture and food security in Mozambique.
Specialists from the U.S. and Brazil joined forces with Mozambique’s Ministry of Agriculture and its National Agricultural Research Insti
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Naoko Wake Wins John K. Hudzik Emerging Leader Award for Advancing International Studies and Progra Published: Thursday, 19 Apr 2012On Wednesday, March 21 the 2012 International Awards Ceremony was held where Naoko Wake won the John K. Hudzik Emerging Leader Award for Advancing International Studies and Programs at MSU.
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