Academics

Agricultural Sciences student research highlighted in virtual Global Gallery

The third annual Global Gallery, a symposium hosted by the international agriculture and development dual-title graduate program, will take place over three Fridays this month.  Credit: Pexels. All Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — 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.

Due to the pandemic, this year’s conference will be held virtually from 10:30 a.m. until noon over three Fridays — March 12, 19 and 26. The programs are open to all internationally engaged students, faculty and staff at Penn State.

“The goal is to provide a safe space to present interdisciplinary research that our students have been working on, while offering them a chance to practice their presentation and public speaking skills,” said Melanie Miller-Foster, assistant professor of international agriculture in the Office of International Programs.

She explained that the INTAD dual-title degree provides students with international perspectives and expertise to strengthen their primary graduate degree. Graduate programs participating include rural sociology, agricultural and extension education, agricultural and biological engineering, biorenewable systems, ecology, plant pathology, soil science, entomology, horticulture, agricultural and environmental plant science, food science, and forest resources.

The centerpiece of the Global Gallery is student poster presentations, which showcase research designed to find long-term solutions to problems such as food insecurity, poverty, public health and human rights.

An alumni panel featuring former students Kristal Jones, Freddy Arturo Magdama Tobar, Sarah Eissler and Christian Man also is planned.

Jones co-owns a research consulting firm, JG Research and Evaluation, which has state, federal and nongovernmental clients and focuses on providing information to improve public health, social service provision and food systems. Previously, she worked as a research scientist at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center at the University of Maryland.

Magdama Tobar is an associate professor in the College of Life Sciences at Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, a public university in Guayaquil, Guayas Province, in Ecuador. He also is the head of the plant pathology department and research coordinator at the Biotechnology Research Center of Ecuador.

Eissler is a consultant on research and evaluation projects that focus on women’s empowerment, data use, agriculture, food security, nutrition, climate change and environment. Her clients include the International Food Policy Research Institute and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Man is deputy coordinator of the Just Rural Transition’s Policy Action Coalition, which aims to build momentum for repurposing agricultural policy to better align with the Paris Agreement and the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. He serves as an adjunct fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Global Food Security Program.

More information about the schedule, speaker biographies and registration can be found at the Global Gallery website at sites.psu.edu/3rdglobalgallery/. Questions can be directed to Alfredo Reyes, student association president, at far5137@psu.edu.

Last Updated March 2, 2021

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