the big idea
the big idea
Global partnerships
The College of Agriculture develops collaborations with partners around the world through International Programs in Agriculture, ongoing research with academic mentors, shared interests and expertise discovered at conferences or via colleagues, global fellowships and so on. Given our wide reach, it’s impossible to feature all of our partnerships in this issue.
Here we share where in the world you could find some of our 2023–2024 Fulbright recipients, including a student Fulbright Scholarship winner.
And would it even be a Purdue publication if we didn’t extend from Earth to outer space? Read about the latest agricultural experiment destined for the International Space Station.
Denise Caldwell and Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS)
Growing plants in space
Caldwell, PhD candidate, and Iyer-Pascuzzi, professor of botany and plant pathology, are researching how the plant immune system functions in space. A fungal plant pathogen has already been found on the ISS, but pesticide application would be dangerous in that environment. Understanding how the plant immune system operates under the pressures of spaceflight will help NASA understand how to avoid or fight microbial infection and protect the yield of plants grown for sustenance in space.
Steve Lindemann
TÜRKIYE | Gut microbiome research
Lindemann, Philip E. Nelson Endowed Chair in Food Science, was a 2023 Fulbright Specialist in Konya, Türkiye, at Necmettin Erbakan University, helping develop curriculum for Turkish students to understand and analyze microbial communities. The trip also inspired his own research questions on how gut microbiome and food interactions differ around the world, based on different plants, diets and food preparation.
Kwamena Quagrainie
GHANA | Aquaculture
Quagrainie, clinical engagement professor of agricultural economics and forestry and natural resources and affiliate of the Illinois–Indiana Sea Grant program, was a 2023 Fulbright Specialist in Kumasi, Ghana. He trained faculty and graduate students at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology on the economics of aquaculture. This knowledge exchange is the basis for other partnerships that will benefit all participants, as Quagrainie is also part of a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to increase Midwest seafood production.
Cade Kane
AUSTRALIA | Plant adaptation to climate change
Cade Kane (PhD ’23, botany and plant pathology) received a Fulbright Future Scholarship from Fulbright Australia to study at the University of Tasmania. He studied leaf senescence, or color change, in urban deciduous tree species in Tasmania’s warmer climate, looking for clues to how climate change will affect the same species in Indiana.
Dharmendra Saraswat
INDIA | Digital agriculture
Saraswat, associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering, is spending six months of the 2023–24 academic year at his alma mater, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi, as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar. He’s collaborating with scientists there to develop a data workflow for an early warning rice disease forecasting system and assisting with curriculum design of spatial data-science courses.
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