Citation
International focus. Vol. 15. No. 1.

Material Information

Title:
International focus. Vol. 15. No. 1.
Series Title:
International focus
Creator:
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida
Place of Publication:
Gainesville, Fla.
Publisher:
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida
Publication Date:
Language:
English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
University of Florida. ( LCSH )
City of Gainesville ( flgeo )
Hurricanes ( jstor )
Electronic learning ( jstor )
Agriculture ( jstor )
Genre:
serial ( sobekcm )
Spatial Coverage:
North America -- United States of America -- Florida

Record Information

Source Institution:
University of Florida
Holding Location:
University of Florida
Rights Management:
The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not claim any copyright interest in this item. This item may be protected by copyright but is made available here under a claim of fair use (17 U.S.C. §107) for non-profit research and educational purposes. Users of this work have responsibility for determining copyright status prior to reusing, publishing or reproducing this item for purposes other than what is allowed by fair use or other copyright exemptions. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder. The Smathers Libraries would like to learn more about this item and invite individuals or organizations to contact Digital Services (UFDC@uflib.ufl.edu) with any additional information they can provide.

Downloads

This item has the following downloads:


Full Text




Novem ber 2004 Vol. 15, No. il


International


UF/IFAS Intemational Programs * Office of the Vice President for Agriculture & Natural Resources * Gainesville, Florida 32611


Extension agents share hurricane

experiences in international forum
UF/IFAS in conjunction with the University of the Virgin Islands Cooperative Extension Service conducted a cross-cultural program on the impacts of the devastating 2004 hurricane season on Florida, several Caribbean countries and the island-nation of '1
Grenada.
Two UF/IFAS County Extension agents, Diana Converse, Hillsborough county family and consumer sciences, and Ken Gioeli, St. Lucie County Natural Resources, represented Florida and the United States during this international extension program focusing Diana Converse and Ken Gioeli visit on hurricanes. cocoa plantation in Grenada and ob


See Extension agents, p. 2


serve fruit damaged by a hurricane.


Brazilian Cochran Fellows tour Florida citrus sites


UF/IFAS hosted'10 USDA Cochran Fellows from Brazil in November, in citrus training sessions that focused on The training ini crop management, sions about the citrus diseases and international md international market- by the emerging ing issues. from countries .
The 1 1/2 week
training session "Citrus Partnership Development," hosted by Tom Spreen and Ron Muraro in food and resource


cl ch
ar
c su


nology, high-density planting, mechanical harvesting and other crop
management issues. uded discus- The training also folallenges to cused on the threat of keting posed diseases such as sudompetition den death, citrus varch as China. iegated chlorosis and
citrus canker.
The training included discussions
See Cochran Fellows, p. 2


echnology. Fortu- economics, was designed to improve UNIVERSITY OF
departments, soil understanding between citrus growers , and entomoogy, from Brazil and the United States F RLDA
tance education, p. 2 about topics such as the role of tech- IFAS Telephone: 352 392-1965 * FAX: 352 392-7127 Website: http://international.ifas.ufl.edu


or 3C Lj -;


November 2004


Vol. 15, No. 11


ta








Extension agents study i
From p. 1
This program was conducted the week of Nov. 15 in St. Georges, Grenada. Converse and Gioeli met with colleagues from other countries devastated during the 2004 hurricane season.
The goal of this program was to provide an opportunity for extension agents to share their knowledge of hurricane preparedness and post-hurricane rebuilding that will enable the extension systems in all participating countries to better serve their clientele.
Grenada, the program's host
country, was devastated by Hurricane Ivan before the hurricane slammed into the southern U.S. gulf coast. Reports indicate that nearly 90 percent of the buildings in Grenada were damaged by the storm.
Several other countries, including Haiti and Jamaica, experienced damage during this hurricane season.
Converse shared information about the aftermath of hurricanes on families in a seminar overview "Bouncing


impact of hurricanes

Back: How to Stay Resilient after a
Disaster." Stress management, water quality and food safety are examples
of the issues addressed during the
program.
Converse's home is on Florida's
west coast, which was damaged by
Hurricane Charlie this hurricane season.
Gioeli shared information about
the aftermath of the hurricanes on
natural systems and agriculture. He
also discussed St. Lucie County's Hurricane House - a structure designed to teach the public how to
construct homes to withstand hurricanes. Gioeli's home is on Florida's
east coast, which was damaged by
both hurricanes Frances and Jeanne.
He also assisted with Hurricane
Charlie relief efforts on Florida' s
west coast.
Contact
Ken Gioeli, ktg@ifas.ufl.edu;
Diana Converse,
dlconverse @ifas. ufl.edu


Cochran Fellows tour citrus production & research facilities


From p. 1
about the challenges to international marketing posed by the emerging competition from countries such as China.
Participants, who are from the
state of S�o Paulo, toured a processing plant, citrus growing operations, and two fresh citrus packinghouse.
They visited the Citrus Research and Education Center, Lake Alfred, the largest citrus research center in the world, where they received instructions from experts on a wide array of issues related to citrus production including rootstocks, irrigation, nutrition and pest control.
In a half-day course on the world citrus economy, they received updates on major markets for citrus


products, cost of production, logistics and trade issues.
The training included a visit to Florida Citrus Mutual, the largest grower organization in Florida, where participants gave their perspectives on citrus in Brazil through a seminar to the board of directors of the mutual.
The Brazilian participants expressed great appreciation for the hospitality of Florida growers and of the frank discussions during their visit.
The trip began with orientation by the USDA in Washington, D.C., Nov. 7, followed by the UF/IFAS training Nov. 10-21.
Contact
Tom Spreen, thspreen @ifas.ufl.edu; Ron Muraro, rpmuraro @ifas. ufl. edu


Focus









Poucher assists Zamorano in development of e-learning program


amorano University in Honduras,
close collaborator with UF/
IFAS, is developing an e-learning program with help from UF/IFAS Marketing & Communications Assistant Vice President Don Poucher.
Poucher, accompanied by Dave
King, executive director of the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System, presented a workshop at Zamorano in November on the development of an e-learning program. Poucher and King are directors of the American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC).
In their work in Zamorano, they serve as non-paid consultants. Their travel is funded by Zamorano.
During the three-day visit, the two worked with faculty and staff of Zamorano in the second of five planned workshops. This workshop focused on needs assessment for e-learning. Poucher and King conducted


workshop sessions on two
levels, technology application sessions with
faculty and
needs assess- Don Poucher, right, ment exercis- and Dave King at es with mem- Zamorano University. bers of Zamorano's High Level Design Team, a group appointed to develop Zamorano's e-learning guiding principles.
With the background and skills developed during this and future workshops, Zamorano faculty led by Antonio Flores, former academic dean and a UF graduate, will begin the development of an e-learning program.
The University of Florida and
Zamorano University have a history of faculty and student exchange, as well as a productive cooperative


Brathwaite to speak at York Distinguished Lecture C helston W. D. Brathwaite, sity and a diploma in agricultural dedirector general of Inter-Ameri- velopment with distinction from the can Institute for Cooperation on Agri- University of London. He is a senior culture (IICA), is sched- staff member of the IICA, having
uled to deliver the York served most recently as director of the
Distinguished Lecture Management Unit for the CoordinaSeries presentation tion of Regional Operations in San
March 30, 2005. Jose, Costa Rica.
Brathwaite's lecture, L His book on diagnosis of plant disentitled "Agriculture and Brathwaite ease, has been translated into Spanish Rural Life in the Americas in the 21st and used in colleges and universities Century," will be held in the Reitz in Latin America and the Caribbean. Union Rion Ballroom at 7 p.m. Contact
Brathwaite holds a doctorate in Don Poucher, info@ifas.uf.edu
plant pathology from Cornell UniverInternationalizing extension conference is Jan. 18-20


TPe Second National Conference to Internationalize Extension is scheduled for Jan. 18-20, 2005, in Orlando.
The Global Perspective II conference is hosted by UF/IFAS with help from Michigan State University and


CSREES-USDA.
More information is available at the website: http://www.msue.msu.edu/ intext/conference/registration.htm.
Contact
Pete Vergot, vergot@ifas.ufl.edu


agreement. An e-learning program at Zamorano would enhance opportunities for cooperation for students and faculty at UF/IFAS, Poucher said.
"One of the main reasons that I am involved is that we've had a long and productive relationship with Zamorano," Poucher said. "We want to increase the cooperation."
An e-learning program would help Zamorano University collaborate with other universities and enhance its outreach ability.
Zamorano President Ken Hoadley has appointed a committee to study the development of an e-learning program. Eventually production teams will train faculty in developing elearning teaching modules, student service programs, outreach modules and other applications.
Contact
( Don Poucher, info@ifas.ufl.edu

Mufoz-Carpena invited speaker
K afael Mufioz-Carpena, assistant
X rofessor at the Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, was an invited speaker at the VI International Congress of the Latin-American and Caribbean Society of Agriculture Engineers in San Jose.
Mufioz-Carpena was invited by
EARTH University to the international meeting Nov. 22-24, where he opened sessions on soil and water engineering. His presentation "Hydrology, water quality and agriculture: The case of South Florida" discussed how hydrology is a building stone in restoration around the Everglades.
This topic is of special interest to
colleagues in Latin America because it deals with the interaction between agriculture and the environment under tropical and subtropical conditions.
Contact
Rafael Mulioz-Carpena,
carpena@ufl.edu


November 2004 3


--






Office of International Programs University of Florida Office of the Vice President for Agriculture
and Natural Resources P.O. Box 110282 Gainesville, FL 32611-0282


MS DALE B CANELAS UNI LIBRA & DIR DIR-LIBRARIES PO BOX 117001 GAINESVILLE FL 32611-7001


Czarnecka-Verner seeks broad exchange with Polish university


Assistant research scientist Eva Czarnecka-Verner, graduate faculty, presented a seminar at the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznan, Poland, on the use of plants to detect explosives contaminating ground water and soil.
She presented the seminar "Engineering of sentinel plants that can de-. tect TNT" during her visit Nov. 8-23. Her preliminary research has focused on genetic engineering of plants so that they exhibit a change in plant phenotype such as variation in color when explosive compounds are absorbed through the plant root system. The color change could be detected by aerial satellite photography, eliminating the need to walk through dangerous areas to gather results.
Her research is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The use of plants to detect explosives could be useful in developing


countries where large quantities of land mines remain in the ground many years after military conflicts have ended.
Czarnecka-Verner seeks a broad exchange of information and students from University of Adam Mickiewicz, one of Poland's oldest and largest universities. She is developing a series of lectures during the next year entitled "Heat stress response in plants," which she plans to deliver in about a year at the University of Adam Mickiewicz as


an intensive course.
She also is working on an exchange program so that graduate students at both universities could take courses on the exchange campus and enroll in internships.
Heat stress in plants is the centerpiece of Czarnecka-Verner's lifelong research, and the University of Adam


Eva Czarnecka-Verner, UF/IFAS, left, meets with Dean professor Andrzej Lesicki, faculty of biology, center, and professor Zofia Szweykowska-Kulinska, director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, both from Adam Mickiewicz University.


Mickiewicz is considering awarding her a professorship in biological sciences, a nomination that would recognize her accomplishments and also enhance the link between UF/IFAS and the Polish university.
Contact
Eva Czamecka- Verner,
c evaczar@ufl.edu