02-26-04

IOWA STATE RECEIVES GRANT TO PARTNER WITH INDIAN UNIVERSITY

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University has been awarded a $299,000 three-year grant from the United States Agency forInternational Development (USAID) to collaborate with the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore,India.

Professors from the two universities will work together in the areas of agricultural sustainability, economic policiesand higher education. Iowa State is one of six U.S. universities chosen for these grants and partnerships with Indianinstitutions. The other five include Cornell University, Ohio State University, Michigan State University, PurdueUniversity and University of California, Davis.

The USAID project revives a higher education relationship between India and the United States that dates back to the1950s, according to Ramesh Kanwar, professor and chair of agricultural and biosystems engineering and coordinator ofthe ISU partnership. At that time, USAID helped India establish several agricultural universities, using as a model theU.S. land-grant mission of teaching, research and extension. The Indian universities were instrumental in helping theircountry achieve self-sufficiency in grain production and exportation.

"At that time, there was a tremendous synergy between our countries' academic communities," said Kanwar, who is agraduate of Punjab Agricultural University, one of India's original "land-grant" schools established by Ohio StateUniversity. "But since the early1970s, relationships between the U.S. and Indian agricultural universities were more orless broken, and India's educational institutions have been rather isolated."

Because Iowa State was not one of the original 1950s partners and because the grant was highly competitive, Kanwar saidhe was surprised but pleased that Iowa State has received the USAID funding. Iowa State has been increasingly visiblein India the past five years in a higher education project with the World Bank, involving about 25 ISU facultymembers.

The USAID cross-disciplinary project will include Iowa State faculty members Bob Jolly, professor of economics; RicardoSalvador, associate professor of agronomy; and David Acker, assistant dean of international agricultural programs. Theywill study marketing and trade policies, sustainable food systems and sustainable soil and water practices. They alsowill make recommendations on how the Bangalore university can strengthen its curriculum, research and outreach.

"To enter a global marketplace, India must expand its scientific base and make reforms in its agricultural policies,"Kanwar said. "We plan to learn from each other in several areas of sciences and engineering."

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