Visitors and Events

First Maymester Course Gets Big Thumbs-Up

By Jamie Creamer
If faculty members got gigantic bonuses based on students’ ratings of their classes, agronomy and soils professor David Weaver could retire comfortably, because for the plant genetics and crop improvement crash course he taught in early summer, every single College of Ag graduate student in the class puts it at 11 on a scale of 10.
That Weaver was teaching the Auburn students his AGRN 5100/6100 course in a classroom on the Yangling campus of China’s Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, however, might have something to do with that off-the-chart rating. READ MORE

China Ocean University Visitors

OUC Vice President Dong Shuanglin and several colleagues came to review graduate student training and the progress of CSC students at Auburn in August, 2009. At present China Scholarship Council graduate students from OUC receive admission reflecting the several levels of selection that they receive by their home institution and AU Graduate School representatives in China. Future programs between OCU and AU may feature true joint degrees where doctoral students take courses and have committee members at both institutions and receive a third, joint diploma; dual degrees where students receive the Ph.D. from both AU and OUC; and the current option of the traditional AU degree with specialized program admission. Eleven new students will complement last year's ten students, enrolling in Ph.D. programs in about six different AU departments.

China Agricultural University Visitors to NSDL

A Chinese delegation will be visiting the USDA-National Soil Dynamics Laboratory Auburn to learn about conservation agricultural systems. This delegation is from the Conservation Tillage Research Center (CTRC), founded by Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) in the College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, and is the only institute in China that is specially doing research, machinery development, training and technical service on conservation tillage. They arrived in Auburn on Monday morning (October 6) and departed Wednesday (October 8).

Contact: Randy Raper 844-4654

Li Wenying Associate Professor, China Agricultural University
Zhang Xuemin Associate Professor, China Agricultural University
He Jin Lecturer, China Agricultural University

Chinese Kiwi Researchers

Visitors from the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences of China, Institute of Fruit & Tea are signing an agreement to license Kiwi plant varieties to AU for development and marketing.

President Zuqiang Feng, Director & Professor
Chunhai Jiao, Director & Associate Professor
Hongyoun Cao, Professor & Deputy Director
Zhongqi Qin, Team Leader Qinghong Chen

Visit to Auburn University, College of Agriculture
Department of Horticulture

Wednesday 8 October to Friday 10 October

Contact: Dr. Billy Dozier

Orr Study Tour to Italy

The Horticulture Department organized a Henry P. Orr International Study Tour for horticulture majors to Northern Italy gardens and farms in May 2009.The students had a rich experience and their pictures can be reviewed on the departmental web site.

Contact: Dr. Joe Eakes.

Chinese Organic Culture Researchers

A five-person delegation from the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences visitsed Auburn University for 8 days during October 2008.

The objectives of the trip are:

To determine the current status of organic culture research and application, especially the bio-technologies of organic cultivation;
To visit some facilities for organic culture;
To establish a cooperative research relationship on organic culture and bio-technology between Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences and College of Agriculture, Auburn University.

The members of the delegation that we will expect to host in Auburn are the following:

Xianlu Cheng, Vice Dean of Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences;
Guojin Wang, Director, Division of International Cooperation, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences;
Jianhua Liu,Director, Institute of Plant and Environment Protection, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences;
Yuanxin Li, Professor, Beijing Vegetable Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences;
Kaicun Zhang, Professor, Institute of Forestry and Pomology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences.

African Women in Science Borlaug Fellows

September 8 to October 15, 2008.

Angela Faria (Mozambique- Curtis Jolly)
Felicidad Massingue (Mozambique- Jim Hairston)
Sera Gondwe (Malawi-Valentina Hartaska)
Naoume Habou (Niger - Edzard van Santen)

As part of the program planning and implementation, Auburn University’s College of Agriculture will:

Match the Fellows with faculty mentors to establish research collaboration opportunities (see attached list of mentors).
Ensure the robustness of the research collaboration and the overall Auburn University experience through regular communication and regular meetings with the Coordinator.
Introduce the Fellows to other possible long-term collaborators at Auburn University.
Enroll the Fellows in appropriate and relevant conferences and short courses.
Accompany the Fellows on appropriate and relevant site visits and field trips.
Provide professional development and public speaking opportunities to share expertise with Auburn University faculty.
Accompany the Fellows to Des Moines, Iowa to attend and participate in the 2008 Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium.

Contact: J. Molnar 844-5615

Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Shandong Province

OUC Vice President Dong Shuanglin visited Auburn University during 17-18 July 2008 to discuss joint master programs and Ph. D programs.

The delegation included: Prof. Dong Shuanglin, Vice President of OUC

Prof. Quan Xijian, Dean of College of Management, OUC
Prof. Xu Xiangmin, Dean of College of Law and Political Science,
OUC Prof. Dai Guilin, Deputy Dean of College of Economics,
OUC Ms. Zhao Jing (Summer), Program Director of International Office, OUC

USDA/FAS/Cochran Program U.S. Study Tour

January 5 - 19, 2008 Chinese Aquatic Policy Development Fellows

Yue Yu,
Fanming Kong,
Shaoping Gu,
Gang Wang,
Feng Li

Yifen Wang, Auburn University Campus Program

Rick Wallace, Gulf Coast Program

John Grover, Tour Escort