Category: Education

Tilden Remerleitch, a recent geography graduate at UVM, spent two years of her childhood living in Ecuador—her family moved there to pursue the dream of living and working abroad while exposing their daughter to a second language.  Since that experience, she’s travelled to many places and relishes communicating with the people she meets in their native language—she’s already fluent in Spanish and Mandarin. 

There will be many more destinations in store for Remerleitch, but her life has already come full circle. This month she heads back to Ecuador, this time as a recipient of the National Geographic Society’s Early Career Grant. 

The grant funds her community-based research on how natural disasters, climate change and resource extraction in Ecuador alter the complex relationships between people and place. At the same time she will be contributing her GIS mapping skills for Ecuadorian NGOs working with internally displaced populations in three eco-zones: the highlands, the Pacific coast and the Amazon River basin.

A 2016 earthquake of 7.8 magnitude on Ecuador’s coast affected 240,000 people, many of whom still do not have permanent housing, according to Remerleitch. Climate change is speeding glacial melt in the highlands and threatening water shortages in major cities including Quito. Extractive industries in the Amazon region are displacing indigenous populations from their ancestral lands. 

“In this era of forced migration and displacement globally, Ecuador is a really compelling microcosm of these global trends,” Remerleitch said.

Her research uses the cultural geography lens to examine two primary research questions: how is home and livelihood imagined and re-imagined? And, what is displacement’s effect on people’s emotional, economic and spiritual relationship to the environment?

Given climate irregularity, fresh water shortages and the predicted rise in forced migration, she hopes this research can help inform a plan to lessen the conflicts, contribute to prevention efforts and document solutions.

Meeting the People Behind the Maps

As a high school student in southern Vermont, Remerleitch knew she wanted to learn more about the world. She beat a path to the door of Pablo Bose, professor of geography and director of the Global Studies Program at UVM.

“I reached out to Pablo the summer before my freshman year, on the heels of a gap year learning Chinese in Shanghai on the National Security Language Initiative-Youth program,” she said. “I was looking for a mentor for a small research grant opportunity from the State Department using my Chinese, so I sent him an email. Incredibly, he wrote me back and invited me for a visit to campus. With his help and expertise on global megacities, I landed the grant and set about researching the impact of Mega-cities in China by interviewing UVM students from China my freshman year.”

That began a four-year collaboration during which Remerleitch worked as Bose’s research assistant studying refugee resettlement in small and mid-sized cities including Burlington.

Remerleitch created GIS maps and compiled statistics about Vermont refugees—she was gratified to apply skills she was learning in the classroom to real-world research. But by her senior year, she had developed a deep curiosity about the untold personal stories of displaced people who lived in her backyard. “I wanted to meet the people behind the maps,” she said.

Although she had little experience as a journalist, she produced a six-episode podcast called “Grounded” for her senior honors thesis project. The program features stories of resettlement in the state, with interviews of local refugees, people who serve the needs of refugees through agencies like the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, and fellow UVM students interested in making a difference in the lives of newcomers who often live “hidden in plain sight.”

“Immigrants are people who choose to come here. Refugees come here because they have nowhere else to go,” Remerleitch explains. “Only 1% of displaced people are actually considered for refugee status in US. It’s a very lengthy process and it’s not easy. Applicants have to prove that returning to their home country will be dangerous for them.”

Back to Ecuador

After graduation, Remerleitch was determined to get back to Ecuador, and she began writing to NGOs and applying for grants. The National Geographic Society Early Career Grant funds her activities for the next academic year, and utilizes all the skills she sharpened at UVM. She’ll be using innovative Participatory Action Research (PAR) methods including diagramming, mapping, and Photo-voice to produce a new podcast that she plans to make available next year in English and Spanish.  

While Remerleitch’s own travels have stemmed from her natural curiosity and sense of adventure, she understands refugees are on the move because they are fleeing political or natural catastrophe. Her work is driven by gaining a deeper understanding of the refugee crisis around the globe (she says that 65.6 million people around the world have been forced from home in 2016, according to UNHCR statistics) while faithfully recording the testimony of people affected by catastrophe. 

“My plan in Ecuador is to host workshops for participants to develop their own stories and help them share their experiences with a wider audience,” Remerleitch explained. “I don’t want to lose sight of individual lives that are impacted.”

Finding Mentors, Finding Funding

Remerleitch found a faculty member, Dr. Pablo Bose, as a mentor and research supervisor early in her academic career. Bose and UVM professors in the geography, anthropology and Chinese departments wrote recommendation letters for her grant applications under tight deadlines. She also found her way to the UVM Office of Fellowships, Opportunities, and Undergraduate Research (FOUR). 

“I really became best friends with them,” said Tilden. “I would advise any student to connect with FOUR because they have so many resources, information sessions, and talks with past students who come back to campus to talk about their experiences.” 

Staff at FOUR are dedicated to helping students develop a background in research at UVM, a key credential for success in graduate school and the working world. They also help students and alumni work through the process of identifying and applying for nationally competitive fellowships from the Carnegie Endowment, the National Science Foundation and the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, among many other options.

These fellowships often provide thousands of dollars in funding along with a priceless educational opportunity that provides stimulating intellectual challenge. Remerleitch used most facets of the FOUR offerings; she received funding for her undergraduate research, presented at the UVM Student Research Conference, and worked with the office to transition her thesis research into fellowships applications.

FOUR also helped Remerleitch secure the National Geographic Grant to help fund her research in Ecuador. Remerleitch was surprised to get a call from Katie Alexander, fellowships advisor at FOUR, offering support on future fellowship applications.

“I had just graduated so I was mentally putting my UVM experience in the rear-view mirror,” Remerleitch said. “But FOUR helps you out even after you graduate. I’m applying for a graduate school scholarship they brought to my attention, which would happen after my National Geographic Society Explorer year.”

“We’re available to help students brainstorm new opportunities,” said Alexander. “Very often their interests and aspirations change, even after graduation. We’re there for current students, but also for graduates looking for new challenges.”

 

 

 

Source: UVM News

Over the years, the Billings Library, the University of Vermont’s most architecturally important building, has been home to a variety of university functions, some more suited to the cathedral-like grandeur of its interior than others.  

Designed by H. H. Richardson, the great 19th American architect, the building began life in 1885 as the university’s library.

In 1961, with demand for its services far exceeding Billings’ capacity, the university built a large new library and, in 1963, converted Billings’ somber interior space to an unlikely – and as time went on, lightly used – student center.

In 2007 a much-needed modern student center opened on the UVM campus, and Billings became a sublime setting for a series of mostly everyday lectures, meetings and campus events.

Thanks to a recently completed $11.4 million renovation, Billings will again house university departments whose academic import match its majestic design.

UVM Libraries’ Special Collections department took up residence in August, returning the building to its roots as a library. In September the Miller Center for Holocaust Studies, the UVM Humanities Center and the Center for Research on Vermont moved into their new offices on the fourth floor of the building.

 “The co-location of these important areas of scholarship will make Billings one of the most vital academic and intellectual centers on the UVM campus, as it once was,” said UVM president Tom Sullivan. “It is heartening to see this architectural masterpiece returned  to it its former glory.” 

Philanthopy key to original Billings – and to the renovation

The original Billings Library was financed through a philanthropic gift from railroad magnate and UVM alumnus Frederick Billings.

The renovation, launched in June 2017 and completed this past summer, has also been made possible by philanthropy.

Among the most important gifts was the first, in 2006, a $5 million gift  from the late Leonard (’51) and Carolyn Miller to establish a holocaust studies center at UVM to honor and expand the legacy of Raul Hilberg, the late UVM political science professor and renowned holocaust scholar.

Of the total, $3 million went toward the Billings renovation, where the center – called the Carolyn and Leonard Miller Center for Holocaust Studies – would  be permanently located. The remainder was set aside for endowed professorships in holocaust studies.

“The Miller family’s gift puts valuable endowment funds into place for  UVM’s  Holocaust Studies Center. The Miller Center, which has a worldwide reputation, is one of the most significant scholarly enterprises at the university. The gift also sparked the Billings renovation,” Sullivan said. “For both reasons, we are eternally grateful to the family for its generosity.”

A $3 million gift from Jack (’64) and Shirley Silver was also critical to the Billings Library renovation, giving considerable  momentum to the project.   

“Jack and Shirley were far sighted in their inspiring support of this important campaign priority. We are deeply appreciative to them for so significantly enhancing this vital part of the university.”

Jack Silver quote.

In honor of the Silvers, the collection has been named the Jack and Shirley Silver Special Collections Library.

A gift of $1 million was made to the renovation by Richard [’63] and Pamela Ader, who appreciated the architectural significance of the building and the many purposes the renovated Billings Library would serve. Additional gifts totaling $1.5 million from approximately 200 donors rounded out the $8.5 million in private support for the project.

Tens of thousands of items

This has been a busy summer for Special Collections staff.

From mid-July to mid-August, staff oversaw the transport of tens of thousands of rare books, manuscripts, maps, photographs and documents, moved via truck in carefully packed boxes and foam-lined carts from Special Collections’ former location in the basement of Bailey-Howe Library to the second floor of Billings, where temperature- and humidity-controlled stacks had been built in an area formerly occupied by a dining hall.

The new location will significantly enhance Special Collections’ contribution to the academic life of the university, said Jeff Marshall, director of the Silver Special Collections Library.

“Housing these materials in one of UVM’s premier buildings at the center of campus demonstrates the value the university places on Special Collections and will raise awareness of our holdings among faculty, students and the outside community,” he said.

There are practical benefits, as well, he said. “We have improved security and climate control, as well as work spaces that are much more inviting and comfortable for both visitors and staff.”

The renovation also fits the moment in higher education: special collections are playing an increasingly large role in undergraduate education nationally.

To facilitate the use of special collections materials in teaching, the renovated Billings will feature two dedicated, technology-enabled classrooms, a large one in the Marsh Room on the third floor and a smaller one on the second, both major improvements over the former space, where classes were held in the middle of the reading room.

“Collaborating with faculty to give students access to primary source materials – from manuscripts to maps to blueprints – has become a central strategy for engaging students in disciplines ranging from the humanities, social science and the arts to science, math and engineering,” said Prudence Doherty, special collections librarian. “The new classrooms will greatly enhance our ability to deliver this kind of teaching.”   

The classrooms will also be used for public events and presentations sponsored by the Silver Special Collections Library.

Also following national trends, the Billings renovation contains two dedicated display areas – in the apse on the third floor and in an area outside the central reading room on the second – to draw in students and the university community and engage them in Special Collections’ holdings. 

Billing’s North Lounge will also see a return to its past. The space will become a reading/study room, as it was in the original library, with long tables, comfortable chairs and nooks for private study along the walls.

The co-location of the Miller Center for Holocaust Studies, the Center for Research on Vermont and the Humanities Center in Billings, makes the building a “powerful nexus for the humanities on the UVM campus,” Sullivan said.

“The centers have a vital role to play in and of themselves,” he said. “In addition, we expect that the co-location with the Silver Special Collections Library will amplify their impact by enabling closer collaboration and synergy, both among the centers and with Special Collections.”

Source: UVM News

Sanjay Sharma, dean of the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business, has been named the 2018 Fetner Sustainable Enterprise Fellow. 

The prestigious research fellowship is made annually to a leading international academic scholar in sustainable enterprise. The fellowship program is a joint initiative of the Sustainable Enterprise Partnership of the Syracuse University Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University’s L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Sciences, the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and the Syracuse University Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems.

Fetner Fellows participate in a three-day residency, delivering a series of research lectures to faculty and graduate students at the Whitman School, L.C. Smith College and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

A Fulbright Scholar with extensive experience in the private sector, Sharma has expertise in corporate environmental strategy, corporate sustainability, competitive strategy, stakeholder engagement and organizational innovation. He has written and co-edited nine books on corporate sustainability and has won several prestigious awards for his research, including the Academy of Management ONE Division’s Distinguished Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

His latest books include “Competing for a Sustainable World: Building Capacity for Sustainable Innovation,” written for scholars and practitioners, which was the runner-up for the best book at the 2015 annual awards of the ONE division of the Academy of Management, and “Patient Capital: The Role of Family Business in Sustainability,” a research monograph in publication with the Cambridge University Press and due for release in 2019.

His research has been widely published in top management journals including the Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Executive, Strategic Management Journal and Journal of Marketing.

A year after coming to UVM in 2011, Sharma and his leadership team launched a new MBA program focused on sustainable enterprise now called the Sustainable Innovation MBA. The program was ranked the #1 Green MBA program by the Princeton Review in 2017 and #8 in the world in Corporate Knights Better World’s MBA rankings in 2017. He has also led the revamping of the Grossman School’s undergraduate curriculum, adding sustainable business as a theme, and has overseen a 23 percent improvement in selectivity while substantially increasing enrollments and academic quality. He raised donor funding for the privately funded Ifshin Hall expansion that opened in July 2018 and will be formally dedicated on October 4.

Sharma’s residency will take place September 26-29. 

Source: UVM News

Today, the Gund Institute for Environment announced its inaugural research themes – focusing on interactions among four global environmental challenges.

The University of Vermont-wide institute will target environmental issues at the interface of four research themes: climate solutions, health and well-being, sustainable agriculture, and resilient communities.

“Global environmental challenges are deeply connected,” says Taylor Ricketts, Director of the Gund Institute for Environment. “By focusing on interactions among these grand challenges, the Gund Institute will generate powerful research questions, drive innovation, and accelerate solutions for the planet and for people.”

Connecting to global priorities

By design, the new themes echo several Sustainable Development Goals agreed on by the United Nations. This will connect UVM and Gund scholars to a global set of priorities, increasing opportunities for research to impact policy. 

All major Gund activities will reflect the themes, including Gund Catalyst Awards (seed grants), Fellows’ and Affiliates’ membership, student and researcher recruitment, and events. For example, the Institute currently seeks 2018 Catalyst Awards proposals for environmental research addressing at least two of the new themes.

Leveraging UVM strengths

Today’s announcement follows a year of campus-wide consultations. More than 250 UVM faculty, leaders, students and staff participated, including the Gund Steering Committee and nearly all Gund Fellows and UVM Affiliates. Consultations involved surveys, events and meetings to identify the strengths and interests of UVM scholars pursuing collaborative research on environmental issues. 

“These themes quickly emerged as worldwide challenges that match UVM strengths and can harness the talents of scholars across campus,” says UVM Provost and Senior Vice President David Rosowsky. “Focusing on interactions among urgent issues is central to the Gund Institute’s DNA, and positions UVM to make novel and powerful contributions to global efforts.”

To tackle these themes, Institute scholars will deploy a range of internationally recognized Gund strengths, including ecological economics, ecosystem services, complex systems, remote sensing, renewable energy systems, agroecology, and others.

Achievements and opportunities

Thanks to a $6-million gift, the Gund Institute was re-launched in 2017 with a mandate to select strategic research themes by Year Three to focus its efforts. With today’s announcement, only one year after launch, the Institute has reached that key milestone.

Since last year, the Institute has distributed nearly $250,000 in Catalyst Awards seeds grants to UVM research teams, doubled the number of Fellows and Affiliates – which now hail from six UVM colleges and 14 departments, as well as institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, Cambridge and WWF – and published major studies in top journals.

Gund 2018-19 highlights will include: new Gund Fellows and Affiliates (Sept. 5), Catalyst Award seed grants (Oct. 11 deadline), recruiting for PhD and Postdoctoral positions, the new Leadership for Ecozoic PhD program, and events including The Feverish World symposium (Oct. 20-22), and the 4^th annual Gund Research Slam.

The Gund Institute seeks to catalyze environmental research, connect UVM with society’s leaders, and develop real-world solutions to critical issues. 

Source: UVM News

Talk about the challenges of scientific study: Kate Rubins had to conduct her biomedical and gene-sequencing experiments without many of the basic laboratory necessities – including gravity.

She’s a NASA astronaut who flew on Expedition 48/49 to the International Space Station in 2016, spending 115 days there with five other crew members.  Rubins became the first person to sequence DNA in space and helped conduct hundreds of other biological studies, collecting reams of data.

Last week, she came to a somewhat less remote location at the Grand Isle Lake House on Lake Champlain in Grand Isle, Vt., for the annual retreat of University of Vermont doctoral students in the Neuroscience Graduate Program and the Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences program. A group of students from both programs invited Rubins to talk about her scientific experiences in space and the transfer of her skills in microbiology and virology to an unusual field of work.

With her science pedigree and atypical job, Rubins shows the Ph.D. candidates “the breadth of areas you could go with your science,” said Cynthia Forehand, dean of the UVM Graduate College, after Rubins’ talk.

“We’re encouraged to explore alternative options beyond academia,” said Emily Whitaker, a third-year CMB student who helped arrange Rubins’ visit. “Hearing people like Kate come speak to us, it just opens a whole field of opportunities for where we can go.”

An academic career remains the goal for many graduate students, but the number of funded faculty positions is shrinking, along with federal research budgets, said Neuroscience Graduate Program director Anthony Morielli, a professor of pharmacology at UVM. Meanwhile, he said, more jobs are available for scientists in the biochemical and pharmaceutical industries, as well as government agencies like the Food & Drug Administration.

In the Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences program, the Career Mobility Builder was designed to introduce graduate and post-doctoral students to alternative career paths through a series of speakers and workshops, including sessions on starting a business or interviewing for a private-sector job. “There’s so many opportunities outside of having your own bench, doing your own research, working in your own lab,” said Trevor Wolf, a second-year CMB student who helps coordinate the Builder.

Rubins’ job is “something different, out-of-the-box, that you might not have thought of,” he said.

Rubins, who got her Ph.D. at Stanford University in 2005, said she always wanted to be an astronaut but started out with more earthbound work in public health, specifically the study of HIV infection. One day on a whim, she filled out the NASA application online and was accepted in 2009. The agency sought her ability to pick up new skills in training, she said, even more than her scientific background.

“They don’t really hire you for your expertise,” Rubins said.

Training for spaceflight started two and a half years before launch. First, Rubins learned to fly Navy airplanes, she said. Many astronauts come from the U.S. military, particularly as pilots; the rest are scientists and engineers. On the space station, all had to share the work and learn from one another’s skills.

“I’ve taught pilots how to remove brains from mice, and they get pretty good at it,” Rubins said.

They also took on practical tasks like assembling a life support system, fixing toilets and even doing dental work like pulling out a molar.

Rubins took her first spacewalk to help install a docking system outside the International Space Station. That morning, the team spent six hours in their spacesuits to depressurize.

“There’s no way to really train or prepare for this,” she said. “I will tell you, it’s completely terrifying.”

As for working in outer space, she said, “If you want to replicate this at home, you can put on some oven mitts and roller skates and then try to cook dinner.”

On the space station, Rubins lacked several pieces of equipment, including a centrifuge. In her slideshow presentation, she held a makeshift version she constructed using a hand drill. For her rudimentary research bench, she stacked up packing materials and used Velcro to keep them in place.

Astronauts send themselves care packages in cargo spacecraft that arrives later at the space station, usually treats like cookies or photos of their children. Rubins shipped an array of pipettes to herself. Then, she had to figure out how to keep fluids inside the test tubes without gravity.

“You can do any experiment on the ceiling,” she said, adding with tongue in cheek, “It makes it so much better.”

In many ways, Rubins said, the restrictions of space were similar to the limited resources she had in Congo, where she oversaw lab teams studying viral diseases. They grappled with poor or nonexistent filtration and sanitation systems and installed solar arrays to supply missing power.

Back in space, the possibilities are vast, Rubins said. She hopes to explore more biological effects of zero gravity on future trips, including eventual missions to Mars.

Despite the many gee-whiz aspects of her work, the UVM grad students focused on the science with their questions after Rubins’ talk. They asked about the ability of microbes to live on a spacesuit, gravity’s effect on organs at the cellular level and the body’s immune response in space to certain viruses.

One student wondered how the astronauts handle fecal waste – a query Rubins also gets from 5-year-olds, she laughed. The answer: It’s a closed-loop, complicated purification system in which almost all waste gets recycled.

Space travel isn’t for everyone, Rubins acknowledged after her talk, but scientists can take their Ph.D.’s into nearly any field.

“It’s good for students to be exposed to a range of options,” she said, “and then decide what’s a good fit, where are they going to be happy.”

Source: UVM News

The University of Vermont’s free, weekly historic tour of campus will extend into the fall season. The tours, which began in July, will take place every Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon through October 13.

The tour begins at the statue of Ira Allen, just to the south of the fountain on the UVM Green. There is no tour on September 29.

UVM was founded in 1791, the fifth oldest university in New England, and it features an array of historic buildings, including more than a dozen on the National Register of Historic Places, and a host of fascinating personalities.

The architectural highlights of the tour include Old Mill, completed in 1829, whose cornerstone was laid by the Marquis de Lafayette; Billings Library, designed by leading 19th century architect H.H. Richardson in 1885, which has undergone a recent renovation; and Grasse Mount, a brick Federal style mansion built in 1804 by a local merchant, which later served as the residence of Vermont governor Cornelius P. Van Ness.

Tour guide Bill Averyt also brings to life the interesting personalities who’ve been a part of UVM’s long history.

Founder Ira Allen, for instance, was both a revolutionary war hero and sometimes slippery real estate speculator. UVM’s third president, James Marsh, influenced Emerson and other transcendentalists and made innovations leading to the modern university curriculum. Royall Tyler, a member of Vermont’s Supreme Court in the early 19th century, taught jurisprudence at the university and is said to be one of the models for the villain of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s House of the Seven Gables, Judge Pyncheon. And 1879 alumnus John Dewey, whose grave is on campus, is considered one of America’s greatest philosophers.

“UVM’s history is a great story to be sure, but it also resonates with significance,” said Averyt. “Through figures like Marsh and Dewey, the university played an important role in shaping modern America.”

Read more about the tour and register.

Source: UVM News

Crop losses for critical food grains will increase substantially with global warming, as rising temperatures boost the metabolism and population growth of insect pests, new research says.

“Climate change will have a negative impact on crops,” said Scott Merrill of the University of Vermont, a co-author of the study published in Science. “We are going to see increased pest pressure from climate change.”

Researchers looked at how the insect pests that attack three staple crops – rice, maize and wheat – would respond under a variety of climate scenarios. They found that rising global temperatures would lead to an increase in crop losses from insects, especially in temperate regions. Losses are projected to rise by 10 to 25% per degree of warming.

Just a 2-degree rise in global average temperature will result in total crop losses of approximately 213 million tons for the three grains, the researchers say.

Insects like it hotter – up to a point

The losses will come from an increase in insect metabolism, and from faster insect population growth rates. The link with metabolism is straightforward. “When the temperature increases, the insects’ metabolism increases so they have to eat more,” said Merrill, a researcher in UVM’s Dept. of Plant and Soil Science and Gund Institute for Environment. “That’s not good for crops.”

The link with population growth, however, is more complex. Insects have an optimal temperature where their population grows best. If the temperature is too cold or too hot, the population will grow more slowly. That is why the losses will be greatest in temperate regions, but less severe in the tropics.

“Temperate regions are not at that optimal temperature, so if the temperature increases there, populations will grow faster,” said Merrill, an ecologist who studies plant-crop interactions. “But insects in the tropics are already close to their optimal temperature, so the populations will actually grow slower. It’s just too hot for them.”

Key grain crops to take a hit

According to the study, wheat, which is typically grown in cool climates, will suffer the most, as increased temperatures will lead to greater insect metabolism, as well as increased pest populations and survival rates over the winter. Maize, which is grown in some areas where population rates will increase and others where they will decline, will face a more uneven future.

In rice, which is mostly grown in warm tropical environments, crop losses will actually stabilize if average temperatures rise above 3^oC, as population growth drops, counteracting the effect of increased metabolism in the pests. “Rice losses will taper off as the temperature rises above a certain point,” said Merrill.

That means that the most substantial yield declines will happen in some of the world’s most productive agricultural regions. “The overall picture is, if you’re growing a lot of food in a temperate region, you’re going to be hit hardest,” said Merrill.

“I hope our results demonstrate the importance of collecting more data on how pests will impact crop losses in a warming world — because collectively, our choice now is not whether or not we will allow warming to occur, but how much warming we’re willing to tolerate,” said Curtis Deutsch of the University of Washington, who co-led the study with Joshua Tewksbury, director of Future Earth at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

France, China and the United States, which produce most of the world’s maize, are among the countries that are expected to experience the largest increases in crop losses from insect pests. France and China, as major producers of wheat and rice, respectively, are also expected to face large increases in losses of those grains as well. “The areas that produce the most grain, especially wheat and corn – the US, France and China – are going to be hit hardest,” said Merrill.

Reduced yields in these three staple crops are a particular concern, because so many people around the world rely on them. Together they account for 42% of direct calories consumed by humans worldwide. Increased crop losses will result in a rise in food insecurity, especially in those parts of the world where it is already rife, and could lead to conflict.

As farmers adapt to a changing climate by shifting planting dates or switching to new cultivars, they will also have to find ways to deal with pests, by introducing new crop rotations, or using more pesticides. But not all of these strategies will be available to all farmers.

“There are a lot of things richer countries can do to reduce the effect, by increasing pesticide use or expanding integrated pest management strategies,” said Merrill. “But poorer countries that rely on these crops as staple grains will have a harder time.”

In addition to Deutsch, Tewksbury and Merrill, study co-authors include Michelle Tigchelaar, David Battisti, Raymond Huey from University of Washington, and Rosamond Naylor of Stanford University. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. DOI: 10.1126/science.aat3466

Source: UVM News

The Manton Foundation has awarded $450,000 to the University of Vermont to fund essential renovations at the UVM Morgan Horse Farm, the University’s historic, 200-acre breeding farm, teaching facility and tourist destination in Weybridge, VT.  

Recognized on the National Register of Historic Places, the farm has been an official breeding site for the Morgan horse, Vermont’s official state animal, since 1878 and is believed to be the oldest, continuous Morgan horse breeding program in the world. Today, the facilities house approximately 30 horses, student apprentices, a breeding lab, as well as a public exhibit area and gift shop.

“What makes the farm unique is our dual mission of undergraduate teaching and public education, while also upholding the historical significance of the farm,” said Thomas Vogelmann, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at UVM. “Improving our infrastructure is the first step to enable expanded educational opportunities and improve the tourist experience. We are grateful to the Manton Foundation for this catalytic investment.”

The farm provides invaluable hands-on learning opportunities for students of all ages, as well as farm apprentices who spend 12-months fully immersed in the day-to-day operations of the farm working alongside faculty and staff. Each year, approximately 10,000 visitors arrive by bike, bus or automobile to see the horses, tour the farm and learn about the historic site.

The new funding will support facility upgrades in the iconic, three-story main barn, which houses the majority of the horses for public viewing, an indoor arena, a classroom, historical exhibit and gift shop. The focal point of the farm, the towering Victorian-style barn totals 14,530 square feet with several distinctive features, including a 19^th-century cupola and weather vane on the center of the roof.   

The renovations are part of a three-phased approach to renovating and restoring the farm’s facilities and grounds, and represent the latest development in a new chapter unfolding in the farm’s 140-year history.

Kim Demars was named farm manager in 2017 after the retirement of longtime director Steve Davis ’72. Together with equine specialist Sarah Fauver ’16 and farm operations coordinator Margot Smithson, the team is focused on continuing the farm’s legacy and building a strategic plan for the future.

“It’s an honor to be spearheading the farm during this transformative time,” said Demars. “We have some big ideas and are excited to put them in motion.”

In collaboration with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the University launched a strategic action plan process for the UVM Morgan Horse Farm in April 2018, which included more than 40 volunteers, staff and MHF advisory board members. Throughout the spring and summer, participant working groups met to formulate action plans that will serve as a living document to guide investments and decision-making.

A three-year capital campaign is currently underway to boost the principal of existing endowments, raise funds for one-time capital expenses and engage loyal supporters to invest in this American treasure.

About the UVM Morgan Horse Farm

The University of Vermont Morgan Horse Farm has been a proud steward of the U.S. Government Morgan Horse bloodline since 1951, when the United States Department of Agriculture first bestowed the farm to the State of Vermont, who in turn entrusted it to the University. Since then, with the University as its caretaker, the farm has successfully raised over 850 UVM Morgans, educated over 220 student apprentices and welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Weybridge campus. The farm is open to the public for tours from May to October each year and is a favorite destination of several regional touring companies. 

Source: UVM News