IPAN Projects in China

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Two UM students have interned at the Chengdu Panda base, as part of a partnership program between the Smithsonian Institute's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and the panda base.

Undergraduate Kasen Whitehouse spent part of 2007 and 2008 at the panda base where he is studying the reproductive science of the giant pandas. See article.

Kasen

Dr. Copper Aitken-Palmer's three year study of giant pandas' reproductive physiology at the National Zoo and China’s Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The study has discovered new information regarding male panda biology and breeding, and developed a new method for freezing sperm that will provide for more flexibility in assisted reproduction. This new information can now be used to improve breeding programs and maintain genetic diversity of these endangered animals both in captivity and possibly in the wild.

NORTHWEST AGRICULTURE & FORESTRY UNIVERSITY

Several scientists from NWAFU are each spending a year at UM's College of Agriculture to participate in research and learn more about inquiry-based science. They are: NWAFU Assoc. Prof. Yahong Yuan (food safety), Lecturer Liqun Shao (agricultural economics), Assoc. Prof. Huiling Zhou (plant pathology and genomics), Xiaoying He (agricultural economics), and Xiaoli Xie (computational biology).

After their one-year commitment at UM, the scientists will return to NWAFU to continue teaching and research. (2008, 2007)

OTHER

The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is a founding member of a new Consortium of U.S. universities developing programs at Chinese universities. The consortium members are: Cornell, North Carolina State, Texas A&M, Purdue, Iowa State, Ohio State, Oregon State, University of Minnesota, UC Davis, Michigan State, University of Wisconsin and the Institute for International Development and Education in Agriculture and Life Science (IDEALS). IDEALS will serve as secretariat. The first meeting of the Consortium with its Chinese counterparts was in November 2001, in Beijing, preceding the International Conference on Agricultural Science and Technology.

IPAN and AGNR assisted the Chinese government in organizing the International Conference on Agriculture and Science Technology (ICAST) held in Beijing in the fall of 2001. Approximately 10 universities from around the world were invited to assist in the planning of the conference. The University of Maryland is working to be a major participant in the planning efforts, and thus become a significant player in China.

For more information, contact Ann Leger

Last updated: 01/31/2008