IPAN Projects in China

Kasen

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

May 2008 -- the deadly earthquakes in Sichuan province did not affect the Chengdu Panda Base, but the Wolong Panda Preserve sustained heavy damage.

Chengdu is taking in many giant pandas from Wolong. Read more

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.

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), Xin Wang (food safety), and Ph.D. students Xiaoying He (agricultural economics), Liu Liu (food safety), and Xiaoli Xie (computational biology). Huie Li is in the College of Chemical and Life Sciences.

NWAFU exchange faculty and Ph.D. students at UM during 2007-2008 year. Left to Right: Yahong Yuan (Food Science), Liqun Shao (Ag. Economics)， Huiling Zhou (Plant Sciences), Xiaoying He (Ag. Economics)， Xiaoli Xie (Animal & Avian Science), Xin Wang (Food Science) and Liu Liu (Food Science). Hui e Li wasattending a conference at the time this photo was taken. (May 2008)

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

UM Exports Active Learning -- Meet Yahong Yuan

Picture a class at a Chinese university. The class is typically large and the students, who work hard to score high grades, typically silent. Even during time set aside for questions. Yahong Yuan, a researcher visiting UM from Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University (NWAFU) in central China, wants Chinese students to learn to fill in the silences. When she leaves for China in August, Yuan will take with her the active learning emphasized in the United States. "Here," she says, "the learning outcome we strive for is competencies."

YahongYuan The Chinese government, which is financing an initiative at NWAFU to improve teacher skills, shares her thinking. Still, Chinese students confront cultural barriers: fear of losing face and the expectation that teachers know everything. "You don't ask questions," she says, "because you don't want to appear dumb." Yuan is working with nutrition and food science's Martin Lo, associate professor of food bioprocess engineering, on a multi-year research project.

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: 08/1/2008