Mark McLellan & David Sammons Explore Collaborative Reasearch Programs in China
Mark McLellan, UF/IFAS Dean for Research, and David Sammons, UF/IFAS Director for International Programs, spent November 6-14, 2007 in China, laying the foundation for cooperative partnerships with several Chinese agricultural universities.
While in Beijing, they met with faculty and administrators at the China Agriculture University (CAU) and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). They also visited the Wise Harmon Animal Technical Services Company in Beijing, a company created with support from Purdue University.
McLellan and Sammons then traveled to Hangzhou and met with representatives of Zhejiang University, before attending the 2007 Food Summit and the 5th Annual Meeting of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST).
Sammons said the meetings at CAU in Beijing may lead to UF/IFAS establishing a “2+2” program in which CAU’s best students would start with two years in Beijing, then come to UF to complete the final two years of their B.S. degrees. The Chinese programs would be modeled after existing programs at Purdue, Michigan State, and other U.S. Land Grant institutions.
They also met with faculty in CAU’s Water and Engineering unit to talk about collaborative activities. One of their faculty spent a sabbatical here with Dorota Haman, Chair of UF/IFAS Agricultural & Biological Engineering, last year. The visit to CAU allowed them to continue building research collaborations around common interests.
CAAS, also in Beijing, is the equivalent of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Of most interest is CAAS’ Citrus Research Institute. Plans are underway to link that Institute with the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center at Lake Alfred, forging research linkages around common problems. CAAS plans a reciprocal visit to IFAS next year.
Sammons and McLellan also met with faculty at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, looking particularly at environmental sciences, biotechnology, and animal nutrition, and met with a graduate student seeking admission to UF/IFAS.
Contact: David Sammons
David Sammons, third from left, and Mark McLellan, right, meet with faculty and administrators of the China Agriculture University (CAU).
Discussions included collaborative research programs and the exchange of students in a possible "2+2" program.
McLellan and Sammons toured CAU's facilities during discussions.
They also met with faculty and students at not only CAU but also Zhejiang University and with administrators at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China's equivalent of the USDA.
