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Francine Jasper

Field Note

Fostering social change through international agricultural education
Francine Jasper is an expert in the field of international education administration. She develops training programs with faculty and other professional resources for visiting scholars and has trained hundreds of professionals from nearly 90...
  • Global Development Section
  • Agriculture
  • Global Development
A man holds the branch of a plant as he shows it to a woman watching curiously

Field Note

Bill Weldon: Supporting New York state hop growers in the fight against powdery mildew
Bill Weldon is a graduate student at Cornell AgriTech, studying under the direction of David Gadoury, senior research associate in the plant pathology and plant-microbe biology section of the School of Integrative Plant Science. What is the...
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section
A man poses happily in an office while sitting with hands clamped on a desk

Field Note

From education to service: David Kay’s 40-year journey
The social tailwinds that lofted me here were stirred by the movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Most important was my undergraduate exposure to the debates about global economic growth and the environment following publication of The...
  • Community and Regional Development Institute
  • Global Development Section
  • Applied Economics
A female student petting a cow

Field Note

Meet the next generation of New York state dairy farmers: Caroline Lafferty ’23
What is your connection to dairy farming? I have been connected to dairy farming since I was born. My dad worked on the dairy right around the corner from my house, Dutch Hollow Farm. My mom also had cows at the farm and worked weekends there...
  • Animal Science
  • Agriculture
  • Dairy
A female student crouching next to and interacting with cows

Field Note

Meet the Next Generation of New York State Dairy Farmers: Emily Starceski ‘23
What is your connection to dairy farming? I grew up working on my family owned and operated farm, Finn-Star Farm. It was established in 1989 by my parents Paul and Robin Starceski. The farm is currently a 3rd generation family farm and hopefully...
  • Animal Science
  • Agriculture
  • Dairy
A male student interacting with cows in a dairy barn

Field Note

Meet the next generation of New York state dairy farmers: Blake Wadsworth ‘23
What is your connection to dairy farming? I have worked on Eildon-Tweed Farm for the last 12 years. Prior to that, I worked on my father’s 50-cow dairy in Middlesex, NY. At age 5, my family moved to Oneonta, NY where my father owned a 2000-cow...
  • Animal Science
  • Agriculture
  • Dairy
A female student standing in a dairy plant

Field Note

Meet the next generation of New York state dairy farmers: Cassandra Wilbur ‘23
What is your connection to dairy farming? My grandfather came to the United States from Austria around 1960 looking for work on a farm, and eventually he saved enough money to buy the family farm in Fabius. I spent the majority of my childhood...
  • Animal Science
  • Agriculture
  • Dairy
The sun shines down upon rolling mountains on the Armenian countryside

Field Note

Keelin Kelly '20: Tackling climate change alongside farmers in Armenia
Research is something I love and gets to the heart of my curiosity. What drives me is understanding how climate change impacts real people and societies. Research doesn’t just mean sitting in a lab: For my honor thesis project, it meant speaking...
  • Agriculture
  • Climate Change
  • Environment
A large green wine vineyard with a road going up the middle of it

Field Note

Global Partnerships Help Armenian Farmers Adapt to Climate Change
Everything changed when I came to Cornell as a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship participant. The Humphrey Fellowship Program provides mid-career specialists from developing countries the opportunity to spend a year at Cornell University learning...
  • Global Development Section
  • Agriculture
  • Food
Two people stand in front of a plant, inspecting the leaves

Field Note

Ali Cala: Helping New York state hemp growers manage plant pathogens
What is the focus of your research at Cornell AgriTech? Since beginning my graduate work at Cornell, I have been involved in several research projects involving various fungal pathogens of hemp. Powdery mildew in particular has emerged as a...
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section
Two men stand on either sides of a women

Field Note

Food science startup harnesses the power of fermentation
Recent studies indicate that bioactive peptides, organic substances formed by amino acids and joined by covalent bonds known as amide or peptide bonds, may play a significant role in human health, particularly in the digestive, endocrine...
  • Food Science
  • Food
  • Beverages
Four college students and one man stand in front of a sign for the delegation of Singapore

Field Note

Our common home
While global climate change is an abstract, larger-than-life concept to many, it is deeply personal to me. Nature is universal to all humans, offering no labels, and encompassing everything and everyone as a whole system. Having lived in three...
  • Cornell Botanic Gardens
  • Environment
  • Climate Change
A man wearing a red shirt and baseball hat standing in front of and talking about a green leafy plant

Field Note

George Stack: Cultivating knowledge for New York state hemp growers
What drew you to the program at Cornell AgriTech? I first came to visit Cornell AgriTech for a field trip during my undergrad, and then I spent the summer here in 2018 as part of the Summer Scholars program. Both of those experiences made it...
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Horticulture Section
Female professor stands in outdoor archway

Field Note

Follow your passion
For years as a molecular biologist I was looking for work that had more meaning and impact. My passions eventually led me to work on cassava and sweet potato, which was interesting but still too lab based. There came a moment where I realized...
  • Global Development Section
  • Global Development

Field Note

International education opens world of possibilities

As an International Agriculture and Rural Development (IARD) undergraduate I had the chance to participate in a vast array of opportunities. Each one taught me something valuable, and all contributed to my future successes. My work on a farm in...

  • International Programs
  • Global Development Section
  • Global Development
A female student standing in front of a large penned farm animal

Field Note

A youth-driven approach to sustainable farming in Thailand
Over the summer I spent my time working on two main projects in Thailand. Most of the work with the Yasothon farming collective revolved around aiding in the creation of a project proposal for alternative cropping for farmers, and permaculture...
  • International Programs
  • Global Development Section
  • Global Development
A female student standing and smiling standing behind a fence in front of a tan building

Field Note

Advice from a CALS student — ‘Be mindful. Be passionate. And be fearless.'
A unique and wonderful experience — that’s what I had this summer [2019]. I had the opportunity to work with Trickle Up, a global non-governmental organization that aims to empower those living in extreme poverty, with a program called...
  • Global Development Section
  • Global Development

Field Note

Making a splash in international agriculture

Agriculture's role as a mobilizer in emerging markets was a core theme of my undergraduate studies in International Agriculture and Rural Development ( IARD). Understanding this concept allowed me not only to engage more deeply with my work but...

  • International Programs
  • Global Development Section
  • Global Development
A female reaching for an apple hanging in a tree

Field Note

Anna Wallis: Helping protect the health of New York state’s apples
What drew you to the program at Cornell AgriTech? Apples! I’ve been working with tree fruit since I was an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, and I was previously a regional apple specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension. Not only...
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section

Field Note

Capitol Hill experience inspires CALS student to pursue legislative career

McBath traveled to Washington, D.C. with Jan Nyrop, director of Cornell AgriTech, Dianne Miller, senior director of federal relations, and other extension representatives from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). While there...

  • Alumna/Alumnus
  • Prospective Undergraduate Student
  • Cornell AgriTech