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In time of COVID-19, Global Development students work globally, remotely

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By Global Development
  • CALS Global Fellows Program
  • Global Development Section
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Experiential learning is a cornerstone of education in Global Development. This summer, three International Agriculture and Rural Development (IARD) majors are working remotely with partners on the ground on three continents as part of the CALS Global Fellows Program:

  • Khusel Avirmed ’21: Thailand, EnerGaia
  • Annie Weiss ’21: Argentina, Quarterra Consulting & Advisory
  • Matthew Sorge ’21: Kenya, Manor House

In adapting to the pandemic and travel restrictions, these students will be confronting some of the world's greatest challenges from their own homes. They will be finding new, creative ways to make an impact on the world - in Thailand, Argentina and Kenya, to be exact - and work to improve sustainable agriculture and food systems.

Meet the fellows

Khusel Avirmed ’21: Thailand

“This summer, I will be interning at EnerGaia, an environmentally and socially minded enterprise based in Bangkok, Thailand. My main role will be to help developing a project plan & MVP for machine learning computer vision to determine the optical density of spirulina bioreactors. Optical density (OD) is used to measure the growth productivity of spirulina. Machine learning computer vision can significantly improve the efficiency at measuring OD which in turn can help improve the productivity of future food (spirulina) farms.”

Meet the fellows

Annie Weiss ’21: Argentina

“This summer, I am interning for Quarterra Consulting & Advisory, which is a boutique agribusiness consulting firm based in Buenos Aires. Quarterra offers services that include market analysis, investment analysis, corporate strategy, visit coordination, monthly dairy industry summary reports, and speaking events.”

Meet the fellows

Matthew Sorge ’21: Kenya

“This summer I’ll be researching and collecting added value practices among small holders in East Africa. This is to help the agroecology research institute Manor House suggest context specific solutions to farmers in rural Kenya.” 

Khusel Avirmed
Annie Weiss
Matthew Sorge

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