MSU Students gain international research experience

Some Montana State University students say they’ve come back from an externship in Africa with a better idea of what America has given them and a better attitude toward their college education.

University News for MSU

During their time away from campus, they worked in Africa developing a visual tool to communicate pest management information between individuals who do not speak the same language.

Their work with a US Agency for International Development-funded Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) in Mali is the first time undergraduate students have been used to further USAID’s CRSP work, which entails 51 Land Grant institutions working in 52 developing countries.

"This is a brand new idea. This is the first time undergraduates have been involved in CRSPs. It gives undergraduates a unique experience with both collaborative research and international needs," says Florence Dunkel, an MSU entomologist and principle investigator of the MSU program. Norm Peterson, MSU’s assistant vice provost for International Education is coinvestigator.

Christine Smith, who went to Mali as an MSU freshman in 2000, says "getting this kind of experience so early in my academic life has made all the difference in my attitude towards education." Smith, of Manhattan, adds that the externship helped take her from "vague ideas" of what she wanted to do with her degree to a more concrete understanding of how collaborative science can be pursued abroad. She has followed up her work in Mali with a similar program studying volcanism in Iceland and is now back at MSU as a junior in Earth Sciences.

"I looked at all I have offered to me and all the choices I have just because I am an American. I saw for the first time how lucky I was to be in college and that Africa was the greatest chance of a lifetime," wrote Smith after her trip.

Zach Anderson of Bozeman, who also went in 2000 to develop visual communication tools to explain integrated pest management, says it showed him the human beings behind the statistics and numbers he had read. "I worked with the Peace Corps in Mali to help disseminate in picture form the scientific research on the uses of the neem tree as an insecticide," says Anderson. "We were trying to depict the scientific information so that two people who did not speak the same language could learn from each other."

Esther Campbell, formerly of Great Falls, says she worked in a laboratory run by the government of Mali studying pesticide residues on crops and in water. Even in the capitol city there were open sewers, no pavement and an electrical system that went out regularly, said Campbell.

"The CRSP structure gives a very secure way to give undergraduates research opportunities," said Campbell, who was a teaching assistant for Dunkel while participating in the Mali program.

The program these students participated in has just been awarded a $242,000 grant from the USDA to help get collaborative research support programs working in foreign countries. MSU students will continue to work in Mali, and other institutions, such as Purdue, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and Dull Knife Memorial College in Lame Deer, can use the format developed for MSU students and apply it to research in Mali and eventually other foreign settings.

"It’s an excellent opportunity for students to gain practical experience while learning about agricultural production and information dissemination in developing countries," says Dunkel.

Dunkel has had extensive international experience and has a particular interest in environmentally safe pest management, which often means "low tech" — just what farmers in developing nations might be able to afford.

Students in the past have borne all of their own expenses. With the new grant, MSU students may have much or all of their transportation costs paid, opening the experience to more student. Students are chosen based on their grade point average, demonstrated maturity and ability to deal with frustrating cross cultural situations. They are then given detailed training in food safety in foreign countries and tips on living in a foreign culture.

The externs in Spring 2002 included Angie Gray now of San Diego, Kimberli Machler of Lewistown, and Nancy Kuehn, formerly of Fargo ND and now of Bozeman. Kuehn is a junior in film documentary.

Florence Dunkel (406) 994-5065, Esther Campbell (406) 522-7849, Norm Peterson (406) 994-4031

http://www.montana.edu/commserv/csnews/nwview.php?article=554