With food prices soaring, productivity stagnating and investments in public agricultural research declining, countries around the world desperately need more agricultural scientists.

Thousands of students show interest in such fields as molecular biology, plant breeding, genetics, evolutionary biology and plant pathology but have no experience with the problems of poor farmers eking out a living in Africa, Asia or Latin America.

A Cornell-initiated course at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, the world's leading rice research and training center, seeks to encourage some of the world's brightest young scientists to consider careers bridging research with applications in developing nations. The three-week course, Rice: Research to Production, which recently concluded its second year, is featured in the July 18 issue of the journal Science.

This year, 28 students (including Cornell's Caleb Dresser '09 and graduate students Janelle Jung and Alan Chambers) from 13 nations -- including Japan, Korea and the United States, as well as from such developing countries as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mozambique, and Tanzania -- attended the course.

"Many researchers from developed countries are unaware of the impact their work can have in helping address problems faced by people in poorer countries," said Susan McCouch, Cornell professor of plant breeding and genetics, who devised the course with IRRI colleagues. She and Steven Tanksley, Cornell's Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics, also are credited in the Science article for their groundbreaking work in the 1990s using molecular linkage maps to boost yields in rice varieties derived from crossing wild and exotic varieties with modern cultivars.

In the blogosphere

For Caleb Dresser '09, the IRRI dramatically changed his perspectives. He wrote in his blog after just a week in the course: "The clarity and confidence I had in my understanding of many issues is being, very appropriately, shaken. I laugh, eat, work and relax with a group of people whose diversity runs far beyond the color of their skin. My classmates and friends are from Bangladesh and Korea, America and Indonesia, the U.K. and Mozabique. Some are experienced plant breeders and geneticists, some are extension workers, some are in business. There are Mormons, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Protestants and atheists. We span a range from purely theoretical to applied; our ages are from 21 to over forty. Some of the women cover their hair -- others wear T-shirts. By day, we learn about complex issues from experts; by night and in our free time, we learn from each other and from this place. It is reshaping my outlook.

"The simple relationships and theoretical solutions presented in my classes at Cornell are totally inadequate here. I am beginning to understand the true importance of detail and situation -- yet the big picture remains crucial. I am newly learning what a real challenge it can be to accomplish anything, and how much needs to be done. More than anything else, I am realizing that the socio-political and cultural side of things can have a huge impact -- and that even so, the science is essential."

After IRRI, Dresser traveled to Modipuram, India, in June where he is conducting field experiments on plant-parasitic nematode activity in aerobic rice systems on the Indo-Gangetic Plains this summer.

The course is a major component of McCouch's outreach program and is largely funded by her National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to study rice diversity.

"By getting their feet wet in the rice paddies of Asia, course participants directly experienced many practical challenges of rice production. And by working and spending time together, this diverse group of young scientists from Africa, Asia, Europe and America come face to face with many of the major challenges and opportunities facing the international agricultural research community today. The students invariably gain insights and inspiration that is nearly impossible from the comfort of their own homes," said McCouch.

"We also hope the course will catalyze long-term professional relationships among participants from both developed and developing nations, providing the foundation for productive new research initiatives to address global problems," said McCouch.

Abubakary Kijoji, a plant physiologist from Tanzania who attended the course, said that his country of 38 million has a mere five rice breeders for what is now the nation's second largest crop.

The course, which will run again in 2009, aims to create a new generation of plant scientists who are networked into the international community and understand the importance of integrating plant science and community-based knowledge to address global problems, McCouch said.

Rice: Research to Production covers the basics of rice production; teaches hands-on skills related to rice breeding; discusses the importance of the germplasm collection (gene bank) at IRRI; covers issues related to exchange of genetic materials and property rights; promotes an understanding of how to structure effective international collaborations; fosters an appreciation of the research objectives of IRRI and its international development partners; and gives students the knowledge and personal contacts they need to work effectively as part of international research teams.

The course is sponsored by the NSF (Plant Genome Program) in the United States, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation in the United Kingdom and IRRI. For information, contact Francine Jasper, who coordinates course details for U.S. participants, at fj10@cornell.edu.