Every picture tells a story. And the photographs in Cornell's Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies' semiannual photography contest tell a story as diverse as the Cornell graduate students who captured them: A smoldering sunset in Weega, Ghana; flocks of breeding barn swallows roosting in Argentina; Peruvian shepherds weaving Ayacucho blankets from alpaca wool.

By coordinating with its affiliated programs, the Einaudi Center's travel grant program funds more than 150 graduate students each year to conduct research in countries from Afghanistan to Zambia. Almost half of the grant recipients head to Asia (encompassing the Middle East and Oceania), including Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Mali, Malaysia, Moldova, Myanmar and Thailand; about one-quarter trek to sub-Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia, Mozambique and Niger; and one-quarter to Latin America and Europe.

The center sponsors the photography contest each year to capture the diversity and beauty of the students' destinations and to highlight Einaudi's research grants.

"The variety and uniqueness of the photos reflect the different cultures and regions of the world as well as the wide range of students' specialization -- from anthropology to nutritional sciences to soil and crop sciences," says Nicolas van de Walle, Cornell's J.S. Knight Professor of International Relations and director of the Einaudi Center.

Winning entries are on display in Uris Hall and also are exhibited at the Einaudi Center's annual reception during International Education Week in mid-November.

The deadline for the next competition is March 30.