The East-West Center Association Blog

A battle is being waged in wheat fields across the world to stave off an impending calamity that can ravage global food security

By Sarosh Bana, Executive Editor of Business India magazine and EWCA Mumbai Chapter President

(Note: This article originally appeared in Business India magazine on April 1, 2013.)

South Asian countries, where wheat is a staple cereal for many, is vulnerably poised in the path of an exceptionally virulent fungus that can wipe out entire farmlands.

Farmers and agriculturist scientists in the region are hunkering down to fortify themselves against this peril that can undermine the food security of millions.

Wheat stem rust fungus.

More than 20 wheat scientists from five South Asian countries – India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bhutan – participated last fortnight in a comprehensive training programme in Kathmandu on wheat rust monitoring and disease management.

Designed to raise a new generation of agro-scientists equipped to identify the more virulent stem, leaf and yellow rusts that can devastate entire farmlands and to create wheat strains that can withstand this scourge, the 2013 SAARC Wheat Rust Surveillance Workshop and Training Programme was the fourth such annual event to be held in South Asia. It was organised by the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) Project, managed by the US’s Cornell University. Continue Reading »

Thank you for taking the time to participate in the EWC Alumni questionnaire. We received an overwhelmingly positive response from over 460 alumni within the two weeks allotted for feedback. We truly value your responses and comments and will incorporate them appropriately as we move forward with the Center’s strategic planning process.

To view the summary of questionnaire responses, click here.

Recently in Singapore, the East-West Center realized a four-year goal to gather ASEAN-wide young environmental leaders to create collaborative project proposals in what was deemed ““an incredible, innovative, and enriching workshop” by Eric Watnik, the Public Affairs Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore.

Fifty-seven alumni from the Study of the US Institutes (SUSI) at East-West Center and University of Montana Mansfield Center (UMT) spent three intensive days crafting proposals for the chance to win $25,000 from the U.S. State Department’s Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund.

East-West Center SUSI alumni from the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, and Singapore came together with UMT’s alumni from Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in the first such collaboration by two SUSI grantee institutions.  The event aimed to foster collaboration among ASEAN youth who will be the first generation to lead in the AEC region.

At the final workshop event, hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce, presentations of the top three top projects, as voted on by participants, were given to a panel of judges from the U.S. Embassy, Nature Society Singapore and Republic Polytechnic.  Projects included mangrove restoration in Cambodia, a pan-ASEAN eco-debate tournament, and Indonesian “ecopreneurship” camps for youth.  Click here to view the project proposals.

“It’s gratifying to see that our project-based teaching methods are reaping benefits,” said Lance C. Boyd, SUSI curriculum designer for the East-West Center. “The participants have the ideas and drive to create change in their communities, and when we’re able to provide the platform and tools, we get exceptional results, as we saw in Singapore.”

As important as the project development and enhanced understanding of regional environmental issues was the participants’ exposure to other ASEAN youth.  As one participant said, “I now understand more about people from different ASEAN countries. We learned and shared with each other, and the network we have built is really beneficial for the entire region as well as for the USA.”

CHAPTER DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

QUARTERLY REPORTS, EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING ON APRIL 18, 2013

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED BY:  Estrella Besinga Sybinsky

ALOHA TO ALL OF OUR US AND INTERNATIONAL CHAPTERS!

For all of the chapters that responded, we extend our deep appreciation for your chapter responses.  We continue to have faith that other chapters will soon follow with their reports for the next Quarterly Executive Board Meeting.

The following chapters and chapter leaders responded:  1)  ASDP Chapter (Jessica  Sheetz-Nguyen)  2)  Bali Chapter (Anak Agung Gde Muninjaya)  3)  Brisbane & Virtual Australia (Iraphne Childs, Leader & Karen Reid Nunan, Secretary))  4)  Hanoi Chapter (Hoang Hoe)  5)  Hawaii Chapter (Carl Hefner)  6) Lahore Chapter (Arfa Zehra) 7)  Laos Chapter (Chantavong Saignasith)  8)  Mumbai Chapter (Sarosh Bana)  9) Nepal (Nirendra Maske)  10)  Okinawa Chapter (Keiko Yamazato) 11) Philippines Chapter (Ramon Clarete and Pauline Bautista) 12)  Singapore Chapter (Seng Seok Hoon)  13)  Southern CA Chapter (Claire Langham Richmond)  14) Tokyo Chapter (Yasukata Yano (current) & Shigeo Tonoike (past))  15) Washington D.C. Chapter (Jacob Dowd). Continue Reading »

As an East-West Center alumna/alumnus you are among over 60,000 people who have shared an experience as a student or professional conference/exchange participant engaging with your counterparts from the Asia-Pacific region, the United States and beyond.

As the East-West Center looks toward the future, we would like to capture the impact your East-West Center experience has had on your professional and personal life.

Could you please take a few minutes and respond to a short questionnaire? The link to the questionnaire is https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/EWC_Alumni_Feedback. Please submit your responses by May 3, 2013. We plan to use the combined answers to help us with our strategic planning and also to share with members of the US Congress and others who support our programs.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Dr. Abdul Rashid inspects a wheat field in Pakistan.

East-West Center Distinguished Alumnus Dr. Abdul Rashid of Pakistan has received the International Fertilizer Industry Association’s 2013 Norman Borlaug Award for excellence in crop nutrition research. In May, Dr. Rashid and his wife will travel to the IFA Annual Conference in Chicago to receive this prestigious recognition. Continue Reading »

Shaxi, a restored historic town in Yunnan Province, China, faces key tourism development decisions. Photo by APLP Fellow Taku Jindo.

Asia Pacific Leadership Program Fellows Alisha Bhagat and Gretchen Alther report from the field:

Last autumn, a group of 14 Asia Pacific Leadership Progam fellows from the East-WestCenter  traveled to China for a fall field study program. China provided the perfect environment to engage in dynamic processes of change and apply classroom learning to the real world. The fellows explored the rapid economic development of China, political change, and the prominence of China in the Asia-Pacific.

During the field study, a team of three students travelled to Shaxi, a historic town in rural Yunnan Province that had recently been restored as a tourism site. Shaxi is an ideal place to see the drivers of change in China occurring in a small space. Continue Reading »

Dr. Verner Bickley, first Director of the Culture Learning Institute (1972-1981) remains a loyal supporter of the work of the East-West Center. In his new book, Steps To Paradise and Beyond (11 April 2013), he gives a history of the Culture-Learning Institute and the East-West Center from the time of its beginnings up to date. The book is graced by a Preface by Dr. Charles E. Morrison, President, East-West Center, who writes: “Dr. Bickley’s book should remind us that the present emerges out of the past, and that much of what we today take for granted about our world derives from the ingenuity, labor and persistence of those who came before.  Dr. Bickley describes many of the projects of his era at the East-West Center and includes a list of the publications he was associated with. These and the students he and others mentored are among the proudest products of his generation at the East-West Center, and remain a vital part of the region’s intellectual heritage and its internationalized human resource base of today.”

Steps to Paradise is available for early and ongoing orders from Amazon.com and from the website, proversepublishing.com.

EWC Education Project Specialist Christina Monroe writes:

Just as quickly as you can end the previously hours-long debate on ‘what countries border Moldova’ with a Google search on your smartphone, human rights activists can now eliminate doubts that abuses are happening.

It’s a new open source transparency. But instead of sharing software for free, scientists and NGO workers are sharing tools to document events. These events used to happen in secrecy, but now they’re in the public domain for all to see. These tools, in the hands of willing citizens, can force public accountability and ultimately more transparency from powerful players in every society.

I recently took part in a briefing for East-West Center’s Asia Pacific Leadership Program fellows with the Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC. I’m fascinated by how they use GIS and remote sensing to support human rights organizations.

An analysis of high-resolution satellite images of Aleppo, Syria, appears to reveal the deployment of heavy armored vehicles in civilian neighborhoods as well 117 instances of damage to buildings and infrastructure. Source: American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Continue Reading »

CHAPTER DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

QUARTERLY REPORTS, EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING (1/17/13)

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED BY Estrella Besinga Sybinsky

HAPPY 2013!  Despite the hectic holiday schedule worldwide, seventeen chapters managed to respond to the call for chapter reports.  We continue to thank you for your response, though your respective chapter may not have much activity to report.

The following chapters responded: 1) Bali Chapter (Agung Muninjaya) 2) Brisbane Chapter (Iraphne Childs) 3) Chandigarh (India) Chapter (Rajesh Kumar Aggarwal) 4) Chennai Chapter (P. Subramaniyam) 5) Hawaii Chapter (Carl Hefner) 6) Kansai Chapter (Seiko Furuhashi) 7) Korea Chapter (Jeong Taik Lee)  8) Kuala Lumpur Chapter (Gan Siowck Lee) 9) Laos Chapter (Chanthavong) 10) Mumbai Chapter (Sarosh Bana) 11) Nepal Chapter (Nirendra Maske) 12) N.Y., CT, N.J. Chapter (Bill Armbruster) 13) Papua New Guinea Chapter (Solomon Kantha) 14) Singapore Chapter (Alice Seng Seok Hoon) 15) S. California Chapter (Claire Langham 16) Sri Lanka Chapter (GBA Fernando) and 17) Taiwan Chapter (Nora Chiang).
Continue Reading »