UT Smith International Center for Sustainable Agriculture in collaboration with FEWSUS network launch joint fieldwork program with collaborating institutions in Guatemala.
Summer 2022: Three students of UT traveled with faculty to Guatemala to work with local scientists and stakeholders for demonstrations of sustainable technologies for water management, carbon sequestration, and community garden development. Specific arrangements are:
-Duncan McCurry (M.S. student at UT, major in environmental and soil sciences) will work for three weeks (May-June 2022) with Guatemalan technical staff at the Private Institute for Climate Change Research. He was mentored by UT faculty Dr. Shawn Hawkins on the installation of UT-designed precision rainfall runoff and erosion monitoring system. This demonstration model will be used by the institute for educational purposes and replicated by producers in the region.
-Mathew Barnicki (senior undergraduate student, major in forestry) visited the Private Institute for Climate Change Research for six weeks in May-July 2022 to work on a reforestation project and conduct tree measurements for calculation of CO2 storage (riparian forest and Pacific coast mangroves).
-Lucinda Langley (Senior undergraduate student, major in plant science) woked with the local staff of Niños del Lago (a community-based organization) for two weeks to deliver with local staff agricultural and nutrition education modules to local students, teachers, and parents in the town of Panajachel.
Summer 2023:
-Josie Calhoun (sophomore student, major in forestry) will be placed in an internship with the Private Institue for Climate Change Research for the month of July. She will be working on a reforestation project in the town of Antigua, Guatemala
-Ashlyn Anderson (FEWSUS Ambassador) will return to Guatemala to work with Health Talent International and Private Institute for climate Change Research in the expansion of school gardens in Chicacao, Guatemala.