Workshop: Maize Genetics, Genomics, and Bioinformatics Workshop to Be Held at CIMMYT International Research Center, Mexico, March 7-11, 2004.

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

A four day workshop in Maize Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics will be held at the CIMMYT international maize and wheat research center in Mexico. The students will come from the US, Latin America and Africa. This workshop is a prototype of a longer workshop to be taught at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, NY. This workshop will be held immediately preceeding the Maize Genetics Conference in Mexico City. (1)The intellectual merit of the workshop is that it will bring together a unique group of scientists to educate a diverse set of young graduate students and postdoctoral research associates in the most recent developments in genomics and bioinformatics as related to the field of maize genetics. (2)The broader impacts can be considered in two arenas, the US, and Latin America / Africa. In the US, the workshop will educate, train, and empower a a group of outstanding young scientists in the use and integration of contemporary developments of genomics and bioinformatics for their research careers in maize or other cereal species. The broader impact for the non-US students will be similar to that for the US students. However the workshop and followup will create greater involvement and interactions of scientists from other countries with US scientists. These countries may provide a rich source of future graduate students and postdoctoral research associates. Given the greatest genetic diversity of maize exists in Latin America, these interactions may be very useful in future research projects. Given the serious problems with hunger and food production in Africa, the enhanced education of scientists from Africa working on cereals may help to address these problems in the future.