U.S-Costa Rica Course: A Trainingship Program in Tropical Plant Pathology

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

This Americas Program award is jointly supported by NSF and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop a course on the topic of tropical plant topology & pathology at the University of Costa Rica in the spring of 2007. The course is organized by Dr. Jean Beagle Ristaino of North Carolina State University and her colleagues, Dr. Luis Gomez, Arturo Brenes, and Roberto Valverde, at the University of Costa Rica. It will involve graduate students and lecturers from the US and Costa Rica. The organizers plan to hold a 1-day symposium in Raleigh in February 2007 prior to taking a 9-day trip to Costa Rica during spring break for the tropical field class. In addition, students will tour coffee, banana, pineapple, tropical fruit, sugarcane, and vegetable farms in the country and learn about disease, social and political issues facing farmers in the developing world.