Center for International Research, Education, and Development (CIRED)
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CIRED links Virginia Tech to the world. It supports the university’s international mission by leading projects that raise the standard of living in developing countries, partnering with more than 80 universities and institutions around the world. In 2018, OIRED became CIRED (Center for International Research, Education, and Development), part of Virginia Tech’s Outreach and International Affairs and a new center focused on continuing Virginia Tech’s global legacy.
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- 2017 IPM IL Annual Report(Virginia Tech, 2017)Published every year, our reports detail work, accomplishments, training, and publications from each of our programs.
- 2018 Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab Semi-Annual Report (October 1 2017 - March 31 2018)(Virginia Tech, 2018-03-31)Published every year, our reports detail work, accomplishments, training, and publications from each of our programs.
- 2019 Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab Annual Report (2018-2019)(Virginia Tech, 2019)In FY 2019, the IPM Innovation Lab concentrated on developing technologies and management options for fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Africa and Asia. This pest was introduced to Nigeria by accident in early 2016, and by 2017, it had reached most of sub-Saharan Africa. In May 2018, it was detected in the Sivamogga hills in the southern part of India. Since then, it has spread to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan. The IPM IL addresses fall armyworm with emphasis on biological control, integrating it with other compatible technologies. Currently, steps are being taken to multiply and field release two naturalized parasitoids in Asia and Africa, Trichogramma spp. (Hym: Trichogrammatidae) and Telenomus remus Nixon (Hym.: Platygastridae), both known to be effective in suppressing the population of FAW in Central and South America. IPM IL has continued to transfer technologies developed within its eligible host countries to the rest of the globe by participating in and organizing symposia and workshops in national, regional, international conferences and meetings. In October 2018, IPM IL participated in the international workshop on FAW management in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At the same time, surveys were conducted in maize fields in Ethiopia and the occurrence of the egg parasitoid, T. remus on eggs of FAW was confirmed. An awareness workshop on possible invasion of FAW into Nepal was conducted in Kathmandu, Nepal in November 2018. Based on the unconfirmed reports of the occurrence of FAW in Nepal in May 2019, IPM IL participated in an awareness and management workshop organized by the USAID mission in Nepal.
- 2019 Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab Semi-Annual Report (2018-2019)(Virginia Tech, 2019)Key accomplishments this reporting period from the IPM Innovation Lab include, to name a few, continued monitoring and management of invasive species, mitigating pests and diseases on staple crops, and human and institutional capacity development of students, smallholder farmers, the private sector, and others.
- 2020 Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management Semi-Annual Report(Virginia Tech, 2020)Published every year, our reports detail work, accomplishments, training, and publications from each of our programs.
- Beyond 'Women’s Traits': Analyzing Gender and Social Differences for Inclusive Crop Varietal DesignTufan, Hale Ann (Virginia Tech, 2022-10-13)Gender is integral to agricultural innovation. Yet, gender relations, social inclusion, power, and agency often remain an afterthought in agricultural innovation processes. Using crop improvement examples, this talk critically explores gender in agricultural innovation and design, including frameworks and approaches for inclusive design, innovative tools and methods that integrate gender research, and how intrahousehold dynamics shape crop trait preferences, varietal adoption and seed systems.
- Biocontrol of Fall Armyworm: The Chain Reaction that Led to Regional and Cross-Continental Management(Virginia Tech, 2020)This success story details the IPM Innovation Lab's research and efforts to combat the fall armyworm infestation in Africa.
- Challenges and experiences of women in the forestry sector in NepalChristie, Maria Elisa; Giri, Kalpana (Academic Journals, 2011-05)This article asks why there are relatively few women at the Institute of Forestry (IOF) and in the field of forestry in Nepal. It explores the obstacles to entering and succeeding in this male-dominated field from women’s perspectives, and makes recommendations for increasing their participation. Based on “focus group discussions” and interviews with nearly 50 women, the authors considered issues of power and participation relevant to the gendered experience and profession of forestry in Nepal. Obstacles ranged from socio-cultural biases against women, to harassment during field trips, to being assigned purely administrative duties in the workplace. The article draws on theoretical approaches to gender in organizations, masculinities, and gendered knowledge. It calls for equitable, institutional transformation at the IOF that would in turn help graduates to better address social aspects of forestry.
- CIRED Connect, January 2020(Virginia Tech. Center for International Research, Education, and Development, 2020-01)Learn more about recent programs and events in CIRED Connect, a periodic newsletter of the Center for International Research, Education, and Development.
- CIRED Connect, June 2020(Virginia Tech. Center for International Research, Education, and Development, 2020-06)A periodic newsletter of the Center for International Research, Education, and Development. In this edition, we focus on how COVID-19 is impacting CIRED’s projects and activities around the world and how we are responding.
- CIRED Connect, October 2020(Virginia Tech, 2020-10)Learn more about recent programs and events in CIRED Connect, a periodic newsletter of the Center for International Research, Education, and Development.
- CIRED: A brief history of the Center for International Research, Education, and Development at Virginia TechMoore, Keith (Virginia Tech. Center for International Research, Education, and Development, 2020)This publication provides a photographic, yet reflective look at the people, programs, and partners that have defined CIRED as we know it today.
- CIREDconnect, April 2019(Center for International Research, Education, and Development, 2019-04)Learn more about recent programs and events in CIRED Connect, a periodic newsletter of the Center for International Research, Education, and Development.
- CIREDconnect, September 2018(Virginia Tech, 2018-09)A periodic newsletter of the Center for International Research, Education, and Development.
- Climate Change and Agrobiodiversity in Nepal: A Gendered PerspectiveBhattarai, Basundhara (Virginia Tech. University Libraries, 2018-04-04)The WGD program at CIRED has conducted a monthly discussion series for over a decade. Students, faculty, staff and members of the community are encouraged to attend the discussions and bring their ideas and questions. The series offers an opportunity for scholars and development practitioners to share their research and knowledge surrounding gender and international development with the Virginia Tech community and beyond.
- Climate Justice, Gender, and Challenges in a Fractured WorldSultana, Farhana (Virginia Tech, 2022-03-24)Climate change has had unequal and uneven burdens across places whereby the planetary crisis involves a common but differentiated responsibility. The injustices of intensifying climate breakdown, overlapping with injustices from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, have laid bare the fault lines of suffering across sites and scales. A climate justice framework helps us to think about and address these inequities. Climate justice fundamentally is about paying attention to how climate change multipliers impact people intersectionally, unevenly, and disproportionately, as well as redressing the resultant injustices in fair and equitable ways. In this talk, I discuss how and why a feminist climate justice perspective allows for more equitable interventions to be envisioned and co-created for meaningful impacts in a fractured world.
- Climatic Trends in Different Bioclimatic Zones in the Chitwan Annapurna Landscape, NepalLuitel, Dol Raj; Jha, Pramod K.; Siwakoti, Mohan; Shrestha, Madan Lall; Muniappan, Rangaswamy (Muni) (MDPI, 2020-11-20)The Chitwan Annapurna Landscape (CHAL) is the central part of the Himalayas and covers all bioclimatic zones with major endemism of flora, unique agro-biodiversity, environmental, cultural and socio-economic importance. Not much is known about temperature and precipitation trends along the different bioclimatic zones nor how changes in these parameters might impact the whole natural process, including biodiversity and ecosystems, in the CHAL. Analysis of daily temperature and precipitation time series data (1970–2019) was carried out in seven bioclimatic zones extending from lowland Terai to the higher Himalayas. The non-parametric Mann-Kendall test was applied to determine the trends, which were quantified by Sen’s slope. Annual and decade interval average temperature, precipitation trends, and lapse rate were analyzed in each bioclimatic zone. In the seven bioclimatic zones, precipitation showed a mixed pattern of decreasing and increasing trends (four bioclimatic zones showed a decreasing and three bioclimatic zones an increasing trend). Precipitation did not show any particular trend at decade intervals but the pattern of rainfall decreases after 2000AD. The average annual temperature at different bioclimatic zones clearly indicates that temperature at higher elevations is increasing significantly more than at lower elevations. In lower tropical bioclimatic zone (LTBZ), upper tropical bioclimatic zone (UTBZ), lower subtropical bioclimatic zone (LSBZ), upper subtropical bioclimatic zone (USBZ), and temperate bioclimatic zone (TBZ), the average temperature increased by 0.022, 0.030, 0.036, 0.042 and 0.051 °C/year, respectively. The decade level temperature scenario revealed that the hottest decade was from 1999–2009 and average decade level increases of temperature at different bioclimatic zones ranges from 0.2 to 0.27 °C /decade. The average temperature and precipitation was found clearly different from one bioclimatic zone to other. This is the first time that bioclimatic zone level precipitation and temperature trends have been analyzed for the CHAL. The rate of additional temperature rise at higher altitudes compared to lower elevations meets the requirements to mitigate climate change in different bioclimatic zones in a different ways. This information would be fundamental to safeguarding vulnerable communities, ecosystem and relevant climate-sensitive sectors from the impact of climate change through formulation of sector-wise climate change adaptation strategies and improving the livelihood of rural communities.
- Cycad Aulacaspis Scale, a Newly Introduced Insect Pest in IndonesiaMuniappan, Rangaswamy (Muni); Watson, Gillian W.; Evans, Gregory Allyn; Rauf, Aunu; Von Ellenrieder, Natalia (Department of Biology, Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia, 2012-09)Cycad aulacaspis scale (Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi (Hemiptera: Diaspididae)) is native to Thailand and Vietnam. Since the early 1990s it has been spreading around the world due to the trade in cycad plants for ornamental use. Infestation by this scale can kill cycads in only a few months. Its accidental introduction to Florida endangered the ornamental cycad-growing industry; and in Guam and Taiwan, endemic cycads (Cycas micronesica and C. taitungensis, respectively) are currently threatened with extinction by cycad aulacaspis scale. In November 2011, an introduced scale was discovered damaging cycads in the Bogor Botanic Garden. Samples from Bogor were taken for identification of the scale, and the material was kept for some time to rear out any insect parasitoids that were present. Both the scale insects and parasitoids were prepared on microscope slides and studied microscopically for authoritative identification. The scale was confirmed as A. yasumatsui. The parasitoid Arrhenophagus chionaspidis Aurivillius (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) and the hyperparasitoid Signiphora bifasciata Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Signiphoridae) were identified from the samples. Unless immediate remedial measures are taken, several endemic species of cycad in Indonesia may be endangered by infestation by cycad aulacaspis scale.
- Development of an optimum diet for mass rearing of the rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), and production of the parasitoid, Habrobracon hebetor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), for the control of pearl millet head minerAmadou, Laouali; Baoua, Ibrahim; Ba, Malick N.; Muniappan, Rangaswamy (Muni) (Library of the University of Arizona, 2019-02-28)The rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica Stainton, an alternate host for the production of the parasitoid, Habrobracon hebetor Say, was reared on different diets, including pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] (Poales: Poaceae) flour only, and in combinations of flours of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] (Poales: Poaceae), peanut (Arachis hypogea L.) (Fabales: Fabaceae), and cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] (Fabales: Fabaceae) to identify the optimal and economical proportion to be used under the conditions of Niger. The addition of cowpea or peanut to the pearl millet diet slightly increased C. cephalonica larval development time. Likewise, the addition of cowpea or peanut to cereal diets yielded a higher C. cephalonica larval survival. Female moths emerging from larvae fed on cereal and legume mixed diets produced higher eggs compared to the ones fed on sole and mixed cereals. Among legumes, cowpea addition is most interesting in terms of cost/production of C. cephalonica larvae. However, female moths emerging from larvae fed on different millet cowpea mix (5, 25, and 50%) laid significantly more eggs than those fed on sole pearl millet. Further, individual C. cephalonica larvae fed on 75% pearl millet + 25% cowpea produced significantly more H. hebetor. With an initial 25 C. cephalonica larvae kept for a 3-mo rearing period, the number of H. hebetor parasitoids produced will reach 2.68–10.07 million. In terms of cost/production ratio, the 75% pearl millet: 25% cowpea yielded better results. © The Author(s) 2019.
- Economic Development Through Art : Women, Gender & EnvironmentZehner, Amanda (Virginia Tech. University Libraries, 2016-11-10)Small-scale artisans are an important source of economic growth and sustainable livelihood development of great social and cultural significance around the world. Amanda Zehner, founder and owner of Living Threads Company, will discuss the role that business owners, development practitioners, and consumers can play in generating sustainable progress toward solving the challenges these artisans face and improving livelihoods around the world. Ms. Zehner is a Virginia Tech alumna with extensive experience working internationally, including service in the Peace Corps in West Africa. This event is part of the Women and Gender in International Development series and is free and open to the public.