Illinois ACES Office of International Programs

08/11/2026

We have had a busy summer hosting visitors and delegations from around the world:

Building on its longstanding commitment to global partnerships, the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) hosted several delegations and visitors from around the world this summer.

08/06/2026

We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and friend Dr. Prasanta Kalita whose values, kindness, and work were integral to the international aspect of ACES. Dr. Kalita helped our office further many international engagements by educating and hosting visitors, serving as an ambassador of Illinois and ACES abroad and as a mentor to our own faculty and staff who aspire to do international work.

Dr. Kalita was also known for his boundless energy and a generous and gregarious personality. He had a true passion for enhancing the lives and livelihoods of people around the world, believing that everyone deserves food, nutrition, and water. May we all continue to work towards these goals and show thoughtfulness towards others as part of his legacy.

Read more about his legacy here: https://aces.illinois.edu/news/u-i-honors-legacy-internationally-recognized-scholar-prasanta-k-kalita

05/28/2026

International exchange was a foundational experience for Ron and Melanie Warfield, and now, the couple hopes to help students follow in their footsteps. Through a $1 million gift to the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the c...

04/15/2026

We are kicking off the 9th annual international food security symposium at Illinois with a poster session featuring our undergraduate food security interns.

03/31/2026

Congratulations to our own Dr. Paul McNamara and student Mia Bonds for winning 2026 campus-wide Illinois International awards!

Paul E. McNamara, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, and Mia Bonds, an undergraduate student in ACE, are winners of 2026 International Achievement Awards from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Illinois International. These awards recognize outstanding alu...

03/24/2026

An ACES International Seed Grant success story:

Hydrological models represent water movement in natural systems, and they are important for water resource planning and management. But the models depend on reliable input data for weather factors, and precipitation can be very difficult to measure and represent accurately.

01/28/2026

ACES professor Hope Michelson is featured on the high-profile VoxDev Talks podcast to discuss how more focus should be on the supply side (seed, fertilizer, agrodealers) to improve agricultural productivity in developing countries.

"The conversation challenges the assumption that improved agricultural technologies will naturally reach farmers once demand is stimulated, and instead shows how weaknesses in supply chains, logistics, finance, and trust can severely limit adoption and impact."

Michelson is working closely with the seed systems team at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), her grad student Hannah Wilwerth, PhD student Anna Fairbairn, and ACES alum Alix Naugler who is now in a PhD program at Cornell.

The episode is linked to below and is also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Low agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa cannot be explained by farmer behaviour alone, as major supply-side failures in input markets mean improved seeds and fertilisers often fail to reach farmers at the right time, price, or scale. Understanding the risks, incentives, and constraints f...

11/18/2025

Join us tomorrow as we welcome Dr. Eduardo Graterol, Director of the Latin American Fund for Irrigated Rice to present a public lecture as part of Illinois International Week.

Nov. 19, 4 - 5 p.m. in W115 Turner Hall

Dr. Graterol will share insights gained from 30 years of a highly successful public-private research partnership between the Latin American rice industry, national governments, and various research organizations such as the Alliance Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). This successful collaboration which generates and disseminates knowledge, technologies, and innovations throughout Latin America can serve as a model for successful industry/research partnerships.

RSVP is requested (but not required) here: https://forms.illinois.edu/sec/116175607

11/11/2025

Four faculty from the College of ACES have received funding to further their international work through the longstanding ACES International Seed Grant program, facilitated by the Office of International Programs.

The goal of the seed grant program is to support awardees in establishing strong international relationships that will continue to expand and flourish into a larger and substantial international collaborative effort that will ultimately benefit departments, programs, the College of ACES, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Congratulations to these faculty members for their recently funded projects:

Allan Barton, Human Development and Family Studies, “Strong Couples International: A feasibility study of couple relationship research and programming in Lebanon”

McKenzie Johnson, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, “Conservation Potential in Indigenous Landscapes: An Integrated Analysis” (India)

Juan Loor, Animal Sciences, “Black solder fly oil: An alternative feed resource to sustain lamb farming in Indonesia”

Jessica Rutkoski, Crop Sciences, “Partnering with The Roslin Institute to Enhance Genetic Improvement Research at the University of Illinois”

09/02/2025

Thank you Chambana Today for this great spotlight on our International Agronomy Day last week:

“This is a rare opportunity to share Illinois’ agricultural innovations with a global audience.”