Russian delegation visits WCU
The 12-member group, hosted by former U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, met with university administrators and faculty members, learned about agricultural- and environmental-related research efforts now under way, and toured WCU’s Center for Rapid Product Realization. The center is located in WCU’s Center for Applied Technology. It was built using federal appropriations secured by Taylor when he was a congressman.
James Zhang, associate dean of Western Carolina University’s Kimmel School (center), leads a Russian delegation on a tour of the Center for Rapid Product Realization as part of a campus visit Monday, May 4.
Taylor also is founder of the International Trade and Small Business Institute, which fosters educational exchange programs to bring foreign students to study business and entrepreneurship at several colleges and universities in Western North Carolina.
“We are expanding the activities of the institute to be more meaningful, with increased opportunity for exchange between Russian students and American students,” said Taylor, who has personal banking and agricultural interests in Russia.
The delegation included the head of the agricultural department of the government of the Ivanovo region, chairman of the Komsomolsk district agricultural cooperative, chairman of an agricultural food cooperative from the town of Kineshma, chairman of a regional committee on local economy and agriculture, and representatives of private farms and agricultural companies.
As part of the Russian delegation’s daylong visit, Cynthia Atterholt, head of WCU’s department of chemistry and physics, discussed her ongoing research into the use of pheromones – the externally released hormones that many living creatures use to trigger a behavioral response from another member of the same species – to disrupt the mating patterns of insects. The research has led to the development of an environmentally friendly form of pesticides that do not rely on chemicals, Atterholt said.
Jerry Miller, who holds WCU’s Whitmire Distinguished Professorship in Environmental Sciences, told the Russian visitors about his work in South Africa studying the impact of agricultural runoff, including sedimentation, fertilizers and pesticides, on water quality. Miller, who also is director of the Institute of Watershed Research and Management housed at the university, is especially interested in how agricultural activities may affect the supply of drinking water.
Peter Bates, director of WCU’s natural resource and conservation management program, described his ongoing research on sustainable forestry in WNC. Bates oversees the Western Carolina Forest Sustainability Initiative, which provides “objective information” to private forestland owners and biophysical assessments of several municipal watersheds across the region.
Tags: Cullowhee, Economy, Education, Western Carolina University
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