There’s a new associate dean for Research in town! Welcome to Walter Bowen, who will begin on February 19. His office will be in Gilmore 202B.
Walter Bowen earned his MS and PhD in Agronomy at Cornell University. He has more than 30 years of experience in international agricultural research and development that includes project management; participatory research with smallholder farmers; capacity building for NARS scientists and NGO personnel; the development, testing, and application of soil and crop-growth simulation models; climate change adaptation; and administration in research and higher education.
His work has focused on collaborative research, technology dissemination, and human and institutional capacity development in Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, Nepal, Peru, Romania, Tanzania, Venezuela, and Vietnam. He has held overseas positions with the U.S. Peace Corps, Cornell University, the International Potato Center, and the International Fertilizer Development Center, while living and working in agro-environments that stretch from the humid tropics to savannas to high mountains in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Recently, as director of International Programs at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, he developed a globally engaged program and secured external funding of $32 million from 2009 to 2016, which supported 52 graduate students from a number of countries—including the U.S., Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana, Haiti, Malawi, Nepal, Peru, and Tanzania—while sending more than 50 UF faculty to work with collaborators on research and development issues around the world.
Many thanks also go to Jinzeng Yang for his service as interim associate dean for research! Stepping down from this position, Jinzeng will now be able to devote more time to his research into the molecular biology of animal development and metabolism.