Writer: Alan Flurry, (706) 542-7825, aflurry@uga.edu
Contact: K.C. Das, (706) 542-8842, kdas@engr.uga.edu
June 20, 2007

A United States Agency for International Development grant awarded to the University of Georgia will create an educational partnership to share expertise in generating fuels from waste materials with academics and professionals in Mexico's livestock industry. The $250,000 grant was one of five Higher Education Development grants awarded under the USAID Training, Internships, Exchanges and Scholarships Initiative (TIES) and was formally presented to UGA engineering professor K.C. Das on June 13, 2007.

Livestock production worldwide has grown rapidly in light of increased demand for meat in developing countries. The potential for rural economic development and threats of environmental degradation alike have grown alongside the need for new sources of bioenergy. New energy sources from waste streams within the industry is one way engineers have determined to fuse these three aspects into one route for competitive advantage and sustainable growth. The confluence of engineering technology with agricultural economics is a UGA strength that created the context for the new partnership.

The project, "Integrated Waste Management with Energy Production for Increased Competitiveness of the Livestock Industry in Northeast Mexico," is designed to provide Mexico's current and future agricultural professionals the skills needed to analyze and support sustainable management of resources at the interface of agriculture and the environment. Along with Das, co-P.I.'s for the grant represent UGA's Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The University of Georgia partnership with the Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila (UAC), Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), and Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro (UAAAN) will sponsor a demand-driven, integrated and interdisciplinary program of training and technical support to the livestock industry in the Laguna region of Mexico. The program will provide scholarships for 18 students from Mexico and sponsor faculty exchanges of 12 Mexican faculty visiting the U.S and 10 UGA faculty visiting Mexico over a two year period.

"The growth of the livestock industry across our border has many implications for the U.S.," said Dale Threadgill, Director of the UGA Faculty of Engineering. "We look forward to sharing and expanding our bioenergy expertise through this program, and seeing this industry positively affect the economy and the environment."

The program will target technology and business policy relating to integrated waste management that is cost-effective and will provide additional income through co-product generation from waste treatment. One aspect of the grant will integrate new innovations in animal waste treatment with the production of biofuels and bioenergy. In addition, the program will develop and analyze public policy, with a goal of regulatory regimes that improve productivity and competitiveness in the livestock sector.

"With this HED grant, students will come here to gain insights and training in engineering technology connected to managing and converting waste to energy in the livestock sector," said K.C. Das, UGA Engineering professor, who will direct the program at UGA. "I am excited about it—grant funds will support education of graduate and undergraduate students at UGA, and training of research and outreach faculty in Mexico and at our institution," he said.

Joint training programs and workshops in the partnership will be organized by UGA-Mexican partner universities for students, faculty, government officials, and regulatory board officials, as well as livestock industry personnel. Participants will focus on animal waste—using it to grow algae in the production of biodiesel, or anaerobically digesting it to produce methane, for example—and the fuels that can be generated from waste materials.

The UGA Faculty of Engineering was established in 2001 to advance comprehensive engineering at the University of Georgia. With over 100 members from twenty-four departments in nine schools and colleges across campus, the Faculty of Engineering provides an entrepreneurial setting for engineering academic programs in the unique environment of UGA. For more information, visit www.engineering.uga.edu.

The University of Georgia has received two other Training, Internships, Exchanges, and Scholarships (TIES) awards which are coordinated by the Office of International Public Service and Outreach to develop other partnerships with the Universidad Veracruzana in agricultural diversification (2004) and with the Universidad Pedagógica Veracruzana (UPV) and Benemérita Escuela Normal Veracruzana (BENV) to strengthen teacher preparation programs for primary and secondary education in the state of Veracruz (2006). For more information about these two awards, please contact Glenn C. W. Ames, Director of International Public Service and Outreach, glenn.ames.uga@gmail.com or Martha Allexsaht-Snider, Associate Professor, Elementary and Social Studies Education, marthaas@uga.edu.