Dr. Hilu: Outreach Activities

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Currently, our lab is collaborating internationally on research projects with colleagues at the University of Bonn, and the Dresden technical Institute, and Martin-Luther-Universität Halle in Germany; Royal Botanic Gardens in England; Rhodes University in South Africa; Royal Botanic Gardens at Sydney, Australia; Trinity College in Ireland; Universite Cheikh Anta Diop in Senegal, and Istituto di Biologia e Biotecnologia Agraria of Italy.  We are also collaborating with colleagues in numerous labs in the United States.

We have recently joined upon invitation a European biodiversity consortium funded by Scientific Research Flanders (Belgium) to work on flowering plants.  The project will involve periodic meetings, visitations and training in at the graduate students and postdoctoral levels in various labs, joint publications, and further funding.  I will also be linking the European group to the NSF-funded Angiosperm Tree of Life on which I am a PI.

I recently hosted two Fulbright scholars and one DAAD scientist in my lab.  One was Dr. Fauzia from University of Bin Zuhor, Morocco who worked on the genetic diversity of the argan tree, an economic plant native to Morocco.  The second scientist was Dr. Diaga Diouf, from Universite Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegal.  His second 10-month stay in my lab was in 2004 was sponsored by the Fulbright Foundation to work on the diversity and nitrogen fixation of black-eyed peas. I also hosted in 2004 Dr. Dietmae Quandt on a grant funded by the DAAD Foundation, Germany, to work on land plant evolution.

Spent six weeks of Spring 1999 as a Fulbright scholarship to help establish a molecular biology laboratory at the department of biology, University of Bin Zuhor, Morocco.  I train students and faculty in techniques useful in DNA fingerprinting, presented a lecture and visited with faculty and students at that institute.

Conducted collaborative research from 1986 to 1998 with Egerton University, Kenya. The research was funded by two major grants from the U. S. Agency of International Development, and dealt with improvement of semi-arid millet crops using molecular markers in their breeding programs.  Three of their faculty members were trained in my laboratory. I also spent time every year working with them in Kenya.

In spring 1998, I established a molecular biology laboratory at Egerton University, Kenya, for use in the millet genetic and breeding research program. The equipment and some of the supplies were shipped from here using USAID funding.

In November 1990-July 1991, I spent a sabbatical at the Plant Industry Division, CSIRO, Australia to study cloning and sequencing ribosomal RNA genes in grasses. The research was partially supported by funding from the CSIRO.

Visited upon invitation in February 1990 the Department of Genetics, Cairo University. Worked with them toward establishing a research project and presented a seminar.

Was invited in March 1990 by the Department of Genetics, Estaco Agronomica National, Oeiras, Portugal to present a seminar.
        
Led a field trip in Kenya during February-March 1986 to collect seeds of wild species of Eleusine.  The project was sponsored by The International Board of Plant Genetics Resources and included the Kenyan National Germplasm Center.  To prepare for that trip, I spent September 1985 in research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, and the East African Herbarium, Nairobi, Kenya.

September-October 1984, spent as a consultant for The International Board for Plant Genetic Resources to study the agriculture of the Algerian oases and to collect germplasm resources of the arid crops grown there.   The project also provided an opportunity for one my graduate students accompany me on that trip.

Helped train students and colleagues from the University of Bonn, Germany in molecular systematics.  This resulted in the establishment of a prominent program in Germany.

I am also teaching a study abroad course, Botanizing the Alps, where we start at an institute in Germany for lectures by faculty and exploration of botanic gardens and culture.  Then we travel to Switzerland to conduct field trips in the Alps. Following that, the class ends in the Mediterranean region where we contrast the ecology and vegetation of that region with those of the Alps.  The course was also taught jointly with faculty and students from Bonn University, Germany.