2/1/2005

Contact: K.E. Schwab  -- 724-738-2199;  e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA SCIENTIST TO LECTUREON TECHNOLOGIES

AND CLIMATE RESPONSIVE AGRICULTURE

           SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Dr. Shrikant Jagtap, a research faculty member at the Institute of Food Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida, will deliver a lecture titled “Technologies to develop climate responsive agriculture” at 2 p.m. Feb. 9 during his visit to Slippery Rock University.

          The free lecture will be held in the Eisenberg Classroom Building, Room 011.

           Jagtap has been in academia and international agriculture research and development for 18 years, with responsibilities in research, teaching and administration. He was a senior agroclimatologist and head of agro-ecological studies at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Africa where pioneering work on the use of agricultural systems analysis, agroclimatology and GIS was institutionalized and transferred through undergraduate and graduate training to the nations of sub-Saharan Africa. 

          His research at the University of Florida since 1999 has focused on inter-annual and within season climate variability and its impact on society. He sees emerging research opportunity to assist rural communities in the U.S. and in Africa by improving access to climate information, knowledge and technologies, and aligning them with the needs of the rural population.

PN, PgN, WPN, PR