The USDA-FAS Borlaug Fellowship Program provides research opportunities for mid-career scientists from middle and low-income countries to advance food security and economic growth. Fellows spend 3 months at NC State to conduct research with a faculty mentor and will often travel either to a professional conference or the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa. The faculty mentors later conduct a reciprocal visit to the fellow’s institution to maintain the research collaboration.
Borlaug Fellows
SPRING 2020
Fatma Gül Maraş Vanlioğlu from Ankara, Turkey started her 3 month Borlaug Fellowship at the Plant Animal Genome conference in San Diego, California.
After traveling to North Carolina, Fatma Gül initiated her research on wheat genome bioinformatics in two CALS departments: Horticultural Science and Crop and Soil Science.
Fatma Gül Maraş Vanlioğlu, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Field Crops Central research Institute, Biotechnology Research Center – Turkey
Fatma Gül arrived at NC State University at the beginning of 2020 to work with both Dr. Hamid Ashrafi and Dr. Gina Brown-Guedira in their labs. The target of the fellowship was to integrate the Genotyping-by-Sequencing (GBS) pipeline to the breeding process of Turkey. While at NC State University, Fatma Gül learned the basic Linux terminal command system, and then she investigated GBS library preparation, bioinformatic analysis of GBS data and SNP determination for specific quantitative traits. After GBS data analysis, she studied the KASP primer design for determined SNP regions of specific traits. During the program, she attended to the Plant and Animal Genome Conference and had a chance to meet the most important scientists in her area.
FALL 2019
During Dr. María-Elena Cazar Ramírez's Borlaug Fellowship she spent three months conducting research in Dr. Deyu Xie's Phytochemistry, Plant Metabolomics and Metabolic Engineering laboratory.
Dr. Cazar Ramírez also participated in the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa, during which Dr. Cazar Ramírez was able to interact with the Norman Borlaug Laureate and meet other Borlaug fellows.
Dr. María-Elena Cazar Ramírez, Head of the Biotechnology and Biodiversity 
Group, Universidad de Cuenca – Ecuador
María-Elena Cazar Ramírez is a chemist, with a main interest in bioactive secondary metabolites from plants and fungi. She earned a B.S in Chemistry from Escuela Superior Politécnica del Chimborazo (Ecuador) and a Ph.D in Natural Products Research in Universidad de Talca (Chile). María-Elena Cazar developed scientific stays at Technische Universität Kaiserslautern (Germany) and Leiden University (The Netherlands). At the Chemical Sciences Faculty from Universidad de Cuenca, she leads the Biotechnology and Biodiversity Group, creating a space for research focused in the bioactivity of plants and microorganisms from Southern Ecuador. In this group, cooperation and scientific exchange is a strategy towards the excellence in research. Besides, she is a faculty member of the University Council of Universidad de Cuenca and Vice President of the Latin American Society of Medicinal Plants.
María-Elena Cazar develops collaborations with Universität Osnabrück (Germany) and Universidad de Chile (Chile), among others. These strategies allowed the exchange of academics and students from the Chemical Sciences Faculty at Universidad de Cuenca and the networking institutions. On 2019, she was selected for the Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship Program. North Carolina State University is the venue for her fellowship. Currently, María-Elena Cazar works with Dr. De-Yu Xie, professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, in a project focused in the characterization of bioactive secondary metabolites from Ecuadorian cacao. The aim of this project is to increase the value of Ecuadorian cacao accessions by the characterization of polyphenols, and monitor polyphenols changes during artisanal cacao processing. María-Elena Cazar values this magnificent opportunity to work with Dr. De-Yu Xie, a renowned scientist in the field of natural products. This experience will be the first step in a fruitful scientific collaboration.
SPRING 2019
Hamilton Chiango traveled from Mozambique to spend three months at NC State to research drought phsyiological properties in maize plants. To complete his research, he spent time in the laboratory, greenhouse and phytotron.
Hamilton was able to break away from his research for a day to participate in some local culture at the NC State fair grounds for the Got to be NC event, which highlights NC agriculture.
Hamilton Chiango, Assistant Lecturer and Researcher, Universidade Eduardo Mondiane – Mozambique
Hamilton arrived to NC State University in Spring 2019 to work with Dr. Tom Sinclair in Crop and Soil Science. During his fellowship, Hamilton investigated phenotyping of maize inbred lines for expression of two water-conservation traits: sensitivity to soil drying and to atmospheric vapor pressure deficits. Through greenhouse experiments, Hamilton was able to phenotype at 25 of the major inbred lines used in Mozambique in response to soil drying and vapor pressure deficit treatments.
FALL 2018
Dr. Anne Njoroge spent three months at NC State where she researched a common potato pathogen, which causes late blight. Potatoes are a staple crop in her home country of Kenya and her scientific research would provide food security solutions for Kenyan farmers.
Dr. Njoroge was able to participate in the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa where her participation in the Borlaug Fellowship Program was recognized and she was able to meet other Borlaug fellows.
Dr. Anne Njoroge, Research Associate, Crop and System Sciences Division, International Potato Center, Nairiobi – Kenya
Anne is a CGIAR Borlaug Fellow with Dr. Jean Ristaino as her NC State faculty mentor. Anne is conducting research on Phytophera infestans population structure and pathogen evolution in eastern Africa. Anne has has mapped the pathogen population in five eastern Africa countries as a basis for P. infestans surveillance in the region. Additionally, she has generated pathogen data for the potato national breeding programs interested in a particular European potato variety as well as CIP’s potato biotechnology breeding group, that can be used for future deployment of the 3R transgenic potato for Africa. Anne is also a PhD student finalist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU-Uppsala) and defended her dissertation in Plant Pathology in January 2019.
SPRING 2018
Dr. Ahlam Hamim traveled from Morocco to North Carolina, where she spent three months conducting blueberry research in the laboratory and participating in field work and NC State field days.
During Dr. Hamim's training, USDA-FAS staff came to meet with her to hear about her research and the potential of her research to have on Morocco blueberry exports.
Dr. Ahlam Hamim, National Institute of Agriculture, Research of Tangier – Morocco
Dr. Hamim came to NC State University in the spring of 2018 to 
work with Dr. Hamid Ashrafi in his blueberry genetics and genomics lab. The overall objectives of Dr. Hamim’s fellowship work was to aid in the development small fruit berry crops in Loukkos, Morocco. While at NC State University, Dr. Hamim was able to investigate micropropagation techniques for blueberries and other small fruit berry crops, conduct field blueberry breeding research, assess small fruit berry varieties, and conduct quality tests. In addition to Dr. Hamim’s research experience, she was able to interact one-on-one with North Carolina blueberry growers during the blueberry field day.