{"id":4430,"date":"2018-09-20T18:59:36","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T18:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/?p=4430"},"modified":"2018-09-27T15:01:04","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T15:01:04","slug":"research-experience-in-the-land-of-potatoes-peru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/news\/research-experience-in-the-land-of-potatoes-peru\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Experience in The Land of Potatoes: Peru"},"content":{"rendered":"

At NC State, Mark Watson\u2019s schedule remains fairly filled with his three majors: Horticulture Science, Crop and Soil Science, and Spanish Language and Literature. Yet, when Summer 2018 rolled around, he had his sight set on pursuing a 12 week-long research experience at the Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) or International Potato Center. During his time at CIP, Mark carried out a wide range of duties starting with preparing samples to carrying out chemical analyses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although<\/span>\"\"\u00a0Mark has had previous research experience, he mentioned how the research experience at CIP provided him with an appreciation for all types of tasks involved in research. For example, one of the first tasks he learnt and had\u00a0to carry\u00a0out at\u00a0CIP was to prepare samples, in other words, clean and peel potatoes. He emphasized how he now has more appreciation for preliminary tasks that end up having major impact on the actual research outcome. Additionally such training has rendered Mark to be an excellent potato peeler for non-research purposes as well! He mentioned he had to clean and peel the potatoes in\u00a0a certain way to ensure that is no contamination from the soil on which they were grown, so as to not affect the final research outcome when he was measuring iron and zinc concentration, for example. In his words, \u201cIt was the most important part because if they had gotten potatoes with soil on it, even if you are as careful as you can be in the later stages, it will still be a gigantic error\u201d. Mark also mentioned it was humbling for him to realize \u201cHow such procedures are created by actual people and do not just appear on paper\u201d.<\/p>\n

Having conducted experiments for both class work and for research purposes, Mark realized he definitely liked working in the lab for research purposes more than just for class work. He mentioned the difference in pace between lab work for classes which tend to get rushed to squeeze in a certain amount of content into a strict timeline as opposed to having more time during an experience to conduct various experiments. He was involved in an technique called NIRS for which CIP had almost 3,000 samples, but obviously there was no looming semester deadline. So, such experiments can be done at a more comfortable pace. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

During his time at CIP Mark had the chance to experience the extension side of agriculture for the first time. He went on a trip to La Libertad where CIP was holding one type of demonstration for local farmers, which comes after the potato b<\/span>reeding. By that time, the farmers had already harvested the potatoes they had grown that seaso<\/span>n. During the exercise, local farmers and their wives there had to write down what kind of traits they wanted to see in the potatoes they farmed or ate. Then, they had to vote for the potato they preferred for farming. However casual it may seem, this is actually based on a strict protocol and a process called Participatory Variety Selection used and developed by CIP. It was exciting for Mark to see how CIP not only conducts research, but also makes sure that the varieties they are developing are actually\u00a0adopted by\u00a0farmers for mass production and making a real impact on people.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It was not all work and no play for Mark during these 12 weeks. He got the c<\/span>hance to taste a lot of authentic Peruvian food with\u00a0his colleagues who would often bring dishes to celebrate\u00a0team\u00a0members\u2019 birthdays.\u00a0He\u00a0also got to venture out of Lima by conducting field work in La Libertad and San Ram\u00f3n, which offered a contrasting scenery compared to the hustle and bustle of Peru. He also got to enjoy other cultural activities such as Desfile Militar (Peru\u2019s national military parade) during their National Celebrations lasting two days in July. He even got his picture taken with the President Mart\u00edn Vizcarra during the\u00a0parade, albeit from a\u00a0safe distance!<\/p>\n

One of the most important lessons learnt from this experience for Mark was being able to significantly improve his Spanish and he would love to work in other Spanish speaking countries in the future. Getting the chance to work in a lab in Peru, he got a newfound appreciation for people from different cultures and being\u00a0<\/span>able to int<\/span>eract with them at a personal level.<\/span><\/p>\n

For any student who is interested in pursuing this experience for next summer, Mark recommends honing their Spanish speaking skills enough to have a simple conversation, but he also stresses that one\u00a0<\/span>could still get<\/span>\u00a0by without being highly proficient. One skill Mark pointed out that students do not need to have in\u00a0order to complete the experience\u00a0\"\"is a\u00a0ton of prior research experience or knowing in depth about plants. He elaborated that the way the program is set up, interns start\u00a0at a basic level, e.g., learning how to peel potatoes and then move onto the more complex chemical analyses, so that interns get the chance to ease into the program while learning\u00a0along the way. However, Mark believes it is more important to\u00a0bring in the right type of attitude and willingness to be adventurous with food are crucial for successful completion of the program. You can get a week-by-week account\u00a0of Mark\u2019s Peruvian adventure on our Research Pack Abroad blogposts<\/a>. If you think you\u2019re the right person for this experience program, keep your eyes peeled on our site for updates about Summer 2019 program.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"At NC State, Mark Watson\u2019s schedule remains fairly filled with his three majors: Horticulture Science, Crop and Soil Science, and Spanish Language and Literature. Yet, when Summer 2018 rolled around, he had his sight set on pursuing a 12 week-long research experience at the Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) or International Potato Center. During his time at CIP, Mark carried out a wide range of duties starting with preparing samples to carrying out chemical analyses.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAlthough<\/span>\"\"\u00a0Mark has had previous research experience, he mentioned how the research experience at CIP provided him with an appreciation for all types of tasks involved in research. For example, one of the first tasks he learnt and had\u00a0to carry\u00a0out at\u00a0CIP was to prepare samples, in other words, clean and peel potatoes. He emphasized how he now has more appreciation for preliminary tasks that end up having major impact on the actual research outcome. Additionally such training has rendered Mark to be an excellent potato peeler for non-research purposes as well! He mentioned he had to clean and peel the potatoes in\u00a0a certain way to ensure that is no contamination from the soil on which they were grown, so as to not affect the final research outcome when he was measuring iron and zinc concentration, for example. In his words, \u201cIt was the most important part because if they had gotten potatoes with soil on it, even if you are as careful as you can be in the later stages, it will still be a gigantic error\u201d. Mark also mentioned it was humbling for him to realize \u201cHow such procedures are created by actual people and do not just appear on paper\u201d.\r\n\r\nHaving conducted experiments for both class work and for research purposes, Mark realized he definitely liked working in the lab for research purposes more than just for class work. He mentioned the difference in pace between lab work for classes which tend to get rushed to squeeze in a certain amount of content into a strict timeline as opposed to having more time during an experience to conduct various experiments. He was involved in an technique called NIRS for which CIP had almost 3,000 samples, but obviously there was no looming semester deadline. So, such experiments can be done at a more comfortable pace. \u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nDuring his time at CIP Mark had the chance to experience the extension side of agriculture for the first time. He went on a trip to La Libertad where CIP was holding one type of demonstration for local farmers, which comes after the potato b<\/span>reeding. By that time, the farmers had already harvested the potatoes they had grown that seaso<\/span>n. During the exercise, local farmers and their wives there had to write down what kind of traits they wanted to see in the potatoes they farmed or ate. Then, they had to vote for the potato they preferred for farming. However casual it may seem, this is actually based on a strict protocol and a process called Participatory Variety Selection used and developed by CIP. It was exciting for Mark to see how CIP not only conducts research, but also makes sure that the varieties they are developing are actually\u00a0adopted by\u00a0farmers for mass production and making a real impact on people.\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nIt was not all work and no play for Mark during these 12 weeks. He got the c<\/span>hance to taste a lot of authentic Peruvian food with\u00a0his colleagues who would often bring dishes to celebrate\u00a0team\u00a0members\u2019 birthdays.\u00a0He\u00a0also got to venture out of Lima by conducting field work in La Libertad and San Ram\u00f3n, which offered a contrasting scenery compared to the hustle and bustle of Peru. He also got to enjoy other cultural activities such as Desfile Militar (Peru\u2019s national military parade) during their National Celebrations lasting two days in July. He even got his picture taken with the President Mart\u00edn Vizcarra during the\u00a0parade, albeit from a\u00a0safe distance!\r\n\r\nOne of the most important lessons learnt from this experience for Mark was being able to significantly improve his Spanish and he would love to work in other Spanish speaking countries in the future. Getting the chance to work in a lab in Peru, he got a newfound appreciation for people from different cultures and being\u00a0<\/span>able to int<\/span>eract with them at a personal level.<\/span>\r\n\r\nFor any student who is interested in pursuing this experience for next summer, Mark recommends honing their Spanish speaking skills enough to have a simple conversation, but he also stresses that one\u00a0<\/span>could still get<\/span>\u00a0by without being highly proficient. One skill Mark pointed out that students do not need to have in\u00a0order to complete the experience\u00a0\"\"is a\u00a0ton of prior research experience or knowing in depth about plants. He elaborated that the way the program is set up, interns start\u00a0at a basic level, e.g., learning how to peel potatoes and then move onto the more complex chemical analyses, so that interns get the chance to ease into the program while learning\u00a0along the way. However, Mark believes it is more important to\u00a0bring in the right type of attitude and willingness to be adventurous with food are crucial for successful completion of the program. You can get a week-by-week account\u00a0of Mark\u2019s Peruvian adventure on our Research Pack Abroad blogposts<\/a>. If you think you\u2019re the right person for this experience program, keep your eyes peeled on our site for updates about Summer 2019 program."},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At NC State, Mark Watson\u2019s schedule remains fairly filled with his three majors: Horticulture Science, Crop and Soil Science, and Spanish Language and Literature. Yet, when Summer 2018 rolled around, he had his sight set on pursuing a 12 week-long research experience at the Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) or International Potato Center. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1524,"featured_media":4456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[110,82,1],"tags":[113,114,111,81],"class_list":["post-4430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-pack-abroad","category-students","category-uncategorized","tag-news","tag-research","tag-research-pack-abroad","tag-students"],"acf":[],"flickr_id":"","youtube_id":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1524"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4430"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4454,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4430\/revisions\/4454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/international-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}