CSTAF scientists P.K. Nair, Janaki Alavalapati, Shibu Jose, Vimala Nair and Taylor Stein participated in the XXII Congress of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations in Brisbane, Australia, in August.

Nair, director of CSTAF and organizer of the agroforestry session, was honored along with his former doctoral student, John Bellow,  for contributions to forestry research.

At the agroforestry session, Nair presented an overview of recent developments in agroforestry, while other researchers from the United States, Spain, Greece, Italy, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia discussed agroforestry topics including silvopastoral systems, phosphorous storage capacity of soils, homegardens, and nutritive quality of some forest species consumed by ruminants.

IUFRO honored Nair and Bellow for their outstanding accomplishments in forestry research. Nair received the Scientific Achievement Award, and Bellow received the Outstanding Doctoral Research Award. The awards, which include a scroll and $1,500 honorarium, are presented every five years.    

This year marks the first time an academic adviser and the adviser’s student were selected independently to receive this level of recognition for separate scientific accomplishments at the same world event.

The purpose of the Scientific Achievement Award is to recognize distinguished individual achievements in forestry research. Nair, a distinguished professor in the School of Forest Resources and Conservation, is a pioneering researcher, educator and world leader in agroforestry. He has been editor-in-chief of Agroforestry Systems since 1994 and has served on the editorial board of Plant and Soil for six years. He was chair of the Global Organizing Committee for the 1st World Congress of Agroforestry in Orlando in 2004.

The Outstanding Doctoral Award recognizes path-breaking doctoral dissertations. Bellow received his doctoral degree from UF in 2004. His dissertation is titled “Tree-Crop Interactions and Socioeconomic Characteristics of Fruit-Tree-Based Agroforestry in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.” 

CSTAF Produces Collection of Published Works

CSTAF has produced a collection of publications that summarizes and highlights five years of agroforestry research and education.

The collection includes over 850 pages of research articles, extension publications, theses and dissertations, and other documents in binder and CD-ROM. The collection includes 28 refereed journal articles, two books, 33 extension documents, five doctoral dissertations, five master’s theses, two technical reports, and a listing of CSTAF presentations at major conferences.

Additional CSTAF publications are in preparation and will be periodically added to the binder. The collection represents the extensive work in agroforestry research, extension and education carried out by CSTAF since it was funded in August 2000 by a USDA CSREES IFAFS grant.