The Asia Hub Network creates opportunities for researchers from Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU), Michigan State University (MSU), and over 20 regional institutions to collaborate on cool science that matters. The Network's priority is water, energy, and food (WEF) - not as separate issues but as key components of a complex and dynamic system that is fundamental to everyone on the planet and that must be sustained. WEF integrates biophysical factors such as soils and land with economic and social structures that drive decision making in the real world. The Asia Hub Network creates opportunities for a variety of disciplinary and global perspectives to intermingle and coalesce to form novel concepts and ideas. That's the cool science. But the Network also tethers these ideas to real world problems in a variety of places, and that's the part that matters.
The Asia Hub Network is born out of a long history of collaboration between NAU and MSU (through leadership by the Office of China Programs), and the NAU-MSU research relationship is a true partnership with a mission of co-generation of knowledge. The Asia Hub also features an educational component that is equally innovative and authentic. With approval from the Ministry of Education in China, the MSU-NAU partnership established a Joint Institute in 2019 and now offers a dual degree programs to students. The Joint Institute is piloting two undergraduate programs - in food science and bio systems engineering - for a Bachelors of Science degree.
The Asia Hub Network strengthens partnerships, expands connections, and integrates cross-disciplinary concepts and methodologies, with a goal of generating novel ideas, new collaborations, and impactful research. Because the Asia Hub Network is all about connections, it regularly mixes things up and mingles ideas at workshops. These are not typical scientific sessions where subject matter experts interact with one another; rather, Asia Hub exposes subject matter experts to perspectives that lie within the realm of their interest yet beyond the periphery of their own expertise to help accomplish the Network's goals. In this way, the Asia Hub facilitates the emergence of novel ideas and the development of new partnerships and innovative research.
To support and jump-start these cutting-edge research collaborations, the Asia Hub Network has developed an infrastructure of funding availability for collaboration among involved researchers. The Asia Hub Network has some funding to jump start novel research ideas, but more importantly, it has deep relationships with external funders that understand cool science and how it can help solve WEF problems. This optimizes chances for significant levels of external funding to sustain research partnerships focused on Asia—a place where WEF issues are challenging and complex. The Asia Hub Network seeks to expand the horizons of researchers who are confident about what they know yet curious about what lies at the edges of their expertise and beyond. They should be at ease with challenges, novelty, and risks and excited about exploring new global WEF perspectives on the world's fastest growing and most dynamic continent.
The MSU-NAU Joint Institute's dual degree programs expand the ongoing Asia Hub initiative by increasing opportunities for research and building educational pathways for the next generation of global citizens. Future plans for this educational arm of the Asia Hub Network include the development of graduate programs (offering Master's and Doctoral degrees), which will further enhance MSU's global engagement efforts.
*Indicates partners contributing funding for Asia Hub or Asia Hub initiatives.
Cambodia Institutes of Urban Studies, Cambodia
Capital Normal University, China
Nanjing Agricultural University, China*
AgriTech Hub, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan National Agrarian University, Kazakhstan
S. Selfullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University, Kazakhstan
National University of Laos, Laos
Mekong River Commission (MRC), Laos
Mandalay Technologies, Myanmar
Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE), Finland
Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Kasetsart University, Thailand
Khon Kaen University, Thailand
King Mongkut University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand
Land Development Department, Thailand
Mae Fah Laung University, Thailand
Mahidol University, Thailand
Nakhon Phanom University, Thailand
Michigan State University, USA*
Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers, Uzbekistan
Can Tho University, Vietnam
Northern Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute, Vietnam
Dr. Jiaguo Qi (pronounced Chee) is Director of the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations and Professor at Michigan State University's Department of Geography. He is also the Co-Director of MSU's Office of China Programs and serves in numerous international programs and projects. Dr. Qi has a broad interest in global change with a focus on complex interactions among land, water, climate, and society using process-based models, geospatial technologies, and in-situ and remote observations. His research includes remote sensing and geospatial technologies; environmental monitoring, assessment, and modeling; land use and land cover change dynamics; and decision support systems for agriculture and rangeland. His recent research efforts center on the water-energy-food (WEF) Nexus framework, focusing on interactions among land, humans, the environment, and climate change for sustainable development in developing countries in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and East Africa.
Dr. Steve Pueppke (pronounced pep-key) is a faculty member in the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, the Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, and Professor of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences at MSU. Dr. Pueppke was trained as a plant scientist and spent much of his professional career as a laboratory researcher/research administrator, including several years as Director of MSU AgBioResearch and Associate Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies at MSU. As a result of these experiences, his interests have shifted to encompass systems science and integrative, cross-disciplinary approaches that make WEF science cool, especially from a global perspective. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy in Washington and is Section Editor for Water, Agriculture, and Aquaculture for the journal Water. Dr. Pueppke received the Chevalier de l'Ordre des palmes Académiques from the Republic of France in 2008.
Dr. Perry K.W. Ng is Professor of Cereal Science and Associate Chairperson for the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. Professor Ng's research foci have been mainly in the areas of physicochemical and genetic properties of wheats in relation to end-use qualities, cereal chemistry and technology, extrusion technology in cereal processing, and utilization of non-cereals for food and non-food products. In recent years, his research activities have extended into areas such as cereal fiber and gut health, cereal food allergies, and modifying certain components in grain with potential for functional food ingredients. In light of his contributions to cereal science, Dr. Ng was named Fellow of the American Association of Cereal Chemists International in 2010 and Fellow of the International Association for Cereal Science and Technology Academy in 2012. In terms of outreach, Dr. Ng has a passion for capacity building in developing countries and has been actively involved in multiple USAID funded projects.
Dr. Wei Liao, a registered professional engineer (PE), is a professor and director of the Anaerobic Digestion Research and Education Center (ADREC) in the Department of Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering (BAE) at Michigan State University (MSU). Dr. Liao is leading an active research program on developing integrated systems to utilize organic residues for energy and chemical production. Current research areas Dr. Liao's group is working on are: integrated farm-based biorefining, solar-bio-based solutions to convert organic wastes/wastewater into energy and clean water, and one-carbon platform of food/fuel/chemical production etc. Dr. Liao has been extensively involved in international research and education activities on renewable energy and environmental sustainability. His group is carrying out research projects in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Dr. Liao currently serves as an associate editor for Journal of Biotechnology for Biofuels, and is on the editorial boards of Journal of Biomass and Bioenergy and Journal of Industrial Biotechnology. He is also the chair of Global Engagement Committee at ASABE, and organizing an ASABE global engagement conference – Sustainable Energy for Sustainable Future that will be held at Costa Rica in 2021.
The Asia Hub Network has evolved over the years and precipitated many parallel initiatives and projects, many of which started with seed money from Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU) and the dedicated efforts of faculty from MSU, NAU, and partner institutions. Among the many outcomes, Asia Hub has hosted multiple conferences and working groups in China and beyond. From the Network, additional partnerships have blossomed, including the Central Asia Partnership involving Asia Hub, Astana Hub, and AgriTech Hub; an NAU-Capital Normal University Asia Hub node; a NASA-funded Mekong River basin project; and, of course, the Joint Institute between MSU and NAU. MSU and faculty from Asia Hub member institutions have been developing several research proposals, and Asia Hub has offered training courses for students at NAU. The Jiangsu provincial government in China has awarded the Asia Hub Network the title of "Center of Excellence" based on these activities and outcomes, and for addressing pressing local WEF issues. This award will bring in additional funding from Jiangsu Province to further support Asia Hub initiatives.
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