This summer, Meena Khandelwal was awarded over $83,000 by the prestigious Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) Program to lead a group of UI students and faculty to India to investigate the curious case of the chulha- a wood fueled cook-stove- used in rural areas across India. Often cited as a cause of deforestation and pollution, efforts to replace them with solar cookers have been widespread but largely unsuccessful. This project will bring together UI engineers, anthropologists, urban planners, and historians to examine chulhas from every dimension: what has motivated efforts to improve them, what interventions have occurred, and why have these efforts tended to fail.

Jessica Lile, a UI undergraduate, received the Stanley award to conduct research for eight weeks on adolescent tobacco usage in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

CPH researchers are working with residents of Chuuk, an island state in the pacific, to develop culturally appropriate strategies to improve nutrition.

David (Hosin) Lee, an International Programs Faculty Fellow, is a professor of civil and environmental engineering and public policy at the University of Iowa. Lee also serves as the director of the Laboratory for Advanced Construction Technology center (LACT). Lee coordinated a delegation visit of two Korean congressmen in March 2015, one of whom was recently elected minority leader in the Korean congress. In the following article, Lee recounts their visit to Iowa.

Daniel Goering was awarded a 2015-16 Fulbright U.S. Student Award, which he will use to conduct a mixed methods interdisciplinary study at a benefits firm in Tokyo, Japan. Daniel, of Agency, IA, is currently a PhD candidate in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business.

Audrey Williams, of West Des Moines, IA, has received a 2015-16 Fulbright U.S. Student Award to analyze Turkish development cooperation with Somalia, Kenya and Sudan. Audrey is a 2013 graduate of the University of Iowa with a B.A. in political science and French. She is currently working as a Program Associate for Partnership for a Secure America in Washington D.C.

When a parent of a child with autism in China attempts to take his or her child to a public school, chances are they’ll be turned away. The UI's Youjia Hua and two other faculty members from other institutions have created the first-ever course sequence training Chinese educators and parents to be Assistant Behavior Analysts (ABA) certified. It's a systematic way of approaching students with disabilities. “There is a law in China that every child has a right to an education, but it’s a toothless tiger — no one enforces it.”

Host Joan Kjaer and her guests on the next WorldCanvass will explore the age of the Anthropocene through the lens of energy, investigating the global environmental transformation effected by humans’ astonishing technological achievements in the search for greater creature comfort. WorldCanvass begins at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, at FilmScene, 118 East College Street. Admission is free and open to the public.

Allison Kindig is a senior from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, studying industrial engineering, global health studies and business administration at the University of Iowa. Two years ago, she was the recipient of a Stanley scholarship to travel to Cameroon. Since then, she addressed economical solar energy as a UI College of Engineering Grand Challenge Scholar. This fall, Kindig was named the 2014 Iowa Homecoming Queen. Read on to learn more about Allison's journey throughout her college experience.

The South Asian Studies Program (SASP) at the University of Iowa will kick off its spring seminar series with a talk by Dr. Scott Levi titled "Whither the Silk Road? The View from Early Modern India" on Monday, February 16, at 4:30 p.m. in 1117 University Capitol Centre. The event is free and open to the public. Chai and samosas will be served.

The next WorldCanvass will explore the complicated and controversial issues surrounding the legality and use of tobacco and marijuana with a special focus on the tension between personal liberty and the public good. Host Joan Kjaer will moderate the conversation with guests from the fields of dentistry, psychiatry, pharmacy, public health, and law. The February 3 program begins at 5 p.m. at FilmScene and is free and open to the public