Welcome to BHEARD's monthly roundup, a regular update on the program’s student and staff achievements.

 Student updates

• Mary Adjepong and Keo Socheat both earned Ph.D.s from Michigan State University (MSU).
• Mohammad Farhad attended the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative Workshop in Morocco.
• Denis Male completed Washington State University’s Monitoring and Evaluation Leadership in Learning online course.
• Nana Baah Pepra-Ameyaw won second place for his presentation at the Sorghum in the 21st Century Conference in South Africa.
• Islam Hamim successfully defended his Ph.D. proposal at the University of Hawaii. He also won the Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences best Ph.D. poster award in the 30th CTAHR symposium.
• Mahamadou Moussa Keita attended the Egerton 12th International Conference.
• Sidibe Thiam published a research article in the American Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology.
• Macire Kante co-authored a paper in the Kabarak Journal of Research & Innovation.
• Rukundo Jean de Dieu published an article in the International Journal of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine.
• Dieudonne Uwizeyimana published an article in the International Soil and Water Conservation Research journal.

Staff updates

• Dr. John Medendorp was named BHEARD’s assistant director for Institutional Capacity Building. He has worked internationally for several NGOs over the last 30 years in community development, leadership training, and higher education capacity building. At MSU's Center for Global Connections, he has managed and supported capacity building projects for USAID, USDA, and the John A. Kufuor Foundation in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malawi, and Rwanda.
• Dr. Cynthia Donovan became a new regional coordinator for Mozambique. She has been involved in research, training and outreach in developing countries since 1981, including research positions with the International Food Policy Research Institute, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the West African Rice Development Association.
• BHEARD database specialists Ann Hill and Paul Wozniak attended the 2018 TDU Global Conference in Pittsburgh, where they learned more about Terra Dotta, software used by the BHEARD program. Wozniak gave a presentation called "What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding Workflows?"