Michigan State University is developing an international irrigation and water management partnership with the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, thanks in large part to Australian doctoral candidate Michael Scobie.
More than 9,000 miles from his home, Scobie spent the last half of 2019 at MSU developing his international project leadership skills along with the desire to formalize a partnership between the two universities.
The senior research engineer in irrigation and water engineering at USQ became connected to MSU through his late mentor Steve Raine, former executive director of the Institute for Agriculture and the Environment at USQ, and MSU Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering chairperson Darrell Donahue. When Raine passed from cancer in 2018, Donahue began to mentor Scobie and invited him to spend a semester at MSU working with irrigation and water management specialists.
MSU and USQ are in the final stages of signing a memorandum of understanding to establish future partnerships around faculty and student exchanges and collaborations on international grants and contracts.
For the full story, visit canr.msu.edu.
