FSI scholars approach their research on the environment from regulatory, economic and societal angles. The Center on Food Security and the Environment weighs the connection between climate change and agriculture; the impact of biofuel expansion on land and food supply; how to increase crop yields without expanding agricultural lands; and the trends in aquaculture. FSE’s research spans the globe – from the potential of smallholder irrigation to reduce hunger and improve development in sub-Saharan Africa to the devastation of drought on Iowa farms. David Lobell, a senior fellow at FSI and a recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant, has looked at the impacts of increasing wheat and corn crops in Africa, South Asia, Mexico and the United States; and has studied the effects of extreme heat on the world’s staple crops.
Paying for Performance to Improve Health in Rural China
Grant Miller will discuss the results of his SAPARC-funded research in rural China, supplementing a large NIH-funded project about pay-for-performance to improve health. The research was designed to test the effect of offering school principals small incentives for anemia reduction on the health and academic performance of primary school students – potentially leading to substantially more cost-effective health policies.
Grant Miller, PHD, MPP, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine, a Core Faculty Member at the Center for Health Policy/Primary Care and Outcomes Research, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). He is also a Faculty Fellow of the Stanford Center for International Development and a Faculty Affiliate of the Stanford Center for Latin American Studies. His primary areas of interest are health and development economics and economic demography.
Miller's current research focuses broadly on behavioral obstacles to health improvement in developing countries. One line of studies investigates household decision-making underlying puzzlingly low adoption rates of highly efficacious health technologies (like point-of-use drinking water disinfectants and improved cookstoves) in many poor countries. Another vein of research investigates misaligned macro- and micro-level incentives governing the supply of health technologies and services. He has conducted these and other research projects at institutions including the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Urban Institute, and the University of California-San Francisco's Institute for Health Policy Studies. He received a BA in psychology from Yale College, a master's degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a PhD in health policy/economics also from Harvard.
Philippines Conference Room
Pak Kyong-ni, My Mother
Kim Young Joo will discuss the literary works of Pak Kyong-ni (1926-2008), a prominent South Korean novelist and her mother, who was best known for her 21-volume novel, Toji (The Land), set in the turn of the 20th century. It took 25 years (1969-1994) for Pak to complete the epic novel.
Kim Young Joo is currently the chairperson of the Toji Cultural Foundation which was established by Pak Kyong Ni for the purpose of fostering creative thinking and lifestyles. The Foundation aims to facilitate a forum for international writers, artists and scholars to discuss contempoarary issues such as environment and future concerns. Kim's publications on Korean art includes Korean Art History (1997). She received a BA and an MA in sociology from Yonsei University, and was a lecturer at Yonsei and Sogang Universities.
Kim Young Joo is married to Kim Jiha, a South Korean poet. (http://aparc.fsi.stanford.edu/korea/events/gan_tae_hap_duk__mountains_and_waters/)
Philippines Conference Room
A New World: Korea's Mountains and American Waters
Kim Jiha is a South Korean poet and playwright whose early poetry theme was in political resistance. After having written poems including Five Thieves criticizing President Park Chung-Hee's dictatorship he was sentenced to death in 1974 for orchestrating an anti-government movement, and then to life imprisonment. His sentence was suspended following Park's assassination. On January 4, 2013, 39 years after the death sentence, Kim was cleared of sedition charges by a Seoul court.
Since 1980s Kim's view of human condition has evolved to incorporate Korean traditional Dong-hak and other eastern and western philosophies into a theory of life, seeking balance and harmony in the nation and ultimately in the world.
Kim metaphorically refers to mountains and waters to indicate the relations between Korea and the United States.
Kim was born in Mokpo, South Cholla Province, in 1941 and received a BA in Aesthetics from Seoul National University in 1966.
Philippines Conference Room