Committee on Women in Agricultural Economics

Agricultural & Applied Economics Association

Sylvia Lane Mentor Research Fellowship

Purpose
History of the Fellowship
Past Recipients
Eligibility
How to Apply

Purpose

The purpose of the Sylvia Lane Mentor Research Fellowship is to allow young female scholars working on food, agricultural or resource issues to relocate for a portion of a year in order to conduct research with an established expert at another university, institution, or firm.

The objectives of this project are:

to help women entering the profession or in graduate school find mentors while increasing relevant and innovative research output, and
to facilitate collaboration between established professionals and women early in their careers

The Sylvia Lane Mentor Research Fellowship is sponsored by academic, foundation and industry donors, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Foundation, and is administered by the Committee on Women in Agricultural Economics.

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History of the Fellowship

Professor Emerita of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California; Fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association; consultant to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, President's Committee on Consumer Interests; member of the Board; Omicron Delta Epsilon, Consumers' Union, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.

Sylvia Lane has a distinguished record in research, teaching, advising, consulting, and service to the community. She pioneered new areas of inquiry for the profession. A concern for low-income consumers runs throughout her work, evidenced by her studies of consumer credit, health care, rural health service delivery, housing, tax incidence, low income nutrition, and food stamps.

Sylvia Lane is also a person of constant warmth. She makes others feel at ease even when arguing a tough point. She has been an able politician among her male peers and a wonderful advisor. Lane has worked hard to promote her students and colleagues, to help them publish, and to attend professional meetings. She continues to edit manuscripts and ask the hard questions to improve the final product. She has always understood that when those around her succeed, she succeeds. Sylvia Lane is a truly successful woman in agricultural economics and an ideal role model.

The use of the Sylvia Lane Fellowship funds are used to continue the mentoring tradition exemplified by Sylvia Lane.

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Past Recipients

1995

Florence Tangka, from the University of Florida, was the first recipient of the Sylvia Lane Mentor Research Fellowship. She worked with Dr. Agnes Quisumbing at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washingotn, D.C. on modelling the extended family system of Africa. The theoretical framework of Florence's dissertation is based upon this model. Florence gave a presentation about her Sylvia Lane Mentor Fellowship experience at the 1998 AAEA meetings, during a CWAE symposium. Florence completed her Ph.D. from the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Florida. Currently she is working as an Economist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA.

1999

Armineh Zohrabian received the fellowship while a graduate student at Auburn University. Her mentor was Melinda Smale. Their research project was to estimate the net marginal benefits from exploring crop germplasm in a breeding program directed to enhance pest resistance in cultivars. Using agronomic evaluation data, by combining a search theoretic framework with an application based on the maximum entropy principle, they estimate the expected benefits from testing soybean germplasm from the US collection for the trait of resistance to soybean cyst nematode. The results of the project have been presented at the AAEA meetings, August 2000, Tampa, FL, and at the Crop Germplasm Committee Chairs Workshop, July, 2000, Agricultural Research Service, USDA. Recently, they sent out a paper summarizing the findings of the project for a submission in a peer reviewed journal. Armineh had read Dr. Smale's work on genetic resources diversity and conservation. In 1998, they met her at AAEA Annual Meetings and Armineh discussed her intention of designing a study about economic valuation of crop germplasm. Armineh is now at ERS.

1999

Deanne Hackman, University of Missouri, was awarded a fellowship to work with Henry Hansmann, Yale University, on a project called, "An Analysis of Ownership in New Cooperative Structures."

2000

Hiba Ahmed received the fellowship after completing her Ph.D. at Michigan State University. She worked with Uma Lele at the World Bank on a project that examined all the work done by the Bank on willingness to pay for water resources.

2001

Maria Loureiro, Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University, received the Fellowship for her project, "The Economics of Traceability and Quality Assurance." Her mentor was Dr. Eluned Jones, Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics at Virgina Polytechnic Institute and State University, and Chair of the Food and Agricultural Marketing Policy section of the AAEA.

2002

In the Spring 2002 competition, the Sylvia Lane Mentor Fellowship was awarded to Wen Du, a graduate student in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Washington State University for her project, "Hedging in the Futures Markets for Wheat Producers in the Pacific Northwest." Her mentor is Dr. Bruce Sherrick, Associate Professor of Agricultural Finance, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Eligibility

Fellowships are awarded to female graduate student or young professional/mentor pairs. Women with recent Ph.D. degrees and advanced graduate students are strongly encouraged to apply.

Applicants must have:

1) completed an academic year in residence at an accredited American graduate degree program in agricultural economics or a closely related discipline, and

2) initiated a mentor association with an expert in agricultural economics or closely related discipline or industry

The mentor must have a Ph.D. in agricultural economics or a closely related discipline and demonstrated expertise in an area of food, agriculture, or natural resources.

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How to Apply

To apply, please submit:
1) Cover letter outlining proposed plan for mentorship,
This should include contact information for the mentor, proposed dates of collaboration, and outputs expected.
2) Recent CV
3) Research proposal outlining the research project that you will work on with your mentor (max 3 single spaced pages)
4) Letter of recommendation
5) Letter of intent to collaborate from the proposed mentor
6) Budget

Submit to:
Dr. Cheryl Doss
MacMillan Center
Yale University
P.O. Box 208206
New Haven, CT 06520-8206

For Courier service:
34 Hillhouse Avenue

Deadline, September 30th, 2007

For more information, or if you would like to volunteer as a mentor, contact:

Cheryl Doss, Sylvia Lane Fellowship Chair
YCIAS, P.O. Box 208206
New Haven, CT 06520-8206
Cheryl.Doss@yale.edu
203-432-9395

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