international students from 94 countries who attended UW-Madison in 2001-02

undergraduate and graduate students who participated in study-abroad programs

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Though his commute can sometimes send him across 13 time zones, Ian Coxhead can think of no better laboratory for his research.

"It is certainly a benefit to wake up in a farmhouse high in the mountains and see the rural scene below me as I begin my day," Coxhead says of his many field trips to developing countries in Southeast Asia.

Coxhead is a professor of agricultural and applied economics and director of UW-Madison's Center for Southeast Asian Studies. He also serves as director of a program that partners a team of researchers and scholars from U.S. universities with policy-makers and researchers in developing countries like the Philippines and Vietnam. The group collaborates on research that is aimed at identifying and promoting strategies for economic and agricultural development that are consistent with protection of the environment and natural resources.

A close working relationship with like-minded researchers in those countries helps lead to policy changes in areas where other international influences have failed.

"We consult with local researchers and policy-makers every step of the way," Coxhead says. "We are successful in the Philippines because we have formed broad coalitions with Philippines-based researchers, communities, and governments at both local and national levels to influence key agencies."

Those research coalitions are helping governments in developing countries to integrate their economic, agricultural, and environmental policies. The results will be cleaner air and water, and less degradation of land and forest resources, all of which have worldwide impact.

"Environmental protection and poverty alleviation go together in developing countries," he says, "and both are associated with economic and political stability. This generates indirect — but nevertheless important — benefits for the United States."

Such international partnerships represent one aspect of UW-Madison's efforts — and strategic plan priorities — to strengthen connections between the university and the world. And in many cases, a student's classroom experience is greatly enhanced by the global activities conducted by faculty and staff.

At the same time that Coxhead is developing new knowledge about the relationship among economics, agriculture, and the environment in developing countries, he is passing on what he learns to the leaders of tomorrow.

"I want to enable students with a narrow economics background to understand broad issues of environment and development," he says. "I want them to understand both the economic and environmental context of their areas of study."