Timothy Silberg, doctoral student in the Department of Community Sustainability, is interested in learning about the social and ecological processes that operate in farming systems among the rural poor. 

“As an aspiring agroecologist, I have led numerous activities that promote interdisciplinary and participatory action research,” Silberg said.  “The objective of these activities is to overcome conventional top-down approaches for addressing global food security.” 

Prior to his Ph.D. program, he managed development projects in the Caribbean and Central Africa.  Since joining MSU, he has been involved with several studies investigating technology adoption among smallholder farmers. 

Silberg has received several grants, fellowships, and awards for his research at MSU.  Last year he was awarded the U.S. Borlaug Fellows in Global Food Security Grant, which supports students that will research local institutions and farming livelihoods abroad.  Additionally, he received the award for best research paper by a doctoral student at the International Association for Society and Natural Resources (IASNR) symposium. 

He currently serves as a fellow for the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD) and the U.S. Borlaug Food Security Research Society.  As an AIARD fellow, Silberg promotes greater interaction between private and public organizations engaged in international development.  As a Borlaug fellow, he is leading a six-month research project that will conduct crop trials and choice experiments with over 100 Malawian farmers.  The findings aim to inform crop scientists from the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics how to improve agricultural extension.  In addition to his fellowship responsibilities, he is a member of the System Dynamics Society (SDS), where he bridges new working relationships between systems modeling departments, domestically and internationally.  

At MSU, Silberg has been involved a variety of activities that extend his experiences to undergraduates. He has given several lectures in the Department of Community Sustainability covering the topics of project management and the assessment of local institutions to better understand agricultural problems that the international community has failed to address.  In addition to these lectures, he is involved with MSU’s Global Change Lab, which builds capacities of poor farmers to adapt to global change.      

“Depending upon the activity, leadership opportunities are quintessential for professional development,” Silberg said.  “Many times, these activities move beyond scholastic training and teach students how to manage research projects in terms of their employees and finances.  Such activities can encourage students to work independently, preparing them for careers after college.”

Silberg plans to use the $2,000 COGS Leadership Endowment Fellowship award to support any needs, such as software and training, for his research; to fund avenues that share findings from his study with its participants; and to fund travel to conferences and workshops for collaborative purposes.  

“It is truly humbling to receive the COGS Disciplinary Leadership Award for interdisciplinary scholarship and agroecology,” Silberg said.  “As a student in the Department of Community of Sustainability, I believe this award stands as an example of the value cross-disciplinary collaboration has in international agricultural research.”