By JEREMY STEELE
J Alumni News staff
Front row (kneeling, L-R)--CoJMC students Kate Veik, Jamie Klein and Jenna Gibson Second row (seated, L-R)--Carolyn Johnsen; INTSORMIL Program Manager Joan Frederick; Mali-West Africa scientist Yara Koreissi; Bonnie Pendleton, an entomologist from West Texas A&M; INTSORMIL Accounting Technician Diane Sullivan; and INTSORMIL Program Director Dr. John Yohe. The group behind the first two rows includes scientists from West Africa countries and their U.S. collaborators from Kansas State University and Purdue.
Karoline Kastanek probably isn’t the first college student to discover a new type of beer on spring break — but she may be the only one getting paid to study it.
Kastanek, a CoJMC student, traveled to Ohio State University and learned about a beer not brewed from barley or wheat but from sorghum. The international research and technology behind the beer is what she and six other students will be writing about, thanks to a grant awarded to the J school.
Ohio State was only one destination on the project’s domestic travel list, which also included Purdue University, Kansas State, Texas A&M and West Texas A&M. Three other students traveled to Africa in May to develop feature stories about INTSORMIL scientists and projects.
The college received a $200,000 grant to fund students’ efforts to detail INTSORMIL’s 30-year history in a report that is due in May 2011. The report will detail the international research underway through INTSORMIL, which stands for international sorghum and millet. The headquarters for international efforts to improve these and other grains is located on the first floor of Biochemistry Hall on the UNL East Campus.
During spring break, Kastanek traveled to Ohio State University to learn more about the marketing research for sorghum and millet production in Tanzania and Zambia. Some of the marketing research, such as for sorghum-based clear-beer brewing, is expanding opportunities for farmers in developing countries.
Beer brewed from sorghum is typically cloudy in appearance and less appealing to the consumer. INTSORMIL-driven research at Ohio State is credited for clearing up sorghum-based beer, giving farmers in developing countries new markets for their sorghum. Kastanek reported on how those markets are essential if farmers are to adopt new technologies that will ultimately increase their income and help support their growing populations.
Carolyn Johnsen, a journalism faculty member, and Amy Struthers, an advertising faculty member, applied for the INTSORMIL grant. Johnsen’s 2010 class wrote stories about INTSORMIL’s research; Struthers’ 2011 class will find ways to promote that research.
During the 2010 spring semester, Johnsen’s students polished their skills in science writing and depth reporting.
Kate Veik, one of the three students who traveled to Africa in May, said the biggest challenge during spring semester was translating the science behind INTSORMIL. But she said INTSORMIL scientists are passionate about what they are doing, and their passion is contagious.
One of the stories Veik planned to work on in Africa was how INTSORMIL is making farming more manageable. That means more women and children are able to attend school rather than having to stay home and work on the farm.
Next fall, Struthers and her two advertising students will design and lay out the INTSORMIL 30-year report, using stories and images provided by Johnsen’s students.
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