DASNR
International
Student of the Week
Home Country: Mexico
The United Mexican States is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bounded on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the North Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. The United Mexican States comprise a federation of thirty-one states and a federal district, the capital Mexico City, which is one of the world's most populous cities.
Covering almost 2 million square kilometers, Mexico is the fifth-largest country in the Americas by total area and the 14th largest in the world. With an estimated population of 109 million, it is the 11th most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.
As a regional power and the only Latin American member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) since 1994, Mexico is firmly established as an upper middle-income country.
Mexico is the 12th largest economy in the world by gross domestic product (GDP), on par with countries like Canada and Spain, even though income inequality is still high. The economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional: PRI) which had held it since 1929, culminating the political alternation at the federal level, which had begun at the local level during the 1980s.
Agriculture's contribution to GDP fell from 15.1% in 1960 to 10.7% in 1970 and 4% in 2001—yet agriculture employs about 22% of the labor force. Only about 13% of Mexico's total land area is suitable for cultivation, and only 6% is cultivated with permanent crops; over 6.5 million hectares (16 million acres) are irrigated.
In 1960, Mexico became self-sufficient for the first time in corn; it continues to be self-sufficient in beans, rice, sugar, and most fruits and vegetables and fluctuates between being either a net importer or self-sufficient with wheat and corn. The government continues to protect agriculture and to ensure domestic consumption through import and export duties and controls. The government supports the prices of corn, wheat, beans, and fresh eggs and then sells these and other farm products at minimal prices through retail stores operated by the National Corporation for Public Subsidies.
Luis Burciaga-Robles
February 5 , 2008
|
|
From the Department of Animal Science
This week’s international student of the week is Luis O. Burciaga-Robles. He is a PhD student in Animal Nutrition. Luis was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. He speaks Spanish and English.
Above Luis' mother and brother Luis is doing research in the effects of bovine respiratory disease; he will graduate in December 2008. Luis is a member of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners and the American Society of Animal Science. Luis spends his free time doing exercises and he is also a Border Collie breeder. He came to USA to pursue his graduate education. He choose OSU because it has the best program in the world in ruminant nutrition/health interactions in finishing beef cattle. Luis strongly believes that without his mother, he and his brother (Jesus) couldn’t make it so far in their personal and professional lives. His brother, who is Luis’s biggest example in life, is a PhD student in Education at New Mexico State University. Luis future plans are to graduate from the PhD program and continue his education with a Post-Doc in the same research area he has been involved. He would like to contribute in the education of future professional animal scientists and researchers.
Above Luis and Dr. Essie Raun during the Animal Science Banquet in 2005. Most outstanding International Student in Department of Animal Science. His major professor is Dr. Clint Krehbiel. However since Luis is graduating soon, he wants to thanks all people who have been involved in his graduate education. Including the members of his committee: Dr. D.L. Step, Dr. A.W. Confer, Dr. J. Ritchie from Vet Medicine and Dr. Gerald Horn. He also thanks Dr. Jack Dillwith for mentoring him and allowing him to use his lab. He also thanks his friends and former graduate students Ben Holland, Jake Cranston, and Math McMcurdy. Last but no least Luis really appreciates the collaboration of all people in the Willard Sparks Beef Cattle Research Center and Nutrition and the Physiology Barn. Advice to other International Students: “Every reality started with a dream” Interview by Sandra Rodriguez
.
|
