A multidisciplinary team of researchers that includes two professors from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to study poverty in Malawi, Africa.

Brent McCusker, assistant professor of geography, is the principal investigator, and Joseph Hodge, assistant professor of history, is the co-principal investigator.

Other team members include Edward Carr, Department of Geography, University of South Carolina; Monica Fisher, Department of Applied Economics, Oregon State University; and James Chimphamba, Department of Geography, University of Malawi-Zomba.

There were 22 applicants for funding from the NSF s Human Social Dynamics priority area, and the Malawi project was one of only two selected.

The project is exploratory, which means that if the initial research funded by this grant is successful, it will be eligible for a large-scale research grant in the future.

The National Science Foundation liked the fact that our project was multidisciplinary with a robust methodological approach and a commitment to field work,McCusker said.

The NSF awarded the team $10,000 more than they requested, which will enable three undergraduate students to participate in the research trip.

The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences matched the $10,000, and the geology and geography and history departments each provided $3,000 to fund student travel and research.

Eight or nine studentsundergraduate and graduatewill participate in a monthlong trip to Malawi in July.

Applications for interested students are currently being accepted. The deadline to apply is Friday (Nov. 9).

First priority will be given to students who are history or geology and geography majors followed by other students in the Eberly College. There will also be spots open to students from any undergraduate major. More information can be found online at http://www.as.wvu.edu/documents/flyer_1.pdf .

The purpose of the project is to examine reasons for poverty at the household level. The teams research will focus on 200 households, which they will visit four times over the course of a year. The team will explore how climate change is affecting Southern Africa and how individualslevels of vulnerability change in reaction to their environment.

This information will help the researchers advise policy makers about how the people in their country will be affected by climate change and will allow them to develop and implement policy solutions that make sense for their particular culture and environment.

McCusker also suggests that this research could have implications for policy in West Virginia, a state that struggles economically and deals with high levels of poverty.

Students will assist the team and have the opportunity to learn research techniques through household interviews, archival research and oral histories, land-use change mapping using GIS and GPS , and comparative gender interviews.

The Malawi project is an outgrowth of earlier research work in Africa by McCusker and Hodge.

After visits to South Africa in 1994 and Malawi in 2003 for conferences on land use and climate change issues, McCusker pursued the establishment of an official linkage between WVU and the University of Malawi-Zomba.

McCusker and Hodge visited South Africa in 2006 and 2007 with funding from an Eberly College Award for Research Team Scholarship. This seed money allowed them to explore what would need to be done to make the current project more attractive to funders.

McCusker credits the support from the Eberly College for these earlier trips with helping to obtain the current grant money.

We were awarded $3,000 from the Eberly College in 2003, which helped us get the $29,000 for my and Dr. Hodges trips to Africa in 2006 and 2007, and now the NSF grant is worth $135,000,he said.We hope this work leads to a larger grant.

McCusker also emphasizes the importance of contributing to the Malawian society while they are there.

Every time he visits, McCusker teaches a course at the University of Malawi, and this summer, WVU students will mentor students in Malawi.

We dont just want to come in, do our research and leave while the citizens of Malawi are there wondering what that was all about,he said.This is an agreement among equals.