Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Ahmanson Intern Award winner sees hope for solving hunger, poverty

When Diane Brown visited Mexico on a research trip, she made an important discovery.

Herself.

What began as an internship ended in growth, aspirations, and a prestigious award for the motivated student, whose double major of chemical engineering and Spanish reflects her expanded outlook on life.

“I love chemistry,” says Brown, who is in her second year at Iowa State. “I also love making things happen, which is what engineers do every day. Chemical engineering is perfect for me.” 

Today, when Brown thinks about Mexico, she thinks about her love of the people and culture and her desire to return there one day. She also recognizes her own talent for helping others and sees engineering as a way to put that talent to work.

That’s a big step from ninth-grade biology at Johnston High School in Iowa. It was then that Brown learned about the World Food Prize Youth Institute from a flier posted in class.

“I saw a flier announcing that my school was looking for a student interested in writing a research paper for the 2003 World Food Prize Symposium Youth Institute on the issue of hunger in the developing world,” she recalls. “I thought that it would be a great opportunity so I signed up.”

After attending the international symposium hosted in Des Moines as a sophomore, Brown discovered that she was interested in sustainability. She saw hunger and poverty as problems that she could work to fix.

Brown’s symposium experience made her eligible to apply for the Borlaug-Ruan International Internship, a program for selected students to participate in a research project with world-renowned researchers. She saw an opportunity to travel and work on a meaningful project. As part of the application, Brown ranked locations and fields of interest.

“I said on my preference sheet that they could send me anywhere as long as I wasn’t working with livestock or bugs,” Brown explains.

The selection process was rigorous. After the initial application materials were submitted, the top 20 candidates were interviewed by the World Food Prize staff. In the end, Brown was one of twelve interns chosen.

Brown left Iowa from the Des Moines International Airport on June 17, 2006. Her destination was the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in El Batán, Mexico, where she would research the DNA of corn and wheat for eight weeks.

“I had a good introduction to corn from working at the Pioneer Hi-Bred International Headquarters in Johnston during summer 2005 through May 2006,” Brown says.

As an intern at CIMMYT, Brown’s job consisted of gaining a better understanding of food security issues and helping the center as much as she could. Her research included developing a procedure to test the DNA quality of corn and wheat samples from the Gene Bank that had experienced evaporation. Brown’s task was to determine whether the samples could be salvaged.

In addition to working at the center, Brown visited farm sites. Pioneer was a sponsor and sent two employees to visit farms with her.

“I was amazed by the lack of mechanization,” Brown says. “We started the day by going to a farm that used pretty modern techniques such as chemical fertilizer, pesticides, and mechanization. As the day progressed, the quality of the crop management decreased. There were more weeds, poor water control, and more bugs. We even visited a farm where the alfalfa crop had been planted at the wrong time. I gained new insight into the food security issues faced by Mexican farmers.”

Brown also had the opportunity to travel around Mexico. Her favorite location was Mexico City because of its contrasts.

“You could be walking in a shantytown and just blocks away, you would be walking on what appeared to be the nicest street in the whole city,” recalls Brown. “I remember the street because it had the fenced U.S. Embassy and two Starbucks. I thought it was funny that a Starbucks was right by the embassy.”

Soon after her return to the United States, Brown began her first year at Iowa State.

“I was hesitant about coming to Iowa State since I’m from Des Moines,” Brown recalls. “When I was looking at schools, I had a list of things that were important to me. One was quality of education; two, quality of people; and three, facilities. Iowa State fit all of these criteria. Despite my initial hesitation, Mexico helped me realize what was important.”

In addition to two majors Brown participates in several organizations, such as her sorority, Alpha Sigma Kappa—Women in Technical Studies, where she has served as the philanthropy chair and was recently elected vice president. Brown is also the supplemental instruction leader for Chemical Engineering 210 and a mentor with the Engineering Leadership Program.

Through her experience in Mexico, Brown acquired several skills that have helped her both in college and in the workplace. Her experience with research was applied during her internship with Honeywell in summer 2007. Although her job at Honeywell was very different from her internship in Mexico—involving polymers and plastics—the transition from researching corn to working with polymers was easy.

“Mexico taught me to cope and thrive in a new situation,” Brown says. “I was also able to communicate effectively with my co-workers.”

Brown’s coping skills will be helpful as she interns with General Mills during the summer of 2008. She will also be able to use some of the insights she acquired in Mexico because she will once again be working with food.

Brown’s work in Mexico also has resulted in recognition. Recently, she was awarded the Ahmanson Intern Award by the World Food Prize Youth Institute for her research. This award acknowledges her commitment to increasing awareness of world food security problems.

“Receiving the award doesn’t change my experience—my life had already been changed,” Brown says. “It does, however, let me know that the work that I was doing is not only important to me. It means that other people think that it is important.”

Although Brown welcomes the recognition, she knows that she has a long road ahead of her. As she continues her studies at Iowa State, she dreams of working at a research or academic institution where, maybe one day, she can contribute to solutions for hunger and poverty.