9810300 Ford The International Research Fellow Awards Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty- four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a twelve-month postdoctoral research visit by Dr. Garry Ford to work with Dr. Erick C. M. Fernandes at the International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Ford is going to identify indigenous medicinal plants and develop soil and plant management techniques to aid in their domestication and use in agroforestry systems. He will do an ethnobotanical survey of plants, in the Embu and Machakos districts of Kenya, that are used by the local people as medicines. A detailed plant-material survey will be conducted for the selected phytomedicinal plant species to determine their ecotype range. Also geo-referenced data sets will be gathered for each species and compiled in a geographic information system (GIS) software package. This information will be useful to gain knowledge of agromedicinals and mechanisms for their conservation at the community level. In addition to collaborating with Dr. Fernandes, Dr. Ford will have the opportunity to further his studies by attending international bioresources/natural products workshops and conferences held in Kenya and other parts of Africa, fostering collaborations with his African colleagues. ***
