Mercy Elohor Diebiru, a third year PhD student of the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) has been selected as a Fellow of the Norman E. Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Programme (LEAP) of the US Government’s Feed the Future 21st Leadership Programme. Miss Diebiru is a Researcher at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
For her PhD research programme at WACCI, she is working on ‘Rapid Breeding Cycle for Cassava’.
Miss. Diebiru is being recognized by LEAP for her promise and potential in the area of agriculture. According to the Director of Borlaug LEAP, Susan Johnson, Miss. Diebiru in her application and interview showed strong promise as a leader in the field of agriculture and her research demonstrated potential to make an impact in developing countries and honor Dr. Borlaug’s achievements. Funding for the Borlaug LEAP Fellowship is provided by the United StatesAgency for International Development.
The Norman E. Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program (Borlaug LEAP) awards fellowships to outstanding graduate students who show strong promise as leaders in the field of agriculture and related disciplines. The Borlaug LEAP Fellowship honors Dr. Norman Borlaug whose distinguished career epitomized the qualities of leadership, scholarship, scientific achievement, international cooperation, mentoring and passion.
The fellowship program was designed with input from Dr. Borlaug and was greatly influenced by his experiences at both US universities and further work at CIMMYT. He felt strongly that mentoring by a US university faculty member and a CGIAR scientist offered differing perspectives that have a positive impact on a person's career.