Gifts at Work

Focused on the environment

They may be enthusiastic coffee house patrons, but it's doubtful many Michigan students think twice about the future of the global coffee trade. That's not the case with Heidi Liere, right, one of six 2007 Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute (GESI) Graduate Fellows. She spends her days analyzing how environmentally-sensitive techniques can be applied to keep insect herbivores below damaging levels on coffee plantations. The Guatemala native and Michigan Ph.D. candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology works as part of a research team studying coffee agroecosystems in Chiapas, Mexico. The team is attempting to determine whether the complex relationship between ants, ladybeetles and the green scale, a troublesome pest for coffee growers, could reveal a natural means of pest control. "The Graham fellowship, with matching funds from my department, is giving me the opportunity to focus on this research for two full years, rather than just the summers," Liere said. "That's so important." Established with a $5.25 million leadership gift from Donald (BSEIE ’55, MSE ’56) and Ingrid Graham (BS DES ’57), of York, Penn., and matching funds from the Provost’s Office, the GESI promotes multidisciplinary research and education throughout the University.