Office for Global Engagement

International Activities

International Faculty Education

• Netherlands: Sabbatical, University of Utrecht, University of Utrecht, 1996

International Research

• China: Dr. Herron visited China during October 2009 as a participant in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - China Ministry of Agriculture Exchange Program. He was part of USDA Team 4 with expertise in the area of "Rapid Detection Technologies For Food Safety, Environmental and Agricultural Applications". One of Dr. Herron's research interests is rapid diagnostics testing for use in near patient settings. This technology can also be used for rapid detection of pathogens in water, food, etc. Team 4 comprised five members, including two academics (Dr. Herron; Dr. Xunde Lu, UC-Davis) and three industrial scientists/businessmen (Dr. Aiping Wei, Agri-Analysis, Davis, CA; Christian Iverson, Quansys Biosciences, Logan, UT; Benjamin Pascal, Invisible Sentinel, Philadelphia, PA). A summary of the exchange program experience is given below: During the two-week exchange, the team visited three provincial Agricultural Departments and/or Commissions; one municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, two top agricultural universities, two research and quality control Institutes; and five major Companies. Team held in depth discussion with scientists from both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The team also had the opportunity to visit the Agricultural Attaches at the Agricultural Affairs Office at the US Embassy in Beijing. Through these meetings and exchanges, the team gained a better understanding of China’s regulations, major concerns and current situations of food and agricultural safety needs. From our discussions it is apparent that China has a good food safety testing program that has been developed and implemented during the last couple of decades. It is also apparent that the system could become more efficient and effective with the introduction of new rapid detection technologies. Both the team and the Chinese partners expressed interests of further follow-up and cooperation in areas of mutual interest. As part of the exchange program, Dr. Herron presented an overview of his rapid detection technology entitled "Rapid testing using Planar Waveguide Biosensors" to several different government and industrial groups including: 1) Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangzhou); 2) Guangzhou Agriculture Department (Guangzhou); 3) Fenghua Diagnostics (Guangzhou); 4) Daan Gene Company (Guangzhou); 5) 3M China R&D Center (Shanghai); and 6) Shanghai Applied Protein Technologies Co. Ltd. (Shanghai)., 10/10/2009-10/24/2009

International Teaching

• China: During the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - China Ministry of Agriculture Exchange Program described below in Collegial Time Abroad, Dr. Herron presented a lecture entitled "Rapid testing using Planar Waveguide Biosensors" at several different universities: 1) Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Electronics, Key Lab of Transducer Technology (Beijing); 2) Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (Beijing); 3) China Agricultural University, College of Food Science & Nutritional Engineering (Beijing); and 4) Northwest Agriculture & Forestry University (Yangling)., 10/10/2009-10/24/2009

Countries and Regions of Interest

• China
• Netherlands