Skip to main content

Cornell University

Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition

Tag: TCI Scholars

Combating open defecation through a community-led sanitation approach in rural India

Every year, 188,000 children under five in India die due to diarrhea-related illnesses. This catastrophic burden on children’s health is largely due to the fact that over a third of the Indian population defecates in the open. Open defecation (OD)…

Why Fieldwork Matters

At the Tata-Cornell Institute (TCI), doing applied, on-the-ground research is a serious part of our mission. We believe that academic rigor and fieldwork go hand in hand. In this panel, Tata-Cornell Scholars discuss what they’ve gained from their experiences conducting…
A man selling tomatoes

Quality or quantity? Defining food loss and waste along the fruit and vegetable value chain

The FAO estimates that “one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally” (FAO, 2011). As I went about my summer exploratory work on food loss in India, I spent time reflecting on how ‘food loss and…

Decoding open defecation: Relevance of early findings for field and policy

In my previous blog, I described the prevalence and predicaments of open defecation (OD) in India. For my PhD thesis, I am working with GDS to make villages open defecation free (ODF) by investing in construction of toilets as well…
TCI tarina logo

Video Coverage for 2017 Annual Celebration

At the end of each year, the Tata-Cornell Institute holds a special event to publically report on our research findings as well as to share project updates from our field locations in India. We also launch our Annual Report.  The…

Micronutrient transmission from soils to humans

They say “we are what we eat” but can it be that we are what the soil is? Soil forms the foundation of the food we eat. It also serves as the main reservoir of the water we drink, making…

Interacting with value chain actors: What to do when your research subjects have work to do

Levels of food loss are product and value chain specific. An important first step in determining methods and metrics to evaluate food loss of perishables was to identify the product (or products) and map the value chains. The objective of…

TCI Featured in Cornell Alumni Magazine

The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) is profiled in the November/December 2019 issue of Cornell Alumni Magazine. “It Takes a Village” explores the ways that TCI faculty and students work to fight malnutrition, poor sanitation, stunted growth, and…

Five TCI Scholars Earn PhDs

Five scholars from the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) completed their PhDs over the past few months, despite restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shiuli Vanaja, Anthony Wenndt, Kathryn Merckel, Fatma Rekik, and Rohil Bhatnagar each earned their…