PhD from North Carolina State University
Graduate fields: Animal Science, Animal Breeding, International Agriculture & Rural Development
Area(s) of interest: livestock production in developing countries
Teaching:
- Livestock in Tropical Systems, AS 4000
- Experience Latin America I: Bridging Worlds: Rural and Urban Realities - Mexico edition, IARD 4010
- Experience Latin America II: Chiapas Edition - Mexico edition, IARD 6010
- Experience Latin America course platform
- Director, Latin American Studies Program
Current Research:
Dr. Blake poses with some Cornell graduate students in the Ethiopia Master's program where he taught a course in April of 2008 as they take a break near the Blue Nile, or Tis Abay, falls during a class field trip to nearby farms. Tis Abay means "smoke of the Nile."
This research and outreach program is the product of close collaboration between the Department of Animal Science, other contributors to the multidisciplinary field of International Agriculture and Rural Development, CALS' International Programs, the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD), and various institutions in the tropics. In a broad sense, the focus is on issues involving natural resource management and sustainable food systems.
Research is aimed at economic, nutritional and genetic management of livestock and mixed farming systems in Latin America and Africa. Emphasis within a holistic framework includes:
- Modeling and validation in the livestock nutrition and land use components of agricultural systems, esp., local feeds to improve productivity of animal, land, labor and capital resources; and
- Genetic-environmental interactions influencing breeding strategies to realistically match genetic potentials with environmental possibilities.
Information about recent collaborations on Decision Support of Ruminant Livestock Systems in the Gulf Region of Mexico is available on the TIES website.