Cornell University dedicated the "Frosty" Hill Fellowship to the memory of Dr. Forrest F. Hill, co-founder of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), in honor of his significant contributions to the application of agricultural sciences in addressing critical world food problems.

  • Funding: up to $2,500 to support CALS faculty and/or graduate students who are interested in collaborating with one of the CGIAR centers.
  • Travel support allocations will be awarded particularly for spending time at a CGIAR center that has special value for the applicant and for College programs.
  • Deadline: letters of application due October 15, 2020
  • All CALS faculty and graduate students are eligible to apply.

Global Development can assist faculty and graduate students in making contacts at the CGIAR centers. "Frosty" Hill grants should contribute as much as possible to increasing the capacities of CALS faculty and graduate students to incorporate international experience and knowledge into their teaching, research and/or outreach activities.

Applications must include the following:

  • A letter, from the applicant, not over two pages in length and provide information on the dates, nature and location of the proposed travel for study, and the value of such study and travel for the College as well as the applicant. The letter should make a compelling case for how the applicant's research fits the mission of the Frosty Hill program (see below) – i.e., it should specifically describe how the applicant will engage with a specific CGIAR center, and how this interaction will present novel learning and / or research opportunities for the applicant. The fellowship is not intended to fund travel for on-going collaborations. Please include a budget reflecting the amount of support being requested and how the funds will be used as well as any co-funding applied for or secured.
  • A letter from a representative of the CGIAR center who will act in an advisory or supervisory role for a student, or as the primary liaison for the faculty member, indicating what support the CGIAR center will provide to the applicant, and agreeing to host the applicant.
  • For graduate students: a letter of recommendation from their advisor is also required.
  • For faculty: an informational copy of their letter should be sent to the chair of their department. An endorsement from the chair supporting the request, indicating how this travel will strengthen the department's program, is required. Faculty will need to include a statement about how their responsibilities will be covered during their absence.
  • Letters of application should be submitted by October 15th, 2020 to International Programs, B75 Mann Library – marked Attn: Sr. Associate Director. Electronic copies may be sent to Danielle Poole (dp84), with the subject 'Frosty Hill Fellowship application.' Please address any questions to Devon Jenkins (dlj67). The Sr. Associate Director will be coordinating the review process. Awards will be announced by November 25, 2020.

The number of awards that can be made will depend on number of applications and amount of funding being requested.

"Frosty" Hill was one of the founders and leaders of the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research). In the 1960s, while vice president for overseas operations of the Ford Foundation, he collaborated with George Harrar of the Rockefeller Foundation to establish IRRI (International Rice Research Institute), CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), IITA (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture), and CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture). In 1971 he was instrumental in gaining international support for the creation of the CGIAR Secretariat. His contribution to the system continued through his membership on various CGIAR center boards.

Reflecting on his career in 1983, Dr. Hill (known as "Frosty" by his colleagues) told an interviewer, "I obtained more satisfaction from the work with the international research groups than anything else I have done in my lifetime. There is now in existence an international network of agricultural research institutes that work on all the principal food crops. If population continues to increase at its present rate, it is difficult to see how we will avoid being out of food in the years ahead, but some time has been gained in which to try to solve the problem."

In addition to his work with the Ford Foundation and the CGIAR, "Frosty" Hill had a distinguished academic career. At Cornell University, he was professor and chair of the Department of Agricultural Economics, and later, University Provost. He served as president of the American Agricultural Economics Association and was a Fellow of the Association. His dedication to agricultural development, and his conviction that education is essential to this process, was rooted in his early work on limited-resource farming in New York State.