1.6 billion people worldwide still use kerosene as their exclusive source of light. Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni are working to replace these lanterns with high-quality and affordable light and power solutions.

Tagged: International Initiative, International Issues, Public Service, Business

Stanford's Presidential Fund for Innovation in International Studies has made grants to five new interdisciplinary faculty projects.  The projects will examine China's environmental protection efforts, investigate ties between climate change and civil conflict in poor countries, fight the effects of anemia on the academic performance of Chinese children, develop curriculum units on infectious pandemic diseases, and study the effects of international migration on human well-being.

Tagged: International Initiative, International Issues, Earth Sciences, Education, Engineering, Humanities & Sciences, Law, Medicine

Stanford political science Professor Michael McFaul has been tapped by President Barack Obama to serve as special assistant to the president for National Security Affairs and senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs at the National Security Council.

Tagged: International Initiative, International Issues, Humanities & Sciences

In developing nations, where at least 20 million low-birth-weight babies are born every year, incubators are important lifesaving devices. The problem? They typically cost a cool $20,000, plus you need to plug them in. Two years ago, a team of Stanford students figured out how to take electricity out of the equation while whittling that price tag down to a mere $25

Tagged: International Initiative, poverty, premature birth, Human Health, International Issues, Business, Engineering

Rapidly warming climate is likely to seriously alter crop yields in the tropics and subtropics by the end of this century and, without adaptation, leave half of the world's population facing serious food shortages, according to a study published in the Jan. 9 edition of the journal Science.

Tagged: climate change, farming, food, International Initiative, poverty, Environment & Sustainability, International Issues, Earth Sciences

VIDEO: Graduate student Viviana Gradinaru is combining neuroscience and bioengineering to study the human body's circuits. Binyamin Blum, a student in history and law, is studying the transplantation of English common law into the Middle East between World Wars I & II. This work has potential to inform current policy debates about introducing the rule of law abroad.

Tagged: fellowships, Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships, International Initiative, neuroscience, rule of law, Human Health, International Issues, Engineering, Humanities & Sciences, Law, Medicine

Ellen Jo Baron, PhD, knows how to improvise. As a volunteer microbiology advisor in Nepal, she's had to reuse old whiskey bottles to culture blood. So it should come as no surprise that she's revolutionizing microbiology instruction in the developing world with a few plastic binders.

Tagged: International Initiative, microbiology, Human Health, International Issues, Medicine

Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy frequents the world's trouble spots to give the voiceless a global hearing.

Tagged: Afghanistan, alumni, filmmaking, International Initiative, Iraq, Arts & Creativity, International Issues, Humanities & Sciences

When a developing country opens its stock market to foreign capital, it usually helps more than just big business. A recent study of 18 nations found that typical workers saw their real wages rise seven times faster after the inflow of foreign capital.

Tagged: International Initiative, poverty, productivity, stock market, International Issues, Business

Roughly 75% of people living in poverty worldwide are in rural areas where they often lack access to the electricity that could be used to improve farm yields. Stanford researchers are working on a program to bring solar-powered drip irrigation to Benin and assess its effectiveness.

Tagged: Africa, farming, International Initiative, poverty, solar, Environment & Sustainability, International Issues, Earth Sciences