Cal Poly Professor to Help Restore Canning Factory in Iraq This Summer

Professor Hany Khalil SAN LUIS OBISPO – Hany Khalil, a professor of food science at Cal Poly, will spend his summer in Balad, Iraq, helping to restore a canning factory.

Khalil will leave June 19 for Iraq. There, he will lend his food processing expertise to USAID’s Provincial Reconstruction Team in its efforts to rebuild the country’s economy.

He will work with the Inma Agribusiness Project, focusing his efforts on the Balad Canning Factory, 65 kilometers north of Baghdad. He will help to restore the factory to its pre-war operational status and expand the market for the company’s products.

“Although Iraq is not a secure country in which to work, I believe that sometimes one has to step outside one’s comfort zone in order to make a difference,” Khalil said. “Unless we help rebuild the economy in Iraq, security for U.S. and Iraqi citizens will remain elusive.”

Khalil has taught at Cal Poly for 22 years. He is active in international agriculture development, having worked in more than 20 countries during that time, including Armenia, Brazil, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Macedonia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Russia, Ukraine and Paraguay. This summer will be his first trip to Iraq.

Khalil believes Cal Poly faculty members have the practical expertise needed for development work. In 2005 he and a colleague at Fresno State University started the California State University Consortium for International Development, or CSU CID. The group aims to help government and non-government development agencies in implementing projects overseas with help from CSU faculty. Khalil is executive director. Other member universities are Cal Poly Pomona, Chico State and Humboldt State.

For more on CSU CID, visit http://www.csucid.com/.

For more on USAID’s Inma Agribusiness project, visit www.inma-iraq.com.

Khalil will be available for interviews prior to June 6 and after he returns to Cal Poly for the fall 2009 quarter. For more information, contact Khalil at 805-756-2852 or hkahlil@calpoly.edu.

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