On assignment from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Douglas Casson Coutts is a Distinguished Visiting Professor, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, College of Human Sciences at Auburn University . He is developing and teaching Auburn's first undergraduate course on "World Hunger: Causes, Consequences and Responses", assisting in designing a Hunger Studies Minor area of study, helping to establish an International Institute of Global Hunger at Auburn, supporting "Universities Fighting World Hunger" (UFWH), a joint partnership with WFP and Auburn University with 70 university members in North America, and is a guest lecturer at UFWH member universities. 

As Special Advisor on Child Hunger to WFP's Executive Director, he was previously based in Washington, D.C., and charged with working with institutions in North America as part of the new global Child Hunger Initiative being developed by WFP in conjunction with UNICEF and the World Bank. Within this framework, he was supporting efforts to launch an outreach and advocacy program with institutions of higher learning and was the WFP manager responsible for the WFP/Auburn University partnership and UFWH. He was also part of a team formulating a strategy for corporate partnership development in North America in support of WFP humanitarian and development operations worldwide.  

Mr. Coutts has more than 24 years of experience with WFP, more recently as Country Director for Bangladesh, where he oversaw the organization's single-largest development operation in the world – embracing integrated food security, school feeding and refugee operations, nutritional support and HIV/AIDS awareness/community health programs. He has represented WFP all over the world, including a stint in 1997-98 as the UN's first Humanitarian Coordinator for North Korea, responsible for implementing what at the time was WFP's biggest emergency operation and he has worked with UN peacekeeping operations in Africa. He also served as WFP Country Director in Nepal and Namibia , and as WFP's Representative to the United Nations, USA and Canada based in New York .  

An Eagle Scout, he has been active in the Boy Scouts of America for many years as a Scoutmaster of BSA troops in Kathmandu , Nepal and Dhaka , Bangladesh . Mr. Coutts has also coached ice hockey and rollerblade hockey in Westchester County, NY, North Korea and Nepal .  

Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Coutts worked as a founding member of the professional staff of the Select Committee on Hunger in the US House of Representatives, and as an economist with the US Department of Agriculture. Previously, he has also managed international education programs at both Carnegie Mellon University and Georgetown University . He holds Masters' degrees from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and Universite Laval in Quebec, Canada and a Bachelor's Degree with honor from Michigan State University (Justin Morrill College).

Amanda Savrda, a native of Auburn, AL, received her Bachelor of Science degree in Geology in 2008 from Auburn University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and as a University Honors Scholar. In addition to her service to the College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM) as the 2007-2008 President of Auburn’s Association for Women in Science, Amanda made the most of her time at Auburn through her participation in a number of undergraduate research projects. In 2008, she was honored by COSAM as the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research for her laboratory bioremediation studies of acid-mine drainage. Selected as a 2007-2008 COSAM Undergraduate Research Fellow, Amanda had the opportunity to synthesize gravity and seismic data to create an updated and comprehensive model of the structure of the crust beneath the Alabama Gulf Coastal Plain.
In August of 2008, Amanda began pursuit of a Masters degree in Geology at the University of South Carolina, where she is part of an international team of geoscientists seeking to better understand global climate change through time as part of a project supported by the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs. As part of her research, Amanda spent a month in Antarctica in December of 2008 and January of 2009 collecting samples with logistical support from the British Antarctic Survey based at Rothera Research Station. Recognizing the importance of the role of women in the world of science, and following her passion for teaching, research, and outreach, Amanda hopes to eventually obtain her PhD in Geology and to one day be a professor and researcher.