Mpala Research Center Unveils its New Strategic Plan

Conservationist Paula Kahumbu *02 has fond memories of a rustic one-month research trip on a Kenyan riverbank near a cattle ranch in 1994. She and 10 other graduate students slept in tents and spent their time researching, hauling water for camp, and cooking over an open flame. The scholars were also blazing a path toward what would become the Mpala Research Centre, now celebrating its 30th anniversary. Working under the guidance of Daniel Rubenstein, Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology, Emeritus, Kahumbu, who is now the CEO of conservation nonprofit WildlifeDirect, recalls the field trip as “one of the major highlights of my Ph.D. program.”

A lot has happened at Mpala since then. Reflecting on the center’s history, its executive director, Winnie Kiiru P14, a renowned conservationist, said, “If I think of Mpala as a young person, I see a past that was very adventurous because it was very unstructured — shaped by curiosity, freedom, and adventure.” Now, considering the center’s many long-term ecological experiments, its nearly 800 peer-reviewed publications, and the rollout of its first strategic plan this year, she said it’s clear Mpala is “all grown up” and ready to start an ambitious new chapter. “There are certain areas we want to stay true to, such as research on savannah ecology, but we want to include other areas of research and welcome many more people to Mpala.”

After George Small ’43 decided to transform his massive cattle ranch in central Kenya into a research center, several nonprofits and governmental organizations worked together over decades to realize his vision. Those partnerships have kept the center afloat, but eventually, the need for a primary managing partner became clear. Princeton formally stepped into this role in 2021, working alongside Mpala’s long-time collaborating organizations: the Smithsonian Institution, Kenya’s Wildlife Research and Training Institute, Kenya Wildlife Service, and National Museums of Kenya.

Aly Kassam-Remtulla, vice provost for international affairs, who oversees the center and is chair of its board of directors, has steered substantial infrastructure improvements in recent years, such as constructing a solar-power plant; adding and improving wells, dams, and roadways; upgrading facilities and laboratories; overhauling information technology; and adding leadership and staff positions. “We’ve been moving from an organic and responsive approach to a forward-thinking, strategic perspective,” he said. Mpala has also clarified its purpose: to advance inquiry into society’s most consequential issues through research and teaching with real-world applicability.

The strategic plan unfurls many new initiatives, including a 10-year campus master plan that will support an increased number of researchers. Other priorities include closer collaboration with local stakeholders, greater dissemination of research findings, and increased visibility and impact in Kenya. “The thing that gets me most excited is the opportunity to improve access and affordability for Kenyan and African scholars,” Kassam-Remtulla said. “Africa needs more scientists. If we look at the challenges that the continent is going to face in the decades ahead, there is a need for more local scientists and scholars who can best harness opportunities and develop sustainable solutions.”

These changes present great opportunities for Princeton, according to Kassam-Remtulla, who said that through enhanced infrastructure and capacity, Mpala can support faculty members from a range of disciplines in engineering, social science, and the humanities, in addition to the natural scientists who have been the most active researchers. This, in turn, expands opportunities for graduate dissertations and undergraduate independent work and opens up the possibility for earlier exposure for first- and second-year undergraduates, he says.

Princeton Dean of the Graduate School Rodney Priestly, a biological and chemical engineer, works with grad students Charlotte Knapp and Yoon Chang during a recent trip to Mpala

Grace Penn ’99, associate director for international affairs and operations, sees Princeton’s endorsement and investments in the strategic plan as a sign of a larger trend. She said that Princeton’s increasing focus on Africa, its commitments to Mpala, and the recently created Africa World Initiative “signal an understanding that Africa is going to be playing a huge role in our world going forward.”

Provost Jennifer Rexford ’91 highlights how Mpala’s geography is well situated for students and faculty from a range of disciplines to study the many facets of climate change and its impact on ecology. “If you look at a lot of the priorities and strategic investments for the University right now — whether it's AI or environmental studies, engineering, design — a lot of those intersect very naturally with Mpala,” Rexford said. She will chair a new executive committee that will help guide Princeton’s strategy for the center’s future. Other committee members include a large cohort drawn from President Christopher L. Eisgruber’s cabinet, who will help “identify areas that are mutually of interest to the folks at Mpala and Princeton,” she said.

Kahumbu previewed the strategic plan for Mpala with approximately 80 others from around the world at an event in August 2024. The open engagement, she said, “proves that Mpala leadership is listening and caring.” She was especially glad to see an effort to remove financial barriers for more Africans to do research at the center and concluded that she believes Mpala will play a key role in positioning the continent and its people at the center of “innovation, research, and relevant problem-solving for Africa and the world, particularly in the climate space,” she said.

A Sampling of Mpala’s Long-Term Projects:

Princeton Zebra Project: 30 Years
Peer-reviewed publications: ~65
Principal Investigator: Daniel Rubenstein (Princeton University)
Did you know? Early work on Mpala’s zebras revealed two varieties: The plains zebra that live in permanent family groups, and the Grevy’s zebra, which show more social flexibility. Recent work has shown that plains zebras avoid areas where livestock graze heavily, while Grevy’s zebras prefer the short grass that livestock create, offering hope that people and their herds can share the landscape and help sustain this endangered zebra.

Kenya Long-term Exclosure Project (KLEE): 29 years
Peer-reviewed publications: ~200
Principal Investigators: Truman Young (University of California-Davis), Duncan Kimuyu (Karatina University), Wilfred Odadi (Egerton University), Kari Veblen (Utah State University), Amy Wolf (University of Texas)
Did you know? Elephants appear to reduce many of the negative effects of cattle on wildlife and soil properties, in part by reducing forage uptake by cattle.

Ungulate Herbivory Under Rainfall Uncertainty (UHURU): 16 years
Peer-reviewed publications: ~20
Principal Investigators: Rob Pringle (Princeton University), Jake Goheen (University of Wyoming), Todd Palmer (University of Florida)
Did you know? Large carnivores, like leopards and African wild dogs, make savanna tree communities less thorny by altering the foraging patterns of antelope.

Samburu-Laikipia Wild Dog Project: 10 years
Peer-reviewed publications: ~45
Principal Investigator: Dedan Ngatia (University of Wyoming)
Did you know? Vaccinating domestic dogs and cats for rabies and distemper helps save the endangered wild dog species. In 2023, over 25,000 domestic dogs were vaccinated through the Laikipia Rabies Vaccine Campaign run by this project.