The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced Wednesday a $16 million investment in agricultural education and workforce development for undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds. This investment will ensure that all students, including underrepresented and underserved students, are prepared and have a fair opportunity to compete for professional jobs in science and agricultural fields.
"Our nation is increasingly facing the challenge of meeting the demand for qualified graduates in the agricultural, food and renewable resources sectors of the U.S. economy," said NIFA Director Dr. Carrie Castille. "USDA's investments in students today through programs like this will expand opportunities for tomorrow's workforce to develop the skills and training necessary to meet the needs of the agricultural sector, while ensuring that all voices across the fabric of our society are heard and included."
Nebraska received funds for "Expanding Opportunities in Agricultural Sciences: Crop-to-Food Innovation."
A Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates (REEU) program "Expanding Opportunities in Agricultural Sciences: Crop-to-Food Innovation" will be established at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). The project will involve 46 undergraduate student participants and 14 faculty advisors in 10-week sessions during five summers. This program will provide experiential learning through student participation in an integrated, interdisciplinary research pipeline that creates novel crop traits and applies innovative bioprocessing and formulation technologies to develop new food and feed applications. Our research-based, experiential training will expose students to diverse disciplines, including plant breeding and biotechnology, biochemistry, analytical chemistry, bioprocess engineering, food science, and human and livestock nutrition. It will develop recruitment networks with 1890 Land Grant Universities and other HBCUs to enhance underrepresented minority participation in the agricultural STEM workforce. Students will be prepared for diverse career paths through activities that highlight steps from crop trait inception to product marketplace delivery. In line with AFRI Education and Workforce Development goals, it will emphasize training in science communication to diverse audiences to enhance student leadership and critical thinking skills.
"An Undergraduate Research Program in Agribusiness, Agricultural, Food, Natural Resource and Community Development Economics" aims to create a Research Experiences for Undergraduates program for students to conduct economic analyses using agricultural, food, and natural resource data in the University of Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station. Our proposal meets the Developing Pathwaysgoal by offering undergraduates in food, agriculture, or allied disciplines, the technical and leadership skills required for employment in the food and agricultural sectors or in graduate programs through an intensive internship that includes domestic and international study tours.The targeted students in Applied Economics and Agricultural Food Business Management and transfer students from outside the UMN. The intellectual focus is the application of economic analyses conducted in spreadsheets or applied econometric programs. Our project is different than existing independent study or Honors projects opportunities for our students because we propose a close mentorship process and an organized cohort with multiple colleagues in a greater and highly coordinated program. The students will be entering their junior year and be funded for up to two semesters and a summer program. The students will complete one international site visit, submit their research and compete in one undergraduate student competition with the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, and visit the premier USDA ERS lab where social scientists work, tours of AES research sites and Ireland's USDA. We show that we have a recent history of funding M.S. students who enter careers in government jobs and we expect our recruitment strategy will yield students who might be suitable for graduate student funding. These investments are part of the Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates (REEU) program, which promotes research and extension learning experiences for undergraduates such that upon graduation they can enter the agricultural workforce with exceptional knowledge and skills. This initiative helps colleges and universities provide opportunities for undergraduate students, including those from underrepresented and historically underserved groups, minority-serving institutions, community colleges, and universities. The program is funded by NIFA's Agriculture Food and Research Initiative Education and Workforce Development Program.
The second Minnesota project is "Soaring into Agricultural Careers: Closing the Opportunity Gap through Mentored Summer Research and Professional Development Experiences."
Food production is a major driver of global environmental degradation, with negative effects felt more strongly in marginalized communities. The lack of underrepresented minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) agricultural training programs results in poor representation in professional and leadership positions where solutions are often developed. Our long-term goal is to increase the number of underrepresented minority students entering the professional agricultural workforce through implementation of a summer program at the University of Minnesota that leverages the growing interest in sustainable food systems for training in food and agricultural research. Over the life of our five-year REEU site, our SOAR (Sustainability Opportunities for Agricultural Research) program will provide 53 participants a structure to engage in sustainable horticulture research and develop cultural competency skills and awareness via a series of community-based experiences focusing on equity in the food system. Our objectives are to 1) Develop participant knowledge of scientific research and analytical skills, and careers in STEM, through a highly supported agricultural science-based mentored research program hosting 10-11 participants annually; 2) Design and implement action-learning workshops connecting students to organizations advocating for workforce diversity in agriculture and food systems and a panel of food systems industry representatives; 3) Increase mentoring capacity of graduate students and post-docs through development and deployment of a 5-session mentor training workshop series. Impact of our project includes development of a robust training program, for both participants and mentors, to close the opportunity gap in the agricultural sciences.
Categories: Nebraska, Crops