Recipient Organization
FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
777 GLADES RD
BOCA RATON,FL 33431
Performing Department
Department of Biological Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Reversing the projected shortage of skilled workforce in food and agriculture professions is both compelling and urgent to confront emerging challenges of climate change, feeding the burgeoning world population, declining soil health, and global trade dynamics.Intensive efforts to expand the recruitment of young people, especially Hispanic and under-represented populations have yielded significant dividends with increased enrollments in Hispanic-serving institutions such as Florida Atlantic University. However, such gains often confront serious retention challenges, draining the talent pipeline.The reasons for pipeline leakage are multifactorial, including a lack of requisite soft skills and socio-economic pressures. With the racial demographics of North America projected to reach 40% Hispanic by 2050, the importance of investing in quality education for this and other minority groups is irrefutable. Advancing the quality of education in these populations requires careful integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion principles with excellent curricula and effective mentoring.To recruit and graduate a competent and diverse workforce for the Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource careers, FAU proposes an integratedprogram that will expand awareness of FANH careers to more than 4000 freshmen, develop a rigorous academic theme around microbiomes innovation, and promote critical thinking / soft-skill acquisition while providing access and scholarship for experiential learning and internships. This collaborative project with FIU will grow the recruitment of freshmen and improve graduation rates of Hispanic and underrepresented minority undergraduate and graduate students to 90%. Employing our unique model of multitiered mentoring by non-threatening role models, scholarship (~50% of budget), and immersion in structured academic research and internships with our partners, we will train and guide the students to graduate schools and jobs in FANH disciplines. In alignment with the priority goals of the HSI education program, we will enhance the quality of instruction by creating the FAU-Microbiome Innovation Center (MIC), a unifying theme for engaging students in multidisciplinary and cutting-edge research. A new course - Plant Microbiomes - will be developed and taught. Curriculum enhancement includes revision of plant biotechnology, microbial ecology, and FIU's soil microbiology. A benchtop DNA sequencer will augmentthe learning experience of students as they isolate, sequence, and curate a culture collection of indigenous beneficial bacteria for soil and plant probiotics and ensures project continuity beyond the grant. The outcome leverages internal support and grant monies to cost-effectively create enhanced curricula and pipeline at least 10 graduateand 15 undergraduates (total = 25) to advanced studies and the workforce.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
50%
Developmental
30%
Goals / Objectives
Recruit Hispanic, underrepresented minority students, and women through raising awareness about the many exciting career paths and opportunities in USDA and related agencies and sectors (ReachandRecruit@FAU-MIC). At least 1000 freshmen will be reached, and at least 15 undergraduates and 10 graduate students recruited and mentored.Improve retention through FAU microbiome innovation center's (MIC) "No Talent Left Behind" program - a robust stipend and mentoring support designed to attract the finest talents among this population and mentor them to graduation. About 90% of recruited scholars (entry post sophomore year) will graduate on time and be prepared for advanced studies or career workforce.Create a new Curriculum - Microbiome Innovation Center for plant health and soil sustainability where classic and emerging technologies for agriculture and environmental research are integrated. Also, we will develop one new course (Plant Microbiome) and revise curricula for plant biotechnology, microbial ecology, and soil microbiology and provide access totraining in genomic sequencing. We intend to purchase a benchtop sequencer for the first regional Microbiome Innovation Center (MIC) which will help enhance teaching and ensure continuity beyond the project lifespan.Forster comprehensive experiential learning opportunities for our students through internships and externships. We will leverage the collective expertise of the world-class Co-Principal investigators from our two large Florida Universities, USDA research centers, the American Farm Credit Council, Neighborhood Scientists Inc (a non-profit), and other partners to provide multiple laboratory research experiences that build core competence, analytical and problem-solving skills. The baseline research/technical and professional skills of this cohort of students will improve by at least 50% using pre and post-assessments.We will build consortium-wide leadership development programs - the "It takes a village@FAU-MIC" where leadership seminars and multi-level mentoring exchanges occur. We will sponsor graduate and undergraduate participants to national and regional conferences and mindset reset webinars to promote leadership skills and widen their network of collaborators and human resources.
Project Methods
Student Experiential Learning: We have designed an integrated experiential learning that leverages internally funded activities (Freshman and Sophomore Years) followed by two years of intensive MIC activities (Table 2). In addition to rigorous research every year of the program, scholars will participate in parallel mentoring, advising, internships, field trips, and professional development workshops and conferences. This program will immerse students in cutting-edge scientific research and provide them with soft skills, experience, and the support (career days) for pursuing an entry-mid-level career in FANH or further advanced degrees.Experiential learning activities designed for this project include the acquisition of novel advanced knowledge in genomics, microbial interactions, ecology, soil fertility, plant bioengineering, and sequencing technologies. All the activities will be focused on problem-solving, developing critical thinking skills, and preparing for careers in the FANH fields.?Academic year participation.Recruited and selected undergraduate students will be given a stipend to permit their participation in a yearlong research experience under the direction of any of the participating faculty. Student scholars become eligible for grant money at the end of their sophomore year. In all cases, students receive academic credit for their participation by enrolling in an Undergraduate Research Course of their choice; various options are available depending on the student's major department. Course credits can range from 1 to 3 credits per semester. At FAU, students write for grants and compete for internal funds disbursed by the OURI throughout the period they are registered with MIC. All students and participating faculty will participate in a mandatory day-long orientation where multiple mentors present careers in FANH and pathways to get there. Students will be taught the process of science, title/theme selection, hypothesis development and testing, literature review, organization, data gathering, data interpretation, field techniques, bio-safety, lab safety, and chemical hygiene practices. They will receive certificates issued by the Environmental, Health, and Safety Office (EHS). The skills gained will be expected to form the basis for the summer internship to follow. Students will be helped with finding a research faculty mentor of their interest. They are expected to complete a research project and present results at a university professional setting (such as the FAU OURI annual undergraduate research symposium), scientific presentation at a national conference or publication in a scientific journal. The graduate students at FAU will be selected and admitted directly into the MIC project. We will leverage FAU's internal funding for graduate Teaching Assistantships in their first year. This approach dispenses funds to only qualified candidates who have passed their thesis proposal exams and helps to stretch the reach of budgeted funds to cover more graduate students (#6) at the peak of their research and also makes room for costly research materials. FIU does not have similar support policies and so will enroll the grad students directly into the grant scholarship.Summer Research and Internships. All graduate and undergraduate students will be funded and required to engage in publishable research work with Faculty from both Universities (SURE - Summer Undergraduate Research Experience and GRES - Graduate Research Exposure in Summer). The collaboration will allow academic exchange between the faculty and staff, to the benefit of the students. At least two faculty, one from each of the collaborating institutions will provide input into a student's SURE or GRES project whenever possible.In addition, we will arrange for undergraduate students to have hands-on, career-focused 8-week summer internship experiences with USDA agency partners (USDA-NRCS, -APHIS, -ARS, -AMS or USFWS), academic research laboratories, and national research centersThe detailed curriculum of a new course (introduced by PD - Esiobu into the FAU catalog with scope approvals) - Plant Microbiomes MCB 6672 will be developed and offered to students at FAU & FIU during this project and beyond. Two courses in the University catalogs - Microbial Ecology and Plant Biotechnology are courses of high relevance and would markedly increase enrollment and attract young scholars in search of emerging technologies in 21st-centurycareers in FANH.These courses will be taught as Hybrid courses, combining in-person and virtual options, with the exception of laboratory components of the Plant Biotech course.Monitoring of student progress: All students will take Pre and Post program assessments through the online portal or in person. Two types of Pre and Post evaluations are administered viz Technical skill baseline assessment in fundamentals of techniques used in microbiomes (PCR, sequencing, qPCR), agriculture, lab safety, and other core research competencies. Cultural awareness/intelligence test which captures the baseline of ethics and professionalism for each candidate is also given. The post-assessments by the PI or project staff will test both technical and soft professional knowledge and career/professional development outcomes. Technical skills to be assessed include logic and critical thinking, the scientific research process, experimental design and methodologies, analyzing, interpreting, and communicating data, laboratory and field safety knowledge, and other specific skills like culture techniques, basic plant biology, tissue culture, etc. We expect that after a successful internship and experiential session, candidates will improve by up to 50% of baseline records.Mini-Pathways Fieldtrips, Workshops, Summer Camps, and More: Specialized training workshops and 'mini-pathways' field trips will provide a foundation for some of the experiential learning projects (ELP) programs of this grant. Students from all participating HSI institutions will come together annually to participate in a 7-day career-oriented field trip that incorporates training in USDA agency careers, and first-hand observation and training at the grower and industry levels.A culture collection of well-curated indigenous bacteria library will be developed. About 500 strains of beneficial organisms will be isolated from various phyllosphere, roots, etc., sequenced and characterized for use in synthetic microbiome applications. Bio-inoculants and biofertilizers made from characterized indigenous strains are an essential part of sustainable climate-smart agriculture. All the targeted FAU and FIU graduates and undergraduates will participate in isolating, sequencing, and curating their strains as part of the research experiential programs. The collection will become a valuable asset in customizing probiotics for specific plants in specific ecologies such as wetland grasses under salinity and flooding stress.Create a Microbiome Innovation Center (MIC). This will be the first center for microbiomes in South Florida. It will harness the different but highly complementary expertise of the Co-PIs from two large Universities to create a themed network of resources for the recruited students. Its physical location will be FAU where the PD - a black female professor already has some facilities and research ongoing in microbiomes of plants, environment, and animals (Dawkins and Esiobu, 2022; Bukar et al. 2019 and Dawkins and Esiobu, 2018).Leadership and professional development: Professional development opportunities for participating students, such as resume development, mock interviews, dressing for success, and effective communication will be provided at our annual career retreat (field trip). A centrally located field trip venue will be used to avoid the cost of a residential retreat.