Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The current proposal addresses TESA - Animal Production and Data Science. A core group of faculties from Animal Science, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Statistics disciplines, will train three doctoral fellows. Meta-omics, i.e., meta-genomics, meta-proteomics and metabolomics, are relatively new research fields focused on high throughput sequencing providing new insights on the function of complex microbial communities that contribute significantly to the health and production of animals and hence agricultural sustainability. However, limited training programs on meta-omics are available for doctoral students. The specific objectives are to 1) recruit outstanding Fellows, especially from traditionally underrepresented groups and Historically Black or Hispanic Colleges, 2) provide a graduate training and mentoring program with sufficient skills and abilities on meta-omics, 3) establish a research and learning program on meta-omics for Fellows through developing a novel dissertation and a new course, 4) engage the Fellows in teaching practicum through serving as teaching assistants and mentors for undergraduate researchers, 5) provide the Fellows with an extension experience through organizing and assisting 4-H, Big 3 Field Days and FFA outreach events to enhance STEM among high school students, 6) build new professional and leadership skills for Fellows through participating in the OSU 360° Critical Skills for Career Success and conferences, and 7) provide the Fellows with an internship experience with an industry partner. We anticipate an integrative training program in meta-omics will produce next generation leaders who will be able to apply scientific methods and knowledge of meta-omics in solving challenges facing the sustainable agriculture.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
60%
Applied
40%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of this proposal is to integrate all three technologies used in meta-omics. Doctoral students will receive training and various experiential experiences in research, teaching, and extension on basic and applied advantages of integrated meta-omics to improve animal production sustainability.The specific objectives are to:recruit outstanding Fellows, especially from traditionally underrepresented groupsprovide a graduate training and mentoring program with sufficient skills and abilities on meta-omics to contribute to TESA (i.e., Animal Production and Data Science)offer experiential learning opportunities in research, extension, teaching, and professional development through:establishing a basic and advanced research and learning program on meta-omics for Fellows through developing a novel dissertation and as new course, respectivelyengaging the Fellows in teaching practicum through serving as teaching assistants and mentors for undergraduate researchersproviding the Fellows with an extension experience through organizing and assisting 4-H, Big 3 Field Days and FFA outreach events to enhance STEM among high school studentsbuilding new professional and leadership skills through participating in the OSU career success program, 360° Critical Skills for Career Success (CSCS) and conferences
Project Methods
Recruitment and Selection of Fellows1A. Advertising and Promoting the FellowshipThe available positions for the fellowship program will be advertised through multiple channels as listed below:Minority serving institutions: The available doctoral positions for the fellowship program will be advertised in historically black land-grant universities that were established by the 2nd Morrill Act of 1890. Further, the PI and Co-PIs will target other minority serving institutions such as traditionally Hispanic colleges and will advertise the positions through their department heads.Division of Institutional Diversity: the PI and Co-PIs will work with Institutional Diversity at OSUto promote the doctoral positions.Professional societies, social media, and department and personal laboratory webpage2A. Selection of FellowsThe candidates will be asked to submit a cover letter, a complete curriculum vitae, official transcripts, and the names and contact information of three professional references. Students with animal science background will be considered. The candidates will be selected for an interview based on their academic credentials, previous records of success (awards, publications, etc.), recommendation letters and likelihood of pursuing a career path in the animal production industry. Preference will be given to female and underrepresented students and those with disability during selection process. Following a virtual interview by the selection committee (PI and Co-PIs), the candidates will be notified about the committee's decision. If selected, they will be directed to officially apply to animal science program during the first year. The standard application process for graduate students at OSU will be followed. Following admission by OSU, the offer letters will be extended to Fellows by the Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences. The PI and Co-PIs will serve as committee chair and committee members in graduate committee of recruited Fellows, respectively.Academic Advising Research Training, Professional Counseling, Mentoring, PipeliningThe advisory committee will include the PI and Co-PIs with expertise in different areas of meta-omics. According to the requirement of graduate program offered by the department of Animal and Food Sciences at OSU, the total hours to receive a Ph.D. degree in Animal Science is 60 hours. Out of total 60 hours, 30 hours should be selected from the offered courses in the department and OSU with approval of the advisory committee and area of specialization and 30 hours is devoted to doctoral research and dissertation. While conducting their research projects, senior doctoral students in the lab will train the Fellows with established techniques and procedures. Dr. Pezeshki (PI) will schedule one-to-one weekly meetings with Fellows and will coordinate regular annual meetings with the advisory committee to ensure effective progress of the project by Fellows. During these meetings, the students will present the results of their research to the committee and will practice defending their findings. This will help them develop independence and confidence as well as leadership and professional skills that will eventually lead to successful completion of the project.Experiential Learning: Hands-on Research, Extension, Teaching and Other Activities ?The research projects conducted by graduate fellows will be focused on using several aspects of meta-omics including meta-genomics, meta-proteomics, metabolomics, and meta-omics data analysis. Faculty mentors with in-depth expertise in above mentioned fields will contribute to training students and providing them with hands-on research experience. Further, the mentors will offer a new course on integrative meta-omics covering all three layers of meta-omics and data analysis for omics. As part of this course, the faculty mentors will offer lectures on each of meta-omics concepts and technologies.TheFellows will be given the opportunity to serve as teaching assistant and mentor for undergraduate researchers. As teaching assistant, the Fellows will be involved with teaching certain lectures and coordinating lab sections. They will also assist with grading exams and assignments and giving feedback to undergraduate students. The Fellows will attend the OSU Institute for Teaching and Learning Excellence (workshops offered for graduate teaching assistants. They will be also encouraged to enroll in several courses on agricultural education offered by the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Leadership at OSU that will help them develop interest and become an agricultural education instructor to teach the next generation of agricultural innovators and leaders.To develop personal growth and leadership skills in their future career, the graduate fellows will be given the opportunity to be involved in several outreach programs such as Oklahoma County 4-H , Oklahoma FFA Foundation and Big 3 Field Days. As part of these programs, they will educate youth through offering workshops and short courses in meta-omics and visiting tours to PI's and CP-PIs' research labs. The graduate fellows will be consulting with their advisory committee to select and acquire specific skills offered by 360° CSCS Program that are critical success skills in communication, leadership, management, research, and instruction. Further, the graduate fellows will be given the opportunity to write abstracts and present the information gathered from their project in national and international conferences that will help them develop leadership and written and oral communication skills.Measuring Performance Outcomes Direct and indirect methods will be used to measure and report performance outcomes and impacts of the proposal. The graduate training project implementation in meta-omics and effectiveness will be measured by developing and completing post-pre surveys after concluding each learning experience. The changes in graduate fellows' knowledge and skills in each learning experience will be assessed by the differences between pre- and post-ratings of the students in these questionnaires. Data generated from post-pre surveys will be either reported descriptively or analyzed statistically and written reports with tables or illustrations and interpretations will be prepared. These results will provide an indirect measure of students' perception of their learning. The direct measures of students' performance will include their exams/assignments score, course grade and GPA. While the results of post-pre surveys will provide us with information on whether the students think they have learned, the direct evidence will give information about how much they have learned.The research performance and oral and written communication skills will be measured through publications, awards, doctoral dissertation, and presentations and abstracts presented in professional conferences and departmental/regional meetings . The educational performance will be measured by a professional program evaluator of this project, Dr. Settle through designing a questionnaire with questions on the instruction of integrative meta-omics course offered by PI and Co-PIs. The outreach performance will be measured through participation of students in programs offered by OSU and the state such as Oklahoma County 4-H, Oklahoma FFA Foundation and Big 3 Field Days and the number of workshops, trainings and seminars presented by them in these events.Following successful completion of the program, the advisory committee will work towards an effective job placement and track future career plans of Fellows.Several methods such as personal communications and social media (LinkedIn and Twitter) will be used for tracking Fellows' accomplishments up to five years after graduation.