Recipient Organization
SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
HUNTSVILLE,TX 77341
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The proposed project will establish and maintain a crop library at Sam Houston State University (SHSU) in Huntsville, TX for educational and outreach activities. Objectives include 1) utilizing the crop library to enhance curricula in multiple agricultural disciplines, 2) using the crop library as a hub for experiential learning activities, 3) incorporating faculty professional development, 4) using the crop library to enhance our outreach activities, and 5) sustain the crop library after the lifespan of the project. SHSU has the land, greenhouses, planting equipment, and technical ability to begin this crop library and the grant will provide resources for seeds, trees, irrigation equipment, seed dryer, salary, and some outreach material. Major agronomic and horticultural crops of Texas will be represented. During the span of this grant, we expect over 600 SHSU students, 60 agricultural producers, and 150 high school FFA students to be served with new information and/or experiential learning. Curricula involving this crop library will be developed in 7 SHSU courses. The project is designed to continue season-by-season as a teaching and outreach resource after grant funding has ended. This project will serve as a model for crop libraries/museums at other institutions across the world.
Animal Health Component
70%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
70%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal of this project is to establish a crop library on the Sam Houston State University farm consisting of agronomic and horticultural crops. This crop library will be a place for experiential learning, scholarly research, and agricultural outreach activities, which will be sustained even after the completion of the grant. We have the following five specific objectives to achieve the long-term goal for the project.Objective 1: Utilizing the crop library to enhance current curricula in multiple disciplinesObjective 2: Developing the crop library as a hub for experiential learning activitiesObjective 3: Incorporating the crop library to faculty professional developmentObjective 4: Enhancing our outreach activities using the crop libraryObjective 5: Sustaining the crop library after the lifespan of the project
Project Methods
The proposed activities are aimed at establishing the crop library, maintaining it, and sustaining it after the end of the project period. These activities areAcquisition of Planting materialsEstablishment of Outdoor Field PlotsEstablishment of Controlled Environment Part of Crop LibraryEstablishment of Designed ExperimentsSignage for the cropsEstablishment of Irrigation SystemsMaintenance and Sustainability