Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
In the US, an estimated 30-40% of food produced is either lost (never makes it to the consumer) or wasted (discarded by consumer). Not only is this a major economic problem ($165 billion dollars lost annually), but it is also an environmental challenge (133 billion pounds of food) that is further exacerbated by a changing climate and growing demand for ensuring equitable access to a safe, nutritious food supply. Biomanufacturing, most simply put, leverages biological systems (bacteria, yeast, enzymes) to transform components of food into a diverse number of high-value products. There is an on-going need for scientists to be trained in cutting-edge scientific advances to lead future innovative efforts to reduce the economic, environmental, and societal impacts of food loss and waste. We propose to develop a DIVerse Extension, Research, and Teaching (DIVERT) program to recruit and train outstanding fellows who will lead future efforts on reducing food loss and waste throughout the US food supply, generating novel, forward-thinking solutions to combatting food loss and waste challenges faced by the US.DIVERT will train three outstanding PhD students on biomanufacturing principles, giving them technical expertise, leadership and communication skills, and experiential learning to rigorously prepare them for careers at the forefront of novel solutions to reversing the food loss/waste impacts felt by the US. Fellows will engage in high-level scientific training, giving them experience with the tools needed to innovate solutions for food loss and waste. Fellows will also actively engage with students in and out of the classroom, as well as consumers through extension activities central the land-grant mission. Together, these fellows will serve as the foundation for an advanced training program that will train future leaders in reducing food loss and waste, diverting traditional waste into economically favorable and environmentally friendly products to help ensure a safe and food supply.
Animal Health Component
75%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
25%
Applied
75%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of this proposal is to develop and implement a comprehensive, experiential-based mentoring program for training the next-generation of food scientists for leading novel solutions to reducing food loss and waste using biomanufacturing principles. More specifically, we will:(i) establish a novel interdisciplinary graduate training program to comprehensively train 3 PhD students on food loss and waste challenges and their solutions(ii) Recruit, train, and mentor 3 PhD students from traditionally underserved communities(iii) Synthesize, academic, industry, and government efforts to combat food loss/waste by organizing and leading research symposia.
Project Methods
We will actively recruit, mentor and train 3 outstanding PhD students to train them in interdisciplinary approaches to biomanufacturing principles. DIVERT fellows will be mentored through traditional classroom instruction, but also through research-based inquiry, experiential learning in collaboration with Virginia Cooperative Extension. Fellows will produce original research integrating biomanufacturing principles such as microbiology/genomics, bioprocessing engineering, food waste valorization, and consumer outreach and education, to reduce food loss/waste. Through these research, extension, and teaching initiatives, DIVERT fellows will gain the technical expertise, as well as leadership, science communication, teaching, and professional skills needed to prepare them for entry into the workforce.Fellows will be assessed on their training and skill development progress based on a variety of metrics including (i) authoring peer-reviewed journal articles, mentoring and training junior level scientists, (ii) completion of leadership certificates and leading symposia, (iii) presenting research at international conferences and research seminars, (iv) completing teaching workshops and developing extension programming, and finally (v) developing and maintaining a CV and LinkedIn profile.Secondarily, fellows will use a variety of methods (active instruction, development of training materials and programming) to increase consumer awareness of food loss and waste. Surveys will be used to assess consumers' awareness and change of beliefs before and after being trained.