Source: RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY submitted to NRP
VIRTUAL COLLABORATORY FOR FOOD NUTRITION BUSINESS INFORMATION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0200232
Grant No.
2004-38411-14751
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
2004-02785
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2004
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2008
Grant Year
2004
Program Code
[ER.G1]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
3 RUTGERS PLZA
NEW BRUNSWICK,NJ 08901-8559
Performing Department
CENTER FOR ADVANCED FOOD TECHNOLOGY
Non Technical Summary
Creating new foods for the next century in an increasingly complex information environment needs leaders skilled in making connections between the research, technology, and tools of multiple disciplines for creative and informed decision-making. This project will allow students in various disciplines to work together to obtain those skills giving them a competitive edge in today's job market.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
90360993020100%
Goals / Objectives
Virtual Collaboratory merges the word collaboration with the word laboratory. In the context of this proposal, several Rutgers University departments and centers at Cook College have partnered with the Rutgers University Libraries and the School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies to develop a novel virtual space. Within this Virtual Collaboratory, teams of students from food science and nutritional Science work together with students in business, as well as with industry or organizational partners in an information rich learning laboratory environment. In an increasingly global digital environment, the effective search and use of information from different domains is essential. In order for students to move into leadership positions in new food-related career paths, they must be literate in science and business information and have strong communication skills. The primary focus of this proposal is a team taught course that provides undergraduates with these skills and with unique opportunities to apply what they learn in the classroom with industry partners in the virtual environment. To provide improved access to information resources and data in food, nutrition, and business focused on New Jersey, graduate students in Library and Information Science will work with librarians in developing an information portal. The Virtual Collaboratory will be built as a reusable platform that can be easily adapted for other courses, disciplines, and environments. The major objectives for the project are: 1. Establish the Virtual Collaboratory as a unique environment for collaborative learning and teamwork which provides an enriching experience fostering leadership and new career paths for students as entrepreneurs, educators, managers in hybrid environments of science and business, reporters, advocates for social and economic change within non-governmental organizations, company decision makers, and other leadership positions. 2. Establish the Informatics and Communications course for current Food Science, Nutritional Sciences, Environmental and Business Economics undergraduates. Evaluate the course as a potential capstone course for the planned five-year BS/MS program in Food Business and Economics 3. Meet the standards of information literacy as outlined by the Association of College and Research Libraries Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. 4. Provide students with opportunities for experiential and authentic learning related directly to the needs of food-related businesses and organization in New Jersey by working with industry partners through the virtual internships and field experience opportunities. 5. Provide students, faculty, businesses, and the community at large, where not restricted by licensing agreements, convenient access to food, nutrition, and business information resources and tools most relevant to them through an information portal. 6. Develop the Virtual Collaboratory and information portal as reusable platforms that can be made available to land grant institutions and other colleges and universities.
Project Methods
The course curriculum related to informatics will focus on the access and use of various information resources, data sets, and tools to help students develop an effective research idea. This idea is then further developed into a design for an experiment, a business plan for a new company, a marketing plan for a new food product, or a policy proposal for legislators or government and social agency decision makers. During the course students will learn how to identify an idea, develop the idea more fully into a plan, and communicate their ideas and plans to others in the class. Active learning is an essential component of the course; students complete activities that demonstrate and build skills, as opposed to just listening to lectures. Course topics will include basic information strategies for accessing scholarly information, web-based resources, government information, news sources, and various data sources. Specific resources will be reviewed pertaining to food sciences, nutrition, and business as well as learning to data mine in databases that focus on food additives, food functionality, consumer preferences, food safety, health impacts, etc. Various computer applications to analyze and manipulate this information and data will also be taught along with basic oral and technical writing skills. Student assignments during the course will include working with an industry partner to develop an appropriate research topic or idea to focus on throughout the semester. Students will perform searches of their topics in relevant databases of the food science, nutrition and business literature to uncover research, work, and trends related to their topic. Each team will evaluate and synthesize their findings in a written bibliographic essay that will serve as their literature review of the topic. Student teams will write a short paper outlining their proposed research methods and design, business plan, marketing plan or white paper. Teamwork is an essential aspect of the course, involving students from different perspectives (food science and nutrition with business) along with a business partner from a small or start up company. This team will work with their industry partners together throughout the semester utilizing the tools available in the Virtual Collaboratory and making on-site visits as necessary. The Virtual Collaborarory provides a web environment where student team members along with industry or organizational partners can meet and work collaboratively to organize and manage information and develop idea, proposals, and presentation. Through the virtual internships integrated within the coursework, student will see the relevance of their projects to their future work life. After the course, students have the opportunity to integrate and build upon the knowledge and skills they acquired within their required student field experiences. Final project reports from students participating in this competitive program will be made available via the project website. This course will be marketed to juniors in Cook College who have successfully completed the necessary requirements like biology, chemistry, nutrition and food science.

Progress 09/01/04 to 08/31/08

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The grant accomplished its goals. A three (3) credit junior/senior colloquium (709:445 Problem solving using food, nutrition, and business information) was developed based on experiences during the grant. Specifically, the course provides students with skills and experience in problem solving and teamwork related to nutrition, food and business economics. The lectures which are based on the research and interdisciplinary collaborations provide students with in depth instruction on using unique information resources, communication strategies for interacting in the business setting, and team building exercises. Students work in interdisciplinary teams, closely monitored by faculty, to solve actual problems raised by small-sized food and nutrition business partners Gain real-life problem-solving experiences in working with an industry partner Learn how to research and evaluate information and data. Develop interdisciplinary teamwork skills needed by today's professionals Develop skills to report, communicate, and present their findings to others PARTICIPANTS: The PIs, Adria Sherman, Ryan Womack, and Martin Kesselman(university faculty and university librarians) developed the concept for the course, pilot tested it, and developed the actual course. The course was approved through typical departmental and college challenges prior to its regular offering. Student workers participated in the development of the preliminary pilot offerings and in data analysis during the pilot testing. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience for this grant was the undergraduate and graduate students trained in interdisciplinary problem solving and the industry partners served. The publications are targeted toward other researchers in the field of interdisciplinary problem based education. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The most significant project modification was that the web-based information portal initially conceptualized for students and industry partners to access data was not developed. As the research moved forward, the access to web-based resources and the ability to use Sakai (university based software for student and faculty collaboration) made the concept of a portal outdated and unnecessary. There were also changes in the PI and some of the researchers involved in the grant and in teaching of the course which delayed some of the activities. However, the end result was the development of a successful junior/senior level course

Impacts
Each year 20 students work in teams of 4-5 to solve food, nutrition and business related problems for 4-5 industry partners.

Publications

  • Kesselman, M.A., Sherman, A.R. Linking information to real-life problems: An interdisciplinary collaboration of librarians, departments, and food businesses. J of Agr & Food Information 10:1-19, 2009.
  • Sherman, A.R., Barkley, M. Nutrition and Wound Healing. J Wound Healing 20:357-367, 2011.