Recipient Organization
ALABAMA A&M UNIVERSITY
4900 MERIDIAN STREET
NORMAL,AL 35762
Performing Department
Food Science & Animal Indus
Non Technical Summary
The program targets students first. Students participating in and reaching acceptable levels of understanding from these offerings will receive certificates from the accrediting body or the University. These certifications should display an increased level of knowledge and commitment by the student to potential employers. Secondly, the University, as a result of the project funding, will build an infrastructure to allow the continuation of this program and the capacity of AAMU will have increased. The infrastructure will be built around the University's ability to charge a fee for services and have separate accounts to ensure that faculty are compensated for the increased responsibility as well as the best offerings continuing to be offered. This aids the University's budget as faculty will also be able to have release time funded by the offerings they present. This outcome will be measured by the ability of the University to complete transactions and maintain the budget for the program after the completion of the funded project. The faculty will experience professional development as they create, implement, present, evaluate and modify as needed their particular workshops/short course. Through this professional development the faculty will continue their adventure in learning and may develop these workshops and short courses into semester-long courses. Faculty will also participate in recruiting and building collaborations with regional and local high school science teachers. Through these interactions the faculty should be able to better understand the characteristics and qualities of students prior to entering college and may work with the teachers to present material in their classes. This will benefit the students and University as well as more informed students in the area of science will enroll and experience less difficulty in science based courses. Retention of highly motivated and quality students will be a result of increased interaction outside of the traditional classroom with faculty.
Animal Health Component
60%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
60%
Developmental
40%
Goals / Objectives
The proposal promotes short-courses and workshops to bridge the gap between the information gained primarily from BS degrees and the required abilities/knowledge for students prior to entering the workforce. Hands-on experiential learning allows students to show more than book knowledge and theory understanding to future employers. The students and faculty will experience increased interaction outside of the standard classroom whereas ideas, theories and research can be expounded upon. Students will be the major beneficiary of this project as they will receive certifications in various specializations important to them. Faculty will benefit from these offerings as a means of professional development in their areas. The University will build capacity through establishing an infrastructure with these offerings that are outside of the traditional semester-long courses. This infrastructure will allow the University, at the completion of the proposed project, to charge a fee to nonstudent participants, thus allowing these workshops and short-courses be self-sustaining. Regional high schools will benefit as science teachers experience their own personal development as they are better able to excite students and explain the intricacies of food and animal sciences. The teacher participation will further benefit the University as more students enter the sciences, and with direct links to Alabama A&M University (AAMU) and the Department, there is an increased probability that they would enroll in these programs. The main objectives of the proposed project are as follows: 1. Build practical capabilities of juniors/seniors in their quest for employment or graduate school in specialized areas; 2. Build the capability/outreach of faculty as individual offerings serve as professional development; and 3. Enhance AAMU short course offerings to build/maintain rapport with industry/government/academia, community, alumni and current/future students. As secondary focuses, the workshops will: 1) increase the knowledge and research capabilities of graduate students as they apply technological skills, equipment usage and practices to their current studies; and 2) build better relationships with the scientific community as individuals will experience the offerings/capabilities of the AAMU. Workshops and short courses will be offered in the Fall of 2011. The first term will only allow two offerings to ensure the process is trouble-free for faculty and participants. Subsequent terms will offer three per term. The Fall of 2012 will have solicitation of participants from regional and local high school science teachers. The Fall of 2013 will have solicitation of participation from industry, government and academia professionals. These groups will be surveyed for a fee price point, additional offerings and quality of offerings. This information will allow the University to charge a fee. The fee will be used to offset the enrollment of the complementary registration to students, which will continue after the completion of the funding period to maintain the program.
Project Methods
Each workshop/short course offering highlights the areas of interest to potential participants as seen below. Title: Nanotechnology in the Life and Natural Sciences Target: Senior undergraduate, graduate students and regional grade school science teachers Need/Gap being filled: Undergraduate students typically are not exposed to the technology or instruments to evaluate nanoscale matrices. This gap is due to the time required during the regular semester for courses to cover the traditional topics. Regional science teachers may have entered their career prior to nanotechnology becoming a major focus in research or they have not had the opportunity to learn since entering the classroom. The objective of this workshop is to provide participants the opportunity to use a digital light microscope, a scanning electron microscope with x-ray diffraction and a transmission electron microscope to better understand how particle size, physical composition, processing, etc. influence various products. Benefit to the Participant: Participants will appreciate how 'little' differences can make a 'BIG' impact on sensory analysis, drug delivery and physical strength to name three. Impact to the Industry/Government/Academia: Students will glean information for incorporation to research projects and their career. Industries will employ individuals with increased applicability of topics and equipment for research. Academia will benefit from students being able to produce more technologically advanced research findings as well as science teachers serving in a recruitment capacity to excite more young minds to the captivating minutiae of science. Time frame required: The workshop will be subdivided into 5 modules. The modules will present: 1) the application of nanotechnology in various industry areas (engineering, pharmacy, microbiology, chemistry, etc.); 2) processing differences and their effect; and 3) analysis of samples. The modules will be split into lecture and laboratory sections with participants having experiential learning with equipment. Modules will each have a minimum of 2 contact hours. Accrediting/Certifying Body: Alabama A&M University, JEOL Within the timeframe area each offering stipulates the amount of contact hours and method of how the offering will engage the participant. The particular one above states that there will be a split of lecture time, to teach the theory behind sample preparation and evaluation, and laboratory time, when student receive hands-on experience applying the information learned in lecture. Offerings will be evaluated by the participants from each session to understand the quality, depth and presentation of the information. If sessions are recognized as lacking, the faculty member will be requested to submit revised information to the PI before the next session will be allowed for that offering. The mindset of these offerings being self-sustaining necessitates that they are engaging and valued by the participants.