Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Target audience for this project were undergraduate students. We have provided experiential learingopportunities in agricultural practices for27 undergraduate students . Students spent 20 hours per week with their host farmers/growers for the duration of eight weeks during the months of June and July. Each student was required to maintain a record, and attended biweekly meetings. Attending biweekly meeting helps them to share and learn experiences from peers and also motivates them to engage more effectively. At the end of the internship, students present their posters at Delaware State University summer research symposium. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Co-PI Dr. Elavarthi led students to the field trips, Ag museums, Industries and dairy farms. He also led students to participate in Delaware Agricultural Secretory Scholars program, which involved a series of workshops with experts, where students had the opportunity to learn about graduate schools and job opportunities in this area. During this period we developed connections with more farmers/growers, who were willing to accept students in the summer and shared important lessons and their experiences with them. First generation club and student resource center was established. Through this grant we have made core course books available for needy students through student resource center during active semester time. In addition to the textbooks, we also subscribed for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Agricultural History, Crop Science, Nature and science magazines for the student resource center. We established first generation club by facilitating student meetings so that they can develop networks and peer mentoring systems. We have also organized conversation clubs where panel members were seniors and recent alumni and the audiences were freshmen to juniors. Panel members shared their thoughts and experiences with audience with set of questions raised by PIs and students. Hoping that these kinds of meetings help them develop networks and peer-mentoring opportunities, which intern helped to increase graduation rate. Ms. Lajune Harris; one of our first year intern student graduated successfully and now started working as Plant management trainee at Perdue Farms Inc. In addition to that, Ms. Harris also secured admission to her masters program. Kierra Johnson, Ashley Wilson, Jere Hutson were other students, who went on to graduate school in agricultural sciences. Few more students continued working with the growers beyond the internship period and some other students gained opportunities to work in the laboratories. Nearly 85% of student participants said they gained practical knowledge and respect for agriculture after participating in this program. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Students presented posters in summer research symposium at Delaware State University The biweekly meetings organized by PI during summer time provided opportunities to participating students, as well as for students from other programs, to share their experiences and learn from each other. Host farmers/growers were encouraged to participate in the DSU summer research symposium to bring awareness to the ongoing activities. PI and Co-PI presented the program results at the 2016 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Conference, University of Hawaii and at the Association of 1890 Research Directors (ARD) meeting 2017, Atlanta, Georgia. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Planning to write new grant proposals to continue to provide these experiential learning opportunities to Delaware State University students.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We have provided summer internships opportunities to 27 undergraduate students to gain hands on experience with agricultural practices. Students spent 20 hours per week with their host farmers/growers for the duration of eight weeks during the months of June and July. Each student was required to maintain a record, and attended biweekly meetings. Attending biweekly meeting helps them to share and learn experiences from peers and also motivates them to engage more effectively. At the end of the internship, students present their posters at Delaware State University summer research symposium. From the beginning of the project, every year, participating students, with the help of PIs and graduate students, established a crop museum at the Delaware State University's research farm. This crop-museum usually hosted about 25 different crops /varieties and it served as a field site for crop production class taught by Co-PI Dr. Elavarthi. The crop-museum served as a field observation/demonstration plot, where students can identify and observe different crop plants, crop specific pests and diseases as well as weeds. Interested students were encouraged to participate in the on going research projects during the regular academic semesters. Students from early cohorts were either employed by agricultural industry, local farm/growers or currently perusing graduate programs in agriculture related fields. First generation club established through this program was very successful. It provided an opportunity to meet other first generation students from the college of agriculture and across campus. First generation club meetings also served as starting/entry point for some students to develop peer networking, getting comfortable on campus and get help with subject matters if needed. PIs coordinated and moderated the meetings, group discussions and also sometimes displayed inspirational talks from online sources followed by discussions to encourage and motivate for student success. Students' resource center was established during the first year of the granting period. We have made core course books available for needy students through this center during active semester time. In addition to the textbooks we had subscriptions for The Crop Science and HortScience journals for the student resource center. We have organized conversation clubs where panel members were seniors and recent alumni and the audiences were freshmen to juniors. Panel members share their thoughts and experiences with audience with set of questions raised by PIs and students. Hoping that these kinds of meetings helped them develop networks and peer mentoring opportunities, awareness to different employment pathways, which intern helped increase graduation rate.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Undergraduate students, farmers and growers, and agricultural educators Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Co-PI Dr. Elavarthi lead students to the field trips, Ag museums, Industries and dairy farms. He also leads students to participate in Delaware Agricultural Secretory Scholars program, which involves a series of workshops with experts where students have the opportunity to learn about graduate schools and job opportunities in this area. During this period we developed connections with more number of farmers/growers who are willing to accept students in the summer and share their experiences. First generation club and student resource center was established. Through this grant we have made core course books available for needy students through student resource center during active semester time. In addition to the textbooks we also subscribed for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Agricultural History, Crop Science, Nature and science magazines for the student resource center. We established first generation club by facilitating student meetings so that they can develop networks and peer mentoring systems. We have also organized conversation clubs where panel members were seniors and recent alumni and the audiences were freshmen to juniors. Panel members shared their thoughts and experiences with audience with set of questions raised by PIs and students. Hoping that these kinds of meetings help them develop networks and peer-mentoring opportunities, which intern will help increase graduation rate. Ms. Lajune Harris; one of our first year intern student graduated successfully and now started working as Plant management trainee at Perdue Farms Inc. In addition to that Ms. Harris also secured admission to her masters program. Few more students continued working with the growers beyond the internship period and some other students gained opportunities to work in the laboratories. Further extension/continuation of the project helps track the impact on participated student success. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Students presented posters on their research/activity in summer research symposium at Delaware State University (Some of the 2015 posters can be seen under Farm Experience Program (FEP) from the following link http://ciber.desu.edu/summer-symposium ). The biweekly meetings organized by PI during summer time provides opportunities to participating students as well as for students from other programs to exchange their experiences and learn from each other. PI and Co-PI presented the program results at the 2016 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Conference, University of Hawaii. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue to host summer internships for students from non-farm backgrounds to provide hand on experience in agriculture. Facilitate workshops and fields trips for Ag majors. Continue to support first generation club and student resource center. Disseminate output to broader audiences. Expand student experiential learning from farm to laboratory. Couple of students will continue work with PI during academic semester by participating laboratory /green house experiments. Publish impact of the program on peer-reviewed journals. Finally survey the impact and evaluate for improvements.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We have provided summer internships opportunities to 24 undergraduate students to gain hands on experience with agricultural practices. Students spent 20 hours per week with their host farmers/growers for the duration of eight weeks during the months of June and July. Each student was required to maintain a record, and attended biweekly meetings. Attending biweekly meeting helps them to share and learn experiences from peers and also motivates them to engage more effectively in academics. At the end of the internship, students present their poster at Delaware State University summer research symposium. From the beginning of the project, every year, participating students with the help of PIs and graduate students establish a crop museum at the Delaware State University's research farm. This crop museum hosts around 25 different crops /varieties and it serves as a field site for crop production class taught by Co-PI Dr. Elavarthi where students can identify and observe different crop plants. First generation club established through this program is very successful. It provides an opportunity to meet other first generation students from the college of agriculture and across campus. First generation club meetings also serving as starting point for some students to develop peer networking, getting comfortable on campus and get help with subject matters if needed. PIs coordinate and moderate the meetings, group discussions and also sometimes display inspirational talks from online sources followed by discussions to encourage and motivate for student success. Student resource center was established during the first year of the granting period. We have made core course books available for needy students through this center during active semester time. In addition to the textbooks we have subscriptions for The Crop Science and HortScience journals for the student resource center. We are also organizing conversation clubs where panel members will be seniors and recent alumni and the audiences will be freshmen to juniors. Panel members share their thoughts and experiences with audience with set of questions raised by PIs and students. Hoping that these kinds of meetings help them develop networks and peer mentoring opportunities, which intern will help increase graduation rate.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Conference program book,
2016
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Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Undergraduate students Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Co-PI Dr. Elavarthi lead students to the field trips, Ag museums, Industries and dairy farms. He also leads students to participate in Delaware Agricultural Secretory Scholars program, which involves a series of workshops with experts where students have the opportunity to learn about graduate schools and job opportunities in this area. During this period we developed connections with more number of farmers/growers who are willing to accept students in the summer and share their experiences. First generation club and student resource center was established. Through this grant we have made core course books available for needy students through student resource center during active semester time. In addition to the textbooks we also subscribed for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Agricultural History, Crop Science, Nature and science magazines for the student resource center. We established first generation club by facilitating student meetings so that they can develop networks and peer mentoring systems. We have also organized conversation clubs where panel members were seniors and recent alumni and the audiences were freshmen to juniors. Panel members shared their thoughts and experiences with audience with set of questions raised by PIs and students. Hoping that these kinds of meetings help them develop networks and peer-mentoring opportunities, which intern will help increase graduation rate. Ms. Lajune Harris; one of our first year intern student graduated successfully and now started working as Pant management trainee at Perdue Farms Inc. In addition to that Ms. Harris also secured admission to her masters program. Few more students continued working with the growers beyond the internship period and some other students gained opportunities to work in the laboratories. Further extension/continuation of the project helps track the impact on participated student success. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Students presented posters on their research/activity in summer research symposium at Delaware State University (Some of the 2015 posters can be seen under Farm Experience Program (FEP) from the following link http://ciber.desu.edu/summer-symposium ). The biweekly meetings organized by PI during summer time provides opportunities to participating students as well as for students from other programs to exchange their experiences and learn from each other. We are also developing white paper article and research articles to publish on local media. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue to host summer internships for students from non-farm backgrounds to provide hand on experience in agriculture. Facilitate workshops and fields trips for Ag majors. Continue to support first generation club and student resource center. Disseminate output to broader audiences. Publish impact of the program on peer-reviewed journals. Finally survey the impact and evaluate for improvements.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We have provided summer internships opportunities to around 20 undergraduate students to gain hands on experience with agricultural practices. Students spent 20 hours per week with their host farmers/growers for the duration of eight weeks during the months of June and July. Each student was required to maintain a record, and attended biweekly meetings. Attending biweekly meeting helps them to share and learn experiences from peers and also motivates them to engage more effectively in academics. At the end of the internship, students present their poster at Delaware State University summer research symposium. From the beginning of the project, every year, participating students with the help of PIs and graduate students establish a crop museum at the Delaware State University's research farm. This crop museum hosts around 25 different crops /varieties and it serves as a field site for crop production class taught by Co-PI Dr. Elavarthi where students can identify and observe different crop plants. First generation club established through this program is very successful. It provides an opportunity to meet other first generation students from the college of agriculture and across campus. First generation club meetings also serving as starting point for some students to develop peer networking, getting comfortable on campus and get help with subject matters if needed. PIs coordinate and moderate the meetings, group discussions and also sometimes display inspirational talks from online sources followed by discussions to encourage and motivate for student success. Student resource center was established during the first grant period. We have made core course books available for needy students through this center during active semester time. In addition to the textbooks we also have subscriptions for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Agricultural History, Nature and science magazines for the student resource center. We are also organizing conversation clubs where panel members will be seniors and recent alumni and the audiences will be freshmen to juniors. Panel members share their thoughts and experiences with audience with set of questions raised by PIs and students. Hoping that these kinds of meetings help them develop networks and peer mentoring opportunities, which intern will help increase graduation rate.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Undergraduate students who are coming from non farm background families and are majoring in Agricultural Sciences. First generation students. Farmers or growers. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Co-PI Dr. Elavarthi lead students to the field trips, Ag museums, Industries and dairy farms. He also leads students to participate in Delaware Agricultural Secretory Scholars program, which involves a series of workshops with experts where students have the opportunity to learn about graduate schools and job opportunities in this area. During this period we developed connections with more number of farmers/growers who are willing to accept students in the summer and share their experiences. First generation club and student resource center was established. Through this grant we have made core course books available for needy students through student resource center during active semester time. In addition to the textbooks we also subscribed for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Agricultural History, Nature and science magazines for the student resource center. We established first generation club by facilitating student meetings so that they can develop networks and peer mentoring systems. We also organized a conversation club where panel members were seniors and recent alumni and the audiences were freshmen to juniors. Panel members shared their thoughts and experiences with audience with set of questions raised by PIs and students. Hoping that these kinds of meetings help them develop networks and peer-mentoring opportunities, which intern will help increase graduation rate. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Students presented posters on their research/activity in summer research symposium at Delaware State University. The biweekly meetings organized by PI during summer time provides opportunities to participating students as well as for students from other programs to exchange their experiences and learn from each other. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Continue to host summer internships for students from non-farm backgrounds to provide hand on experience in agriculture. Facilitate workshops and fields trips for Ag majors. Continue to support first generation club and student resource center. Disseminate output to broader audiences
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
As of now 10 students benefited through summer internship program. Selected agricultural undergraduate majors were assigned to local farmers /growers. Students spent 20 hours per week with farmers for the duration of eight weeks during the months of June and July. Each student was required to maintain a record, attended biweekly meetings sharing their experiences to peers and presented posters at the Delaware State University summer research symposium. The crop museum developed by the participating students from this program was utilized as to-go-site for crop production class taught by Co-PI Dr. Elavarthi where students can identify and observe nearly 20 different crop plants. First generation club and student resource center was established. Through this grant we have made core course books available for needy students through student resource center during active semester time. In addition to the textbooks we also subscribed for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Agricultural History, Nature and science magazines for the student resource center. We established first generation club by facilitating student meetings so that they can develop networks and peer mentoring systems. We also organized a conversation club where panel members were seniors and recent alumni and the audiences were freshmen to juniors. Panel members shared their thoughts and experiences with audience with set of questions raised by PIs and students. Hoping that these kinds of meetings help them develop networks and peer mentoring opportunities, which intern will help increase graduation rate.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Undergraduate students who are coming from non farm background families but majoring in Agriculture. First generation students Farmers or growers Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Co-PI Dr. Elavarthi lead students to the field trips to Ag museums, Industries and farms. He also leads students to participate in Delaware Agricultural Secretory Scholars program, which involves a series of workshops with experts where students have the opportunity to learn about graduate schools and job opportunities in this area. During this period we developed connections with more number of farmers/growers who are willing to accept students in the summer and share their experiences. First generation club and student resource center was established. Through this grant we have made core course books available for needy students through student resource center during active semester time. In addition to the textbooks we also subscribed for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Agricultural History, Nature and science magazines for the student resource center. We established first generation club by facilitating student meetings so that they can develop networks and peer mentoring systems. We also organized a conversation club where panel members were seniors and recent alumni and the audiences were freshmen to juniors. Panel members shared their thoughts and experiences with audience with set of questions raised by PIs and students. Hoping that these kinds of meetings help them develop networks and peer-mentoring opportunities, which intern will help increase graduation rate. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Students presented posters on their research/activity in summer research symposium at Delaware State University. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Continue to host summer internships for students from non farn backgroungs to provide hand on experience in agriculture. Facilitate workshops and fiels trips for Ag majors. Continue to support first generation club and student resource center.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
As this is a new approach, we started with four students in the first year. Selected agricultural undergraduate majors were assigned to four local farmers /growers. Students spent 20 hours per week with farmers for the duration of eight weeks during the months of June and July. Each student was required to maintain a record, attend biweekly meetings and present a poster at the Delaware State University summer research symposium. First generation club and student resource center was established. Through this grant we have made core course books available for needy students through student resource center during active semester time. In addition to the textbooks we also subscribed for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Agricultural History, Nature and science magazines for the student resource center. We established first generation club by facilitating student meetings so that they can develop networks and peer mentoring systems. We also organized a conversation club where panel members were seniors and recent alumni and the audiences were freshmen to juniors. Panel members shared their thoughts and experiences with audience with set of questions raised by PIs and students. Hoping that these kinds of meetings help them develop networks and peer-mentoring opportunities, which intern will help increase graduation rate.
Publications
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