Progress 08/15/13 to 08/14/18
Outputs Target Audience: UTRGV students (Undergraduate) Local area High school and Middle School science, environmental science, and agriculture teachers UTRGV University / CollegeAdministration and Faculty interested in developing agriculture-related programs Changes/Problems:During the project period, the university went through a major, unprecedented overhaul, as a result of Texas Legislation that executed theUniversity of Texas System Board of Regents'proposal to abolish The University of Texas-Pan American and create The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in their place (with the combined assets of UTPA and the University of Texas Brownsville). This created significant adminstrative hurdles, illustrated by the loss of two PD's in this project (Dr. Dan Plas and Dr. Danika Brown). Fortunately, Dr. Dan Plas relocated to a local area school district, and was able to consult with us as an independant consultant. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A successful internship program was created leveraging other institions in the region and beyond. A significant number of internships were offered with both federal and non-federal partners:the USDA-Agriculture Research Service, USDA-APHIS, Texas A&M, Texas Plant and Soils Laboratory, and several growers in the region. A total of 36 semester-long internships were offered, reaching a total of 17 different students (some repeated). A highly successful summer professional development workshop was designed with help from PDs. Over the project period, the summer professional development workshops were offered three times, each targeting 20 local area school teachers that focus on STEM subjects. A total of 62 different teachers were trained under these workshops (60 supported through this grant).In the final offering of theworkshops a total of 116 teachers applied for the 20 spots, signaling a significant demand for this type of training. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Accomplishments from this project have been advertise on the university's main webpage, as well as through the project webpage (www.utrgv.edu/agroecology). We also have been on the local radio station, as well as on the local area news paper. A listserv was sucessfully created with 144 registered members. Annoucements as well as opportunities were disseminated through this media. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
(1) This grant spurred the creation of atotal of 4new courses related to agriculture were created and successfully offered during the project period: BIOL 4429 Agroecology, BIOL 6249 Advanced Agroecology, EEMS 3305 Sustainable Agriculture, EEMS 6305 Advanced Sustainable Agriculture. An additional course was redesigned (BIOL4201 Biological Problems) to include agriculture-related topics (Urban Forestry), and was offered successfully three times during the project period. The demand for these courses inspired the creation of two new degrees within the College of Science: an MS Program in Agricultural, Environmental, and Sustainability Sciences, and a new BS degree in Sustainable Food Systems. Currently the MS program is the fastest growing program in the college, with a total of 35 gradute students. (2) A successful internship program was created leveraging other institions in the region and beyond. A significant number of internships were offered with both federal and non-federal partners:the USDA-Agriculture Research Service, USDA-APHIS, Texas A&M, Texas Plant and Soils Laboratory, and several growers in the region. A total of 36 semester-long internships were offered, reaching a total of 17 different students (some repeated). (3) A highly successful summer professional development workshop was designed with help from PDs. Over the project period, the summer professional development workshops were offered three times, each targeting 20 local area school teachers that focus on STEM subjects. A total of 62 different teachers were trained under these workshops (60 supported through this grant). In the final offering of theworkshops a total of 116 teachers applied for the 20 spots, signaling a significant demand for this type of training. The existing courses mentioned in the original goal (BIOl 4315 and EDSC6326) were each offered twice during the project period, and were modified to include examples of agriculture in the curriculum. They are still being offered, although with no current emphasis on agriculture. 4. This project inspired a multi-member alliance that spanned accross the university and beyond, and included federal and non-federal organizations, local area school districts, community colleges, and professional societies.Through the network, a number of ambitious initiatives were created. For example, UTRGV collaborated with local area schools to apply for Texas Education Agency grant for professional development, where we offered the professional development workshopto 13 of the districts teachers. We also applied for a USDA-SPECA grant with another local ISD, focusing on strengthening the pipeline between students and the University. Although unsuccessful, this inspired the creation of a new course at Edcouch Elsa ISD that focused on agriculture. Of the students directly involved with the CENA project, a total of 6 of them were gainfully employed with USDA, another 3 with agriculture related organizations, 2 of them became registered farmers, and three of them have permanent full time jobs with the federal government (USDA, EPA, USFWS), and 4 of them have gone on to graduate studies.
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Escamilla, R. (2017). CALCULATING EVAPOTRANSPIRATION OF ARUNDO DONAX ALONG THE RIO GRANDE. MS Thesis. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Department of Biology. 87 pp.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Villarreal, J. M.*, Goolsby, J. A., Vacek, A. T., Perez de Leon, A., Racelis, A. E. (2016). Horticultural technique for rearing and redistribution of the sessile biological control agent, Rhizaspidiotus donacis on its host plant, Arundo donax. Subtropical Agriculture and Environments, 67, 19-23.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Escamilla, J.**, Rugg, S.**, Brush, J.**, Cantu, J.**, Racelis, A. (2015). Ecosystem Services in Agricultural and Urban Landscapes. Ecological Restoration, 33(1), 119-120. http://dx.doi.org/10.3368/er.33.1.119 10.3368/er.33.1.119
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Cantu, D., Soti, P., Van Camp, Q., Racelis, A., (April 19, 2017). Integrating Cover Crops in Organic Vegetable Farming Systems in South Texas, Engaged Scholars Symposium University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg TX.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Richards, L.*, Racelis, A., (March 31, 2017). Silver Plastic Mulch and Neem Oil as a Method for Whitefly Control in Tomato Plants in South Texas,, College of Sciences Annual ConferenceUniversity of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg TX.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Lopez, H.*, Goolsby, J., Vacek, A., Racelis, A., (February 18, 2017). Comparison of nitrogen
sources to improve mass rearing of the arundo scale; a biological control agent of Arundo
donax (updated), USDA HisLopez, H.*, Goolsby, J., Vacek, A., Racelis, A., (February 18, 2017). Comparison of nitrogen
sources to improve mass rearing of the arundo scale; a biological control agent of Arundo
donax (updated), USDA Hispanic-Serving Institution Annual Meeting USDA-HSI in
Albuquerque, NM.Hispanic-Serving Institution Annual Meeting USDA-HSI in
Albuquerque, NM.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Singh, A.*, Christofferson, B., Johnson, D., Wei, L., Xiu, C., McDonald, N., (February 18, 2017). ap Filling Plant Trait Data for Earth System Models, USDA Hispanic-Serving Institution Annual Meeting USDA-HSI in Albuquerque, NM.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Mier, R.*, Braswell, E., Ruiz-Arce, R., Racelis, A., (February 18, 2017). Mitochondrial DNA
variation within the ND2-COI tRNA region for the members of the Anastrepha fraterculus group (updated poster), USDA Hispanic-Serving Institution Annual Meeting USDA-HSI inAlbuquerque, NM.
|
Progress 08/15/14 to 08/14/15
Outputs Target Audience:UTPA students (Undergraduate) Local area, High school and Middle School science, environmental science, and agriculture teachers Changes/Problems:With permission from National Program Staff, made a budgetary change in 2014 to move student internship money to student travel to be able to encourage and entice students to have professional experience or development outside of UTPA. With this money, I will be able to bring students to professional meetings or send them to training that they need to complete their work. 2015-16: Two key PDs are moving to other institutions. Dr. Dan Plas will be leaving the university to return to high school teaching and administration. We may request permission to National Program Staff to pay him a stipend to continue his contribution to the summer Agroecology institution to be offered in June 2016, or to reallocated more funding to Tim Sears who helps co-organize the summer institute. Dr. Danika Brown may also relocate to another institution, but we will expeditiouslywork with her replacement once this is announced. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?*July 2015, Sent Jose Escamilla (CENA graduate fellow) to 1 week training with Dr. Prasanna Gowda USDA-ARS, El Reno, OK for instrument training in Eddy Covariance *June 2015, offered Agroecology Summer Institute to local area 6-12 STEM teachers, with 22 total participants. * March 2015, training provided to the Boys and Girls Club (Edinburg, TX) for starting community gardens *February 2015, 12 students associated with the Agroecology Program participated in the annual meeting of the Society of Subtropical Agriculture and Environment, Weslaco TX *October 2014, 1 CENA student presented at Undergraduate Research Conference at UTPA *October 2014, 6 students funded by CENA Program attended the 2014 AgriScience conference in Miami, FL. One student received 2nd place for her presentation at this meeting. *August 2014, Training offered in spectroradiometry instrumentation held at UTPA *July 2014, 3 CENA students sent to HACU annual meeting in Denver CO *June 2014, 1 CENA undergraduate student travel to SACNAS annual meeting in Los Angeles CA. *June 2014, Danika Brown (co-PD) attended summer workshop/PD meeting at the NACTA conference in Montana *June 2014, offered Agroecology Summer Institute to local area 6-12 STEM teachers, with 24 total participants. *March 2014, Ruby de la Garza (USDA-HSI) offered seminar on "Navigating and applying for jobs Usajobs.gov" *Feb 2014, waived fees for interns to take "UTPA statistical training I workshop"; 3 interns took advantage of this opportunity *Jan 2014, attended new PD meeting in Baltimore with one student intern How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We do have a website that is frequently updated, as well as a electronic list serv. Our program has also been featured in local and national press releases, including 2 feature stories in the McAllen Monitor, 2 feature stories on the University Webpage, and 2 vignettes on local public TV. We also have two featured videos on youtube, and 1 press release by the National Center for Appropriate Techn ology. Our lab volunteered in the annual Hispanic Engineering Science and Technology Education Conference (HESTEC), which reaches 60,000 local residents. We led a session that introduced trees to more than 900 middle school students. Students are also required to do community outreach, with more than 12 different events were our lab was present. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Proposed activities include: • Annual planning meeting with PDs + key partners (September) • Participation at Hispanic Engineering Science and Technology Week (HESTEC) (October 6-9) • Advertise and fill 6 internship opportunities (Fall and Spring) • Recruit undergraduate and graduate students into program • CENA participation at Undergraduate Research Conference at UTPA (Nov 25-26) • Promote and advertise high school teacher workshop (Spring 2016) • CENA participation at Subtropical Agriculture and Environments Conference (Feb 2016) • Attend USDA national meeting, including the 2016 NACTA meeting Submit annual report and CRIS report to USDA (Summer 2015) • Offer STEM HS Teacher workshop (June 2016) • Update web page (Monthly) • Third annual external evaluation of work progress
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
Within this project period we have: (A) Proposed and established one undergraduate course at UTPA related to Agroecology (BIOL 4429 Agroecology) Offered in Fall 2014, total of 15 Undergraduates; and modified two internship/research courses to be associated with the Agroecology Program ( BIOL 4201 -- Biological Problems (Racelis lab), and ENSC 4301-- Independent study (Racelis lab), offered in Spring 2014, Summer 2014, and Fall 2014 to a total of 32 undergraduate students (B) One (1) graduate level course in Agroecology (BIOL 6329) Offered in Fall 2014, a total of 11 Graduate students (C) Recruited and retained one graduate student into program (just completed his first year). In academic year 2014-15, we had 29 inquiries into the graduate program with a focus on agriculture. Currently, the Agroecology program has 6 graduate students, all funded through graduate research fellowships or assistantships (one funded through this grant). 4 of the graduate students have co-authored one invited, peer-reviewed book review in the Journal of Ecological Restoration. Established an internship program which placed a total of 26 qualified undergraduate students opportunities for unpaid internships/apprenticeships with local institutions such as the USDA-ARS, USDA-APHIS, Texas A&M University, UTPA, and local area farms. Each intern qualified for a $2000 scholarship for each semester of internship service. (A) Established closed collaboration with the UTeach program at UTPA through Co-PD Tim Sears. UTeach students (who are STEM majors) were encouraged with guidance from Tim Sears (co-PD) to use examples from agriculture and food science to address high school curricula needs. (B) June 2014, offered Agroecology Summer Institute to local area 6-12 STEM teachers, with 24 total applicants (21 were selected and completed the workshops). In June 2015, the interest in this professional development dramatically increased: we had 110 applicant for the 20 sponsored spots. We accepted 22 of the applicants. (C) Two existing courses BIOL 4315 Inquiry Based Learning, EDSC 6326 Master's in Science Teaching course were offered by Dan Plas (co-PD), redeveloped to include several modules that incorporate agriculture into high school and middle school curriculum. These were offered in 2014 and 2015 Established a multi-member alliance including university professors, scientists, local farmers, education specialists, that will help recruit and retain outstanding students and teachers in a largely Hispanic south Texas population into the CENA program. Established a website that advertises CENA related opportunities, where partners and program participants can post related messages or opportunities. Also, created a listserv that advertises opportunities for employment and training to CENA participants. Leverging the funds from this grant, pushed for and established the UTPA Agroecology Garden and greenhouse complex which includes a state of the art temperature controlled greenhouse and a 8000 sq ft teaching and research garden. Students that were involved in the CENA grant have gone on to win 3 grants from the UTPA Office of Undergraduate Research and Service Learning (2K each grant).
Publications
|
Progress 08/15/13 to 08/14/14
Outputs Target Audience: UTPA students (Undergraduate) Local area, High school and Middle School science, environmental science, and agricultureteachers Changes/Problems: With permission from National Program Staff, made a budgetary change to move student internship money to student travel to be able to encourage and entice students to have professional experience or development outside of UTPA. With this money, I will be able to bring students to professional meetings or send them to training that they need to complete their work. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? *June 2014, Danika Brown (co-PD) attended summer workshop/PD meetingat the NACTA conference in Montana *June 2014, offered Agroecology Summer Institute to local area 6-12 STEM teachers, with 24 total participants. * March 2014, Ruby de la Garza (USDA-HSI) offered seminar on "Navigating and applying for jobs Usajobs.gov" *Feb 2014, waived fees for interns to take "UTPA statistical training I workshop"; 3 interns took advantage of this opportunity * Jan 2014, attended new PD meeting in Baltimore with one student intern How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We do have a website that is frequently updated, as well as a electronic list serv What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Proposed activities include: Annual planning meeting with PDs + key partners (September) OfferBIOL 4429 and BIOL6329Agroecology (Fall) Offer sBIO 4201Problem-Based Learning - Urban Forestry (Fall and Spring) Booth at Hispanic Engineering Science and Technology Week (HESTEC) (October 6-9) Advertise and fill 6 internship opportunities (Fall and Spring) Initiate graduate student research with research partnership (Filled in April 2013) Recruit undergraduate and graduate students into program CENA participation at Undergraduate Research Conference at UTPA (Nov 25-26) Promote and advertise high school teacher workshop (Spring 2015) Development + piloting of high school lesson plans (UTEACH) CENA participation at Subtropical Agriculture and Environments Conference (Feb 2015) BIOL 4315 Inquiry Based Learning (Spring 2015) Attend USDA national meeting of PDs + 3 select student participants (Summer 2015) Submit annual report and CRIS report to USDA (Summer 2015) Offer STEM HS Teacher workshop (June 2015) Update web page (Monthly) Second external evaluation of work progress
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
Within this project period we have: 1. (A) Proposed andestablished oneundergraduate courses at UTPA related to Agroecology (BIOL 4429 Agroecology ); and modified twointernship/research courses to be associatedwith the AgroecologyProgram(BIOL 4201 -- Biological Problems (Racelis lab), and ENSC 4301-- Independent study(Racelis lab) (B) One (1) graduate level course in Agroecology (BIOL 6329) (C) Recruited one graduate student into program. 2. Established an internship programwhich placed a total of9qualified undergraduate students opportunities for unpaidinternships/apprenticeships with local institutionssuch as the USDA-ARS, USDA-APHIS, TexasA&MUniversity, UTPA, and local area farms.Each intern qualified for a $2000 scholarship for each semester of internship service. 3. (A) Established closed collaboration with the UTeach program at UTPA. UTeach students (who are STEM majors) were encouraged with guidance fromTim Sears (co-PD)to use examples from agriculture and food science to address high school curricula needs.(B) June 2014, offered Agroecology Summer Institute to local area6-12 STEM teachers, with 24 total participants.(C) Two existing courses BIOL 4315 Inquiry Based Learning, EDSC 6326 Master's in Science Teaching course were offered by Dan Plas (co-PD), redeveloped to include several modules that incorporate agriculture into high school and middle school curriculum. 4. Established a multi-member alliance including university professors, scientists, local farmers, education specialists, that will help recruit and retain outstanding students and teachers in a largely Hispanic south Texas population into the CENA program. Established a website that advertises CENA related opportunities, where partners and program participants can post related messages or opportunities. Also, created a listserv that advertises opportunities for employment and training to CENA participants. 5. Leverging the funds from this grant, pushed for and established the UTPA Agroecology Garden, and 8000 sq ft teaching and research garden adjacent to the newly constructed UTPA greenhouse.
Publications
|