Source: CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
DEVELOP NOVEL RESEARCH AND EXTENSION OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS IN HISPANIC SERVING INSTITUTIONS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1009061
Grant No.
2016-67032-25008
Project No.
CALW-2015-09682
Proposal No.
2015-09682
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
A7401
Project Start Date
Mar 15, 2016
Project End Date
Mar 14, 2019
Grant Year
2016
Project Director
Ampatzidis, Y.
Recipient Organization
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY
9001 STOCKDALE HIGHWAY
BAKERSFIELD,CA 93311
Performing Department
Physics and Engineering
Non Technical Summary
The project proposed by the California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB), School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering (NSME) will develop experiential learning, research and extension opportunities for underrepresented students. It will offer extensive hands-on training to students and prepare them for a successful career in a transforming agricultural environment. Three Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) will participate in this project: 1) California State University, Bakersfield; 2) California State University, Fresno; 3) California State University, Fullerton. Extension and education activities for students will be provided through the collaboration with: 1) UC Davis, Cooperative Extension Kern County, Bakersfield; 2) USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Bakersfield CA; 3) Shafter Research Station; 4) Bolthouse Farms Inc., Bakersfield CA. Research will be conducted in all the seven locations. Therefore, the students will be able to apply their knowledge acquired in the classroom in the real world. This type of training is one of the most valuable assets that the industry is looking for in recent graduates. By having a hands-on approach to problem solving, students will develop their critical thinking and engineering skills. CSUB will provide local Hispanic and other underrepresented students the opportunity to earn a high quality degree that will also prepare graduates to be successful biological and agricultural engineers. Outreach activities will be carried to inform service area Hispanic and underrepresented communities of the research and extension opportunities and rewarding careers in biological and agricultural engineering. Outreach efforts will reach more than 35,000 high school and more than 2000 community college students. Through these outreach activities underrepresented students will be recruited; 60% of the student participants will come from outside the host institution (CSU). New retention strategies as well as, training and mentoring activities will be utilized.Purpose: Increase the number of Hispanic and underrepresented students who have a strong background in agricultural engineering with hands-on training. Audience: Hispanic, underrepresented and low-income students that previously did not have the option to study an engineering degree in the region and could not study in another geographical area due to financial or personal reasons. Objectives/activities: (1) develop learning and research opportunities (hands-on experience) for undergraduate students in the area of precision agriculture, UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), mechatronics, GIS, mechanization and automation of specialty crop production, in cooperation with three universities, local agricultural companies and extension centers (USDA and UC); (2) organize summer research and extension activities; (3) establish new research collaboration in the area of precision farming and UAVs; (4) provide experimental learning and extension activities to students. Outcomes/intended impact: 1) Novel experiential learning and research activities will be developed for undergraduate students; 2) The proposed project will offer members (faculty and students) a unique opportunity for collaboration with colleagues from three HIS universities (Department of Physics and Engineering at CSUB; Department of Industrial Technology-Precision Agriculture Technology minor at CSU Fresno; Department of Mechanical Engineering and UAV team at CSU Fullerton), USDA agencies and local agricultural industry. 3) Outreach efforts will reach 25 local high schools and 5 local community colleges to target talented, highly-motivated students to develop the next generation of research, education, and extension professionals in the food and agricultural sciences who will lead agriculture into the future.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
80%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
40272102020100%
Knowledge Area
402 - Engineering Systems and Equipment;

Subject Of Investigation
7210 - Remote sensing equipment and technology;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;
Goals / Objectives
The purpose of this proposal is to develop experiential learning, research and extension opportunities for underrepresented students with interest in agricultural engineering. It will offer extensive hands-on training to students and prepare them for a successful career in a transforming agricultural environment. Three Hispanic Serving Institutions (HIS) will participate in this project: 1) California State University, Bakersfield; 2) California State University, Fresno; 3) California State University, Fullerton. Extension and education activities for students will be provided through the collaboration with: 1) UC Davis, Cooperative Extension Kern County, Bakersfield; 2) USDA National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Bakersfield; 3) Shafter Research Station; and 4) Bolthouse Farms, Bakersfield CA. First, we plan to develop research opportunities (program 1) for undergraduate students during the academic year (10-weeks project; 10 students per year). Then, we will offer summer research and extension activities (10-weeks project; 10 students per year), collaborating with the local industry and extension centers (program 2). This type of training is one of the most valuable assets that the industry is looking for in recent graduates (Crawford et al., 2011). By having a hands-on approach to problem solving, the students will develop their critical thinking and engineering skills. This program will provide local Hispanic and other underrepresented students the opportunity to earn a high quality degree that will also prepare graduates to be successful biological and agricultural engineers. These minority students have the potential to become agricultural scientists, engineers, and industry leaders in the region if a solid engineering education and training is provided.The specific objectives of this program are:(1) develop learning and research opportunities (hands-on experience) for undergraduate students in the area of precision agriculture, UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), mechatronics, GIS, mechanization and automation of specialty crop production, in cooperation with two universities, local agricultural industry and extension centers;(2) organize summer research and extension activities;(3) establish new research collaboration in the area of precision farming and UAVs among CSU universities, local industry and extension centers;(4) provide experimental learning and extension activities to students (e.g. internships) collaborating with the local industry.
Project Methods
While CSU (Bakersfield, Fresno and Fullerton) does have summer research programs for high school students and numerous opportunities exist across the country for summer research for upper-classmen, there are very few opportunities to keep students engaged while they are lower-classmen, such as after their first year or when they have first transferred to the institution. To help provide the connections between their degree and future employment, to keep the students motivated, and to keep them engaged with the campus and their major, we propose to develop two enrichment programs for students at their first and second year at different locations (see Table 2). Each program will consists of 10 weeks.For program 1, and during the academic year, students will receive a $2,400 stipend for participation in the 10-weeks research program (20 hours per week). The program will be advertised to students in October (except the first year, it will be advertised in January; Table 4). Students will apply to the program in December (except the first year, they will apply in February; Table 4). Applications will be screened by a committee of STEM faculty and staff. The committee will be responsible for identifying qualified applicants and for identifying applicants with competitive priority. 10 students, with interest in agricultural engineering or science, will be selected from the application pool to participate in each focus area (research and extension projects). Selection will be based on the course history and planned Spring term courses of each applicant, with competitive priority given to at-risk and underrepresented students who would benefit the most from participation in the activity. In this way, every selected first or second year student will be engaged in an activity closely related to their interest. 60% of the student participants will come from outside the host institutions (local community colleges and high schools). The duration of the program is 10 weeks, from March to May. We will follow the same selection process for the year 2 and 3. Students will pick a focus area most relevant to their interest.For program 2, and during the critical summer (June to August) after their first year when retention is an issue, the students will receive a $4,000 stipend for participation in the 10-weeks research and extension program (40 hours per week). The program will be advertised to students in March. Students will apply to the program in April (Table 4). The same selection process as program 1 will be followed. This undergraduate fellowship will be provided for up to two years for each student. A "student replacement plan" will be developed in order to replace undergraduate fellows, who terminate the program early. The selection faculty team will be responsible to replace these students from the application pool. The selected students will come from the local area and hence housing is not necessary.

Progress 03/15/16 to 03/14/19

Outputs
Target Audience:undergraduate students, local growers and stakeholders. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided an experimental learning opportunity for undergraduate students (Biochemistry major) to perform research in the lab. The project involved the isolation of Streptomyces bacteria from diverse soils in California and testing their ability to inhibit the growth of agriculturally important plant pathogenic fungi, hence for their potential to be used as biocontrol agents in agriculture hereby reducing the need for harmful pesticides, as well as human pathogens. Two of the students participated with the local Natural Resources and Conservation Service office at Bakersfield. They worked under the Agricultural Engineer in diverse projects related to watershed conservation. These students prepared a powerpoint presentation which was delivered at the end of the program. The presentation was at Bakersfield College, in which other students participating in the summer program at NCRS shared their experiences. Overall, this was an outstanding opportunity to get training and learn about USDA career paths. In addition, one student was working during the summer at the Shafter Research Station. The student helped with several projects related to testing agricultural varieties in the field, cotton fiber testing, and in irrigation projects. Four of the students worked in the laboratory of Dr. Cabrales doing water treatment research. The overall goal was to study the efficiency of some water treatments in order to produce water from non-traditional resources which can be used for agricultural irrigation. The students received training in water quality testing and in experimental design. One additional student worked on improving the properties of composite materials. The student received training in instrumentation related to materials science, such as contact angle and FTIR. In general, this project has provided internship opportunities in which students experienced an atmosphere of a professional work environment. The student found an opportunity to work with several professors. Students learned about time management and how to handle multiple concurrent tasks. More importantly, they learned how to write professional reports and to present their finding to their supervisors. It is worth mentioning that two of these students have found job in automation industry immediately after their graduations thanks to the skills and experiences they have obtained during the course of this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Several students have presented their summer progress to audiences at Bakersfield College, and in addition, they have presented a poster at the Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research. The results of this project were discussed with the senior students who are about to graduate and have taken Senior Project. A senior project team is currently working on implementing a new tree-cooling system that its operation does not rely on water usage. Several papers were published. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?N/A

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A collection of 152 Streptomyces isolates was generated which were isolated from diverse soils in California. A subset of these bacterial isolates was tested for their ability to inhibit the growth of agriculturally important plant pathogenic fungi including Phytophthora and Aspergillus niger, as well as human pathogens including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella typhimurium. Several students have been working on a research project that its aim was to combat the negative impacts of the global worming on crop tree yields production. In particular, they conducted research under supervisor of Dr. Reza Abdolee on improving a sprinkler-based mist-cooling system to work more efficiently particularly in warm Winter days. During the course of this project, students learned about several of topics in science and engineering. In particular, they learned about the global warming impact on the agriculture industry, physiology of trees and their yield production dependability to temperature, sensors, actuators, power electronics, computer languages, cloud computing, and mobile application development. Regarding goal 2 and 4, summer research and extension activities were organized. 20 students were selected in total. Most of them were Hispanic and first generation college students.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: A Study of an Electrochemical Oxidation Reaction using MMO Anodes, Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research (SCCUR).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Smizer-Muldoon K., O. Osagie-Amayo, A. Cruz, A. El-kereamy, and Y. Ampatzidis, 2019. A Mobile Application to Detect Grapevine Pierces Disease with Neural Networks. 31st CSU Annual Biotechnology Symposium, Garden Grove, CA, January 3-5, 2019.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ampatzidis Y, 2018. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for Pest and Plant Disease Detection. Florida ASABE Conference, June 13-16, Jensen Beach, Florida.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Cruz A.C., El-Kereamy A., and Ampatzidis Y., 2018. Vision-based Grapevine Pierces disease detection system using artificial intelligence. ASABE Annual International Meeting, July 29  August 1, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Lapaz, M.I., Juarez Cisneros E., Pianzzola, M.J., and Francis, I.M. (2019). Exploring the exceptional properties of Streptomyces: a hands-on discovery of natural products. The American Biology Teacher (accepted).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Cruz A., Ampatzidis Y., Pierro R., Materazzi A., Panattoni A., De Bellis L., Luvisi A., 2019. Detection of Grapevine Yellows Symptoms in Vitis vinifera L. with Artificial Intelligence. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 157 (February 2019), pp. 63-76.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ampatzidis Y., Kiner J., Abdolee R., Ferguson L., 2018. Voice-Controlled and Wireless Solid Set Canopy Delivery (VCW-SSCD) System for Mist-Cooling. Sustainability, Special Issue: Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) for Sustainability, 10(2), 421; doi:10.3390/su10020421.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ampatzidis Y., and Cruz A.C., 2018. Plant disease detection utilizing artificial intelligence and remote sensing. International Congress of Plant Pathology (ICPP) 2018: Plant Health in a Global Economy, July 29  August 3, Boston, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ampatzidis Y., Cruz A.C., Roberto Pierro, Alberto Materazzi, Alessandra Panattoni, De Bellis L., Luvisi A., 2018. Vision-based System for Detecting Grapevine Yellow Diseases Using Artificial Intelligence. XXX International Horticultural Congress, II International Symposium on Mechanization, Precision Horticulture, and Robotics, 12-16 August, 2018, Istanbul Turkey.


Progress 03/15/17 to 03/14/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Audience: Hispanic low-income students that previously did not have the option to study an engineering degree in the region and could not study in another geographical area due to financial or personal reasons. For the second year of this project, 20 undergraduate students participated in the project (research and extension) activities (and received a stipend). Four of these students performed a 10-week internship at USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (Bakersfield, CA; Mentor: Marcos Perez). The same recruitment activities (as year 1) utilized to advertise the program and recruit students. We have presented the program and program activities at: Society of Engineers at CSUB: This society attracts many CSUB students interested in engineering disciplines, and therefore has great potential in introducing quality students to the BAE (Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering) program. Society of Women Engineers (SWE): Targeting SWE offers our program a unique opportunity to reach female students. Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) is the largest student organization for Hispanic students on campus. Reaching out to MEChA enables the BAE program to reach a diverse body of students. CSUB ASABE Engineering Club. Our students developed an engineering branch for the American Society of Biological and Agricultural Engineers. This clubs helped the PI to recruit students for the research and extension activities Bakersfield College Taft colleges: On April 2017, around 20 Taft College students visited our laboratories and they learned about the research activities of the students. Additionally, we have utilized the program web-site to present goals/objectives, team members and to advertise research and extension opportunities/activities: http://www.csub.edu/reu. Changes/Problems:We requested that Dr. Reza Abdolee (CSUB assistant professor) be named as a new Co-Principal Investigator of this project. This request was approved from USDA. Dr. Abdolee is an Assistant Professor at CSUB; he collaborates with Dr. Ampatzidis, current Project Director of this project, in several research and education projects. Dr. Abdolee brings significant strength and expertise to this project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have trained 20 students in the areas of precision agriculture, automation and artificial intelligence, water management and water treatment technologies etc. Several of these students attended and presented research finding in national conferences. Additionally, students were trained in laboratory safety and handling of chemicals. The students learned different analytical techniques related to water quality; they are preparing one manuscript to submit to a peer reviewed journal, and they are planning to attend conferences and present their results. Furthermore, we have created an industry work environment in which the students had access to all required components to complete predefined projects with a given delivery deadline. We have provided the relevant hardware and software components to design and implement IoT products with applications in Agriculture industry. We have provided them a farm field, UAV's, imaging tools and software, IoT hardware platforms, various kind of temperature/humidity sensors, wireless Zigbee units, Internet and WiFi access and a local weather station. In this program they learnt to work in a team and share their ideas to speed up the progress of their projects. At CSUF, students had a chance to work with independent soil/crop consultants and Maricopa Orchards Farming staff for appropriate industry consultations while working in research projects on Fresno State University Ag Laboratory farm and private farms. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?PIs visited local High Schools (with more than 80% of Hispanic population). Engineering Day at CSUB: In February of 2017 more than 500 High school students from the region came to CSUB to learn about our engineering and science programs. This event is a very successful recruiting tool since students can see the laboratories and have direct contact with the faculty. In this event, besides serving on the organizing committee, PIs and their students set up demonstrations in the Precision and Automated Systems laboratory and Materials Science Laboratory. School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering (NSME) Open House: In this event, students and parents attended to see the facilities at the School and to talk with the faculty. Several of the students attending the Open House were Hispanic. Engineering Open House: parents and students talk with the CSUB faculty and learn about the new emphases offered at the Department of Physics and Engineering, among them the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering emphasis, and the REU program. Meetings with the local industry: Dr. Cabrales, Dr. Abdolee, and Dr. Ampatzidis held several meetings in order to establish collaborations to help in the development of the agricultural engineering concentration. Furthermore, the PI, Co-PIs, partners, and undergraduate students that participated in this project, have submitted and presented several scientific papers and poster in meetings and conferences. The results of the flood study were presented to the North West Kern Resource Conservation District, a special district created of local farmers and ranchers in the community.The specifications were given directly to the farmers for their individual projects as part of a preconstruction meeting.Five farms used the flood irrigation evaluation systems to obtain a distribution uniformity for their fields.The Energy savings from motor replacement energy calculator was using to help one farmer obtain funding for the USDA Environmental Quality Incentive Program. Salinity maps were created for one farmer for approximately 640 acres. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For the third and last year of this project, we will select 20 students to participate on research and extension activities. The students will be selected within the first 3 months of the year 3 and be encouraged to complete a degree in agricultural engineering or agricultural science area. All the students involved in the project will be tracked to assess the impact of this entire project. The program mentors will supervise these students. In year 3, we offer two research and extension programs: (1) For program 1, and during the academic year, students will receive a $2,400 stipend for participation in the 10-weeks research program (20 hours per week). 10 students, with interest in agricultural engineering or science, will be selected from the application pool to participate in each focus area (research and extension projects). Selection will be based on the course history, with competitive priority given to at-risk and underrepresented students who would benefit the most from participation in the activity. Students will pick a focus area most relevant to their interest. (2) For program 2, and during the summer (June to August), 10 students will receive a $4,000 stipend for participation in the 10-weeks research and extension program (40 hours per week). The program will be advertised to students in March. Students will apply to the program in April. The same selection process as program 1 will be followed. A "student replacement plan" has developed in order to replace undergraduate fellows, who terminate the program early. The selection faculty team will be responsible to replace these students from the application pool. The selected students will come from the local area and hence housing is not necessary. USDA internship: we plan to continue to refine the flood irrigation evaluation sensors to reduce data analysis time to calculate distribution uniformity. Students will continue to design systems for irrigation efficiency for local farmers and create spreadsheets for irrigation water management for farmers to easily record and calculation predictions for how much and when to irrigate. We will continue to provide more salinity mapping for local farmers to use for precision salinity management in fields.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In year two, we developed additional learning, research and extension opportunities with hands-on experience for undergraduate (and high-school) students in the area of: Precision agriculture, precision irrigation, artificial intelligence (AI), UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, mechatronics and automation. Project examples: (a) voice-controlled smart irrigation system (using Amazon Alexa); (b) vision-based disease detection system using AI; (c) UAV-based scouting system to assess plant health status. Mentor: Dr. Ampatzidis, CUSB. Number of Students participants: seven Research experience in the area of environmental engineering were developed for two Hispanic students, one of them female. The project included to treat wastewater with electroxidation and electroflotation. Student had the opportunity to learn hands on how to take and test samples and how to operate the electroxidation equipment. Mentor: Dr. Luis Cabrales. Dr. Reza Abdolee has spent the Summer 2017 with the interns in the lab and supervised them step by step to accomplish their project goals. He taught students how to write a technical report and present their finding to interested clients and local industry. Under his supervision, students learnt to review the related literature and product survey; they learnt about the latest Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and mobile/web app implementation. He taught them backward engineering design techniques, and project management. During the course of this project, Dr. Abdolee taught students about the importance of work ethic, professionalism, and communication skills in work environment. Mentor: Dr. Reza Abdolee. Dr. Balaji Sethuramasamyraja has spent the Summer 2017 with the interns in the lab and supervised them step by step to accomplish their project goals. Students spent the summer in lab and field experimenting new technology for agricultural and farming applications. Students learnt application of knowledge from course work in their undergraduate programs. They also had an experience conducting research through literature review, customer mapping (Farming needs mapping), selecting appropriate tools for application in agricultural operations. Project examples: (a) Trimble Seekur autonomous robot application in vineyards; (b) Modification of steamers for almond organic weeding application. Mentor: Dr. Sethuramsamyraja, CSUF. Number of Students participants: 3. At USDA NRCS, student interns were trained in Trimble GPS survey grade equipment, drafting using AutoCAD, hydraulic calculations using US Army Corps of Engineers HEC River Analysis System (HEC RAS) software and hydrology using USGS regression analysis. They also wrote project specifications, design reports, and inspection reports for conservation practices such as waste water separation, solar powered pumps, livestock watering pipelines, irrigation reservoir lining, irrigation pipelines, concrete pads, anaerobic digestors.The students surveyed using Trimble GPS equipment 20 miles of Poso Creek for flood analysis. They entered the data into AutoCAD to create 3 dimension topographic surface of the creek. This data was then analyzed using HEC RAS to determine water levels in the creek for various flood flows.Students also designed and built flood irrigation evaluation sensors. These sensors are used to track the flow of water across the field and then calculate a distribution uniformity to assist the farmers in precision irrigation. Students created spreadsheet calculator for calculating energy savings from replacing existing irrigation motors with premium efficiency motors. Students also created a spreadsheet for hydrologic analysis. Students created a method of approach for using Geonics EM38 electrical conductivity measurement device to analyze salinity in farm fields. This included using USDA ARS software called ESAP to create a sampling design for soil.The soil samples were taken and then analysis using soil water extraction technique to ground truth the EM38 readings. ESRI ArcGIS was used to create salinity maps based on the EM38 data. Mentor: Dr. Marcos Perez

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ampatzidis Y., Kiner J., Abdolee R., Ferguson L., 2018. Voice-Controlled and Wireless Solid Set Canopy Delivery (VCW-SSCD) System for Mist-Cooling. Sustainability, Special Issue: Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) for Sustainability, 10(2), 421; doi:10.3390/su10020421.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Cruz A.C., Luvisi A., De Bellis L., and Ampatzidis Y., 2017. X-FIDO: An Effective Application for Detecting Olive Quick Decline Syndrome with Novel Deep Learning Methods. Frontiers, Plant Sci., 10 October 2017 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.01741.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Samara O., Harmening T., Meyer J., Curtis R., Moore T., and Ampatzidis Y., 2017. Development of a Solar UAV for Long Endurance Flights of Industrial Payloads. ASABE California-Nevada Section, poster competition, February 15, Tulare, California, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Cruz A., De Bellis L., Luvisi A., and Ampatzidis Y., 2017. Vision-Based Plant Disease Detection System Using Transfer and Deep Learning. ASABE 2017, Annual International Meeting, July 16  July 19, 2017, Spokane, WA, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Trudeau D., Ward J., Zhang L., Ferguson L., and Ampatzidis Y., 2017. Automated solid state canopy delivery (SSCD) system to deliver mist-cooling to increase winter chill for dormancy and bud break. ASABE 2017, Annual International Meeting, July 16  July 19, 2017, Spokane, WA, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Dykstra J., and B. Sethuramasamyraja. 2018. Design and Development of single operator quick detach scraper implement for filling pivot tracks in Center Pivot Irrigation Systems. Poster Presentation. ASABE CA NV Section Meeting, Tulare, CA (St. Joseph, Michigan: ASABE).


Progress 03/15/16 to 03/14/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Audience: Hispanic low-income students that previously did not have the option to study an engineering degree in the region and could not study in another geographical area due to financial or personal reasons. For the first year of this project, 12 undergraduate students were selected to participate in research and extension activities and received a stipend of $4,000 (from June 13 to August 19; up to 40h/week). We selected these students from two local community colleges (Bakersfield College and Taft college), CSU Bakersfield, CSU Fresno, and CSU Fullerton. 60% of the selected students came from outside the host institution. Students research assistants (total 12 students) for the first year of this project: five CSUB students three students from Taft Colleges two students from Bakersfield Colleges one student from CSU Fullerton one student from CSU Fresno From these 12 students, four of them performed an internship under an agricultural engineer from USDA and received a stipend for this internship from the grant. The internship was full time and lasted 10 weeks from June 13 to August 19 (up to 40h/week). Some of our recruitment activities were to present the program's research opportunities to: Society of Engineers at CSUB: This society attracts many CSUB students interested in engineering disciplines, and therefore has great potential in introducing quality students to the BAE (Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering) program. Society of Women Engineers (SWE): Targeting SWE offers our program a unique opportunity to reach female students. Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) is the largest student organization for Hispanic students on campus. Reaching out to MEChA enables the BAE program to reach a diverse body of students. CSUB ASABE Engineering Club. Our students developed an engineering branch for the American Society of Biological and Agricultural Engineers. This clubs helped the PI to recruit students for the research and extension activities Bakersfield College Taft colleges Finally, we have developed a web-site for this project to present goals/objectives, team members and to advertise research and extension opportunities/activities: http://www.csub.edu/reu/ Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has developed learning, research and extension opportunities for undergraduate students (see above). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Dr. Ampatzidis with the support of the IT department at CSUB, developed a web page for this grant (http://www.csub.edu/reu) in order to make aware the students and the public of this effort. The progress of this grant, news, events, research and extension opportunities, and internship opportunities were announced in this website. Additionally, outreach related to project activities was carried. Dr. Ampatzidis visited local High Schools. One of them was Shafter High School, and he was present in a recruiting booth during their College Fair. Shafter is an agricultural community north of Bakersfield with more than 80% of Hispanic population. Another High School that he attended was Valley Oaks Charter School. At this school, he gave a presentation related to the agricultural engineering program at CSUB and the CSUB REU program, during their Career Day. Dr. Ampatzidisis on the organizing committee of the Engineering Day at CSUB. In February of 2016 more than 500 High school students from the region came to CSUB to learn about our engineering and science programs. This event is a very successful recruiting tool since students can see the laboratories and have direct contact with the faculty. In this event, besides serving on the organizing committee, Dr. Ampatzidis, Dr. Cabrales (Co-PI) and their students set up demonstrations in the Precision and Automated Systems laboratory and Materials Science Laboratory. The Department of Physics and Engineering participated in the School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering (NSME) Open House. In this event, students and parents attend one evening to view first-hand the facilities at the School and to talk with the faculty. Several of the students attending the Open House and their parents were Hispanic. In another event, the Engineering Open House, parents and students attended to CSUB for one evening to talk with the faculty and learn about the new emphases offered at the Department of Physics and Engineering, among them the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering emphasis, and the REU program. In addition, there has been meetings with the local industry. Dr. Cabrales and Dr. Ampatzidis held several meetings in order to establish collaborations to help in the development of the agricultural engineering concentration. Finally, the PI, Co-PIs, partners, and undergraduate students that participated in this project, have submitted and presented several scientific papers and poster on meeting and conferences What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For the second year of this project, we will select 20 students to participate on research and extension activities. The supported student (20 students for year 2) will be selected within the first 3 months of the year 2 and be encouraged to complete a degree in agricultural engineering or agricultural science area. All the students involved in the project will be tracked to assess the impact of this entire project. 60% of the selected students will come from outside the host institution. These students will be selected from the local community colleges and high schools. Seven mentors will supervise these students. In year 2, we offer two research and extension programs: (1) For program 1, and during the academic year, students will receive a $2,400 stipend for participation in the 10-weeks research program (20 hours per week). 10 students, with interest in agricultural engineering or science, will be selected from the application pool to participate in each focus area (research and extension projects). Selection will be based on the course history and planned Spring term courses of each applicant, with competitive priority given to at-risk and underrepresented students who would benefit the most from participation in the activity. Students will pick a focus area most relevant to their interest. (2) For program 2, and during the critical summer (June to August) after their first year when retention is an issue, 10 students will receive a $4,000 stipend for participation in the 10-weeks research and extension program (40 hours per week). The program will be advertised to students in March. Students will apply to the program in April. The same selection process as program 1 will be followed. A "student replacement plan" will be developed in order to replace undergraduate fellows, who terminate the program early. The selection faculty team will be responsible to replace these students from the application pool. The selected students will come from the local area and hence housing is not necessary.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Specific goals and accomplishments: We have developed learning, research and extension opportunities with hands-on experience for undergraduate students in the area of: i) precision agriculture, UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), mechatronics, GIS, mechanization and automation of specialty crop production. Project examples: (a) smart irrigation system using WSN and fuzzy controllers; (b) create a NDVI map using UAVs. Mentor: Dr. Ampatzidis, CSUB. Number of student participants: three (summer 2016). ii) water treatment technologies. Project examples: (a)Use of alternative water sources for agriculture; (b) Investigate different physical and chemical processes to treat produced water. Mentor: Dr. Cabrales, CSUB. Number of student participants: two (summer 2016). iii) precision agriculture. Project examples: (a) Use EM 38 to map soil salinity on farms; (b) Develop plant health data acquisition systems. Mentor: Dr. Sethuramasamyraja, CSU Fresno. Number of student participants: one (summer 2016). iv) UAVs in agriculture. Project examples: (a) Development of agricultural UAV. Mentor: Dr. Mayoral, CSU Fullerton. Number of student participants: one (summer 2016). v) viticulture. Project examples: (a) The potential role of precision viticulture in vineyard management. Mentor: Dr. El-kereamy, UC Davis Extension Center. Number of student participants: one (summer 2016). vi) irrigation management and evaluation: Project examples: (a) Develop sensors to increase accuracy of surface irrigation system evaluations and perform irrigation system evaluations using new sensors; (b) Create a hydraulic pipeline model using EPANET and survey data on installed pipelines for 5000 head or greater dairies for better wastewater reuse. Mentor: Marcos Perez, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service. Number of student participants: four (summer 2016). Internship activities in USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (Mentor: Marcos Perez) included (four students): Created soils laboratory at NRCS field office for salinity measurements Established Standard operating procedures for use of the EM38 and Garmin GPS for salinity mapping Established Standard operating procedures for laboratory analysis of soil samples for salinity 360 acres of salinity mapping for pistachio orchard Irrigation Evaluation probes for flood irrigation systems 400 acres of irrigation system evaluation on flood irrigation using probes Survey of Poso Creek flood water levels Livestock watering system for 20,000 acre ranch surveyed and designed Collected water temperature fluctuations in above ground pipeline for livestock watering system using temperature probes. This helped determine at the effect of water temperature on cattle drinking behavior. Finally, we have developed a well-designed mentoring and activity evaluation plan. Dr. Michieka collected data from student participants (using surveys) and developed a project evaluation report. His evaluation report is available to USDA. The summary of this report is: Participation Rate: 83% of the students (10 out of 12) responded to the survey (42% female and 58% male). Study Program Satisfaction Support from faculty members: 100% (or 10/10) of the students strongly agreed or agreed that that the faculty member has been supportive. Interest in Field: 100% of students were strongly interested (or interested) in the program they were studying. Interest in a career in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE): 70%of the students were interested in a career in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) Program preparation: 60% of the students were strongly prepared (or prepared) for this program while 40% were neutral. Knowledge of skills required for BAE: 100% of the students strongly felt (strongly agreed or agreed) that they understood the skills required for a career in BAE. Interest in research in BAE: 80% of the students were interested (strongly agreed or agreed) in conducting research in BAE; 20% were neutral.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Cruz A., De Bellis L., Luvisi A., and Ampatzidis Y., 2017. Vision-Based Plant Disease Detection System Using Transfer and Deep Learning. ASABE 2017, Annual International Meeting, July 16  July 19, 2017, Spokane, WA, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Trudeau D., Ward J., Zhang L., Ferguson L., and Ampatzidis Y., 2017. Automated solid state canopy delivery (SSCD) system to deliver mist-cooling to increase winter chill for dormancy and bud break. ASABE 2017, Annual International Meeting, July 16  July 19, 2017, Spokane, WA, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Snowden T., Trudeau D., Martin K., Pulido-Mejia Y., Lai P., and Ampatzidis Y., 2017. Development of Wireless Sensor Network for Flood Irrigation Evaluation and Control. Principal Investigators Meeting, USDA, February 16-18, Albuquerque, NM, USA (poster).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Sadiqbatcha S., Jafarzadeh S., and Ampatzidis Y., 2017. Particle Swarm Optimization for Solving a Class of Type-1 and Type-2 Fuzzy Nonlinear Equations. In: Proceedings of FUZZ-IEEE (IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems), July 9-12, Naples, Italy.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Le H., and B. Sethuramasamyraja. 2017. Digital Elevation Modeling of Agricultural Fields for Irrigation Systems Design and Management. Poster Presentation. St. Joseph, Michigan: ASABE.