Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
(N/A)
LINCOLN,NE 68583
Performing Department
Plant Health
Non Technical Summary
Global food security, in light of our growing world population and need for increased sustainability, carries numerous major challenges for agricultural production. One such challenge is pesticide resistance, which has become a serious threat to global agriculture. Resistance, resulting from pesticide or biotechnology use, has increased management costs and environmental risk. Resistance management has become essential for stewardship of new pest control technologies, but it is complex, requiring training at a systems level to effectively address the problem. Resistance management, along with other significant challenges in agriculture, requires a higher level of understanding of agricultural systems. Consequently, many producers rely on expertise of crop consultants/advisors. To address the increasing need for interdisciplinary graduate-level professional training, the University of Nebraska - Lincoln has undertaken the Doctor of Plant Health (DPH) Program, a rigorous professional doctoral program that provides the student with comprehensive training across plant-related disciplines. Resistance management requires greater understanding of the entire agricultural system in order to avoid negative interactions between management tactics and other crop management strategies. As such, the multidisciplinary emphasis of the DPH program provides a unique opportunity to address this critical need. Project objectives are to: 1) educate and train three multidisciplinary professionals (Doctors of Plant Health) to have deeper understanding and experiences related to resistance management, 2) provide resistance management research, extension, and teaching experiential opportunities for these NNF fellows to comprehensively steward pest management technologies, and 3) build leadership potential of these NNF fellows.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
To educate and train three multidisciplinary professionals (Doctors of Plant Health) with comprehensive training across all disciplines that impact plant health and management who have deeper understanding and experiences related to resistance management.To enhance the capabilities of the DPH professionals (NNF fellows) to comprehensively steward pest management technologies by providing them resistance management research, extension, and teaching experiential opportunities.To build the NNF fellows leadership capabilities to enhance their ability to be future leaders in developing and managing sustainable food and agricultural systems.
Project Methods
1) Recruitment and selection of NN Fellows The Doctor of Plant Health Program is a rigorous graduate level program and requires that all students entering the program be well qualified in the basic sciences. The importance of this National Need Fellowship to the DPH program lies in the added incentive to attract top students who are interested in this practical-based interdisciplinary program and in future employment in important TESA areas. Fellows will be recruited through direct contacts, website advertising and direct mail/e-mail. Specific effort to recruit underrepresented groups will include: 1) The University of Nebraska - Lincoln has a Memorandum of Agreement with Lincoln University (Springfield, MO) and University of Puerto Rico - Mayaquez to enhance collaborative efforts that are mutually beneficial to students. We will pursue recruitment opportunities at these institutions through contact with known faculty or visits to meet faculty and students, 2) The agricultural and related programs at all the 1890 and 1994 Land Grant Universities will be contacted to advertise and recruit for NNF fellows.2) Academic advising, mentoring All DPH students will be advised initially by the program director during the first year in the program. During the first year the student will establish an advisory committee made up of one representative from each of the three main departments, Agronomy/Horticulture, Entomology, and Plant Pathology, the DPH Director, and one additional optional member of the students choice. This committee will be responsible to work with the student by 1) establishing the student's program of study, 2) advising the student on the direction of the professional track and complimentary course selections chosen for electives, 3) providing an annual review of the student's progress to make sure appropriate milestones are reached, 4) providing direction to the student in the selection of internship programs, and 5) administering the final oral examination for the student. Our goal related to mentoring in the DPH program is to provide the student with an array of mentoring options including: 1) one-on-one mentoring with the Program Director, 2) mentoring connections with teaching faculty or faculty on Supervisory Committee, and 3) group mentoring activities through the required Colloquium course. For these NNF fellows, we will also initiate a student mentoring program that will couple an older and a newer DPH student. Professional contacts made through internships can also be an important source of mentoring.3) Experiential learning opportunities The most important experiential learning component of the DPH program will be the student's internship experiences. The student will be required to complete the equivalent of 6 months of internship experience. Typically this will be met with two summer internships of 3 months each. Internships will be chosen by the student with input from the DPH Director and DPH Supervisory Committee to provide experience in areas that match the student's career objectives and may provide a 'pipeline' to future employment. Students will be paid on these internship experiences, allowing them to cover additional travel costs and living expenses associated with the internships. We also have budgeted funds from the COE to provide limited assistance for students if internship-specific expenses (i.e. travel, housing, etc) are accrued. Signed agreements between the student, internship supervisor, and DPH Director will lay out the details of the program and the expectations for all sides involved. This 'contract' will lay out the learning objectives of the experience for the student and the expectations of both the supervising employer and student. Internship evaluations will be made upon completion by both the employer and the student.4) Performance Outcomes / Dissemination of impacts/results The DPH program at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln will establish a close connection with the fellows during their course of study and will maintain connection with the student after graduation to enable us to monitor the student's employment status. Because our program is just beginning, it is imperative that we maintain this connection with all our students and document the success of the program in order to insure success in recruiting future students. Thus far, we have been able to do this readily, but as the numbers of graduates grow this will become more difficult. We have utilized our website to provide summaries of our past graduate's career opportunities and offer graduates a way to connect with the program and each other. We have and will continue to use social media to stay connected with the students so we can establish their actual career path and impact. Program performance will also be evaluated before the student graduates. In the last year of the program, DPH students undergo a series of written exams from each of the main academic departments to test their disciplinary knowledge in each area. The students also undergo go an oral final exam that focuses on their ability to integrate the extensive knowledge base across disciplines. Near the end of their program, each student will be required to fill out an evaluation of the program and have an exit interview with the director to provide input into their impressions and suggested improvements for the program.Information on the DPH program and the NNF fellows and their resistance management activities will be incorporated into the DPH website and Facebook pages. These sites will have a special NNF page where information on NNF Fellows and their activities and accomplishments will be presented. Landmark information (naming of fellows, presentations at professional meetings, awards received, etc.) on the NNF Fellows will be made available through press releases to local, regional, and perhaps national agricultural media. NNF Fellows will be attending professional meetings and will present materials that result from their research and other internship projects. Where appropriate results from these activities will be published in popular and applied scholarly publications and the affiliation with NNF program identified. Outcomes from the educational and extension resistance management projects will be monitored through on-line usage programs. Use of extension materials that are developed will be monitored and extension impact statements developed. All publications and materials developed by these fellows will contain USDA NNF identifiers.In addition to oversight by the internal UNL DPH Steering Committee, one final evaluation of the program is the creation of an external advisory board for the DPH program. This board will be made up of program constituents who are and will be hiring DPH graduates. Members will include ag industry, ag business, federal and state agency, Extension personnel and input will be received on the optimal direction of the program and its curriculum.Most courses that students will be taking are current graduate level classes being taught by University of Nebraska - Lincoln faculty. Each NNF fellow will spend time working in one of three research programs where extensive resistance management research is being conducted (e.g entomology, plant pathology, weed science). The NNF fellows will have travel opportunities as they will be asked to attend at least two professional meetings during their program. Other travel opportunities will also be available through the diagnostics program as field trips will be an important part of this program. Funding from the CoE will be made available to support these travel opportunities. Professional meetings targeted will include: NPDN, APS, ESA, CSSA, WSSA, SSSA, NAICC, and perhaps others.