Progress 04/01/23 to 03/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:Six undergraduate students participated in the program during the spring and summer of2023. Of them, two were from UMES and the other four from other universities. Graduate students served as student mentors but were funded from other sources. Team leaders from the 2022 summer served as undergraduate students-mentors for REEU teams. Other sources of funding supported them. As of March 2024, two new team leaders for the summer of 2024 were hired and started their training - Mr. Diack Mohammadu and Ms. Elizabeth Odusanya. During the summer 2023 and spring of 2023, all participants werefrom minorities underrepresented in STEM and FANH sciences. Faculty and extension specialists served as mentors and lecturers: Drs. Ristvey of WyeREC extension, Dr. Weaver of UMES, Ms. Henriette Den Ouden of UMES demonstration farm, and PI Volkis have significantly contributed to program participant training. Farmers hosted visits to farms and attended results dissemination presentations made by students. Students and faculty nationwide were attending the presentation of results of projects during presentations made by students at national and regional meetings, including two major national conferences of the American Chemical Society and National Honors Colloquium, targeting undergraduate minority students. Faculty and administration at UMES attended the project's final presentations. Office of Public Relations participated in advertising the project and disseminating results. A professional external evaluator supported the program all year long and worked with students. A separate external evaluator's report isavailable upon request. During fall 2023, team leaders of two REEU teams working on summer presented additional outreach talks during the UMES Agriculture Day and the recruiting activities of partnering non-profit organization Jookender. Changes/Problems:We plan to accomplish all activities as was initially planned in the grant. We do not expect any significant changes or pitfalls. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The following workshops and visiting activities for farming facilitiesdeveloped in 2020 and 2021 were repeated in 2023: 1. Phytochemistry 2. SciFinder and ChemDraw workshop. 3. Instrumental analysis. 4. CV/resume writing. 5. Application to graduate school. 6. Application for federal jobs. 7. EPA virtual tour. 8. UMES farm, herbal garden, and planting of medical herbs. 9. Habanera farm visit and medical tea workshop. 10. Tour of Wye REC facilities. 11. Scientific harvesting at WyeREC. 12. Tour of Ray's farms. 13. Horticulture and plant physiology of Aronia. 14. Plant nutrition and weather instrumentation. 15. Soil analysis. 16. Agricultural statistics. Additionally, a workshop on patenting was also conducted. Students participated in 9 meetings with farmers, where they presented their projects and samples of products as outreach talks. Students were trained in basic agricultural and phytochemical analysis techniques, lab safety, and performing basic lab operations. Students were trained in weekly and final presentations, and team leaders and mentors also had presentations at national meetings. Students had an average of four hours per day in the vet phyto chemical lab and got training in basic analytical instrumentation. Leaders and graduate student mentors received leadership and professional and laboratory training, including lab management, inventory, safety, and good laboratory practice. The 2023 summer team completed the gauge project, and the graduate mentor of the team is currently preparing the manuscript. One graduate student mentor who previously was a team leader in 2021 finished his master of chemistry degree with a thesis and is also preparing two manuscripts for publication. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have conducted multiple outreach activities - 9 presentations for farmers during the summer of 2023, followed by a presentation during the UMES Agricultural Day and at the opening of the UMES education farming facility in the fall of2023. During all presentations, we gave the public samples of our new products developed by REEU teams and conducted customer opinion surveys. The master-level thesis that included the results obtained during the REEU internships was published. Projects were presented at several regional and national meetings, including the academic conference, where we presented our interdisciplinary approach to the REEU program. All educational materials we have developed for the REEU program, including lectures, assignments, and forms, were posted on a public website and are now available to anyone free of charge. PI participated in the USDA-organized Pis meetings and presented a short PowerPoint about the project. The paper about the REEU program at UMES was published in the digest of theSchool of Agriculture and Natura Sciences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The 2024 cycle will be the last in the five years grant. We plan to form two teams with the UMES team leaders andtrain them with all workshops and field trips we have done in 2023. Additionally, we plan three weeks of thematic activities that the REEU program will conduct together with the newly funded FANE program. The first week will be devoted to technology and robotics in agriculture, including irrigation systems, solar energy, small electronic devices, and drones. The second week will be soil, plant nutrition, and phytochemistry. The third week will be focused on sensory science. Each thematic week will include a combination of lectures, lab activities, and field trips, all focused on the same topic. This is in addition to conducting active experiential research to create and characterize vitamin gummies based on Aronia juice and incorporate holy basil into health products. We will again conduct outreach presentations for farmers and the community and at scientific conferences. We are preparing three manuscripts based on results partially obtained during REEU summer internships. We will also submit a new REEU proposal for the next five years.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Two team leaders were supported during the spring 2023 semester for leadership and scientific training and preparation for the summer program: Ms. Makayla Wolf (rising senior, agribusinessmajor) and Ms. Ludan Osman (rising junior, biology major, honors, and LSAMP student). These two students served as team leaders during the summertime. Additional four students from universities in VA and MD were supported along with team leaders during ten weeks of the summer 2023 internship: Mr. Albert Lluberes - from Virginia State University, Ms. Ashley Canton - from Virginia State University, Mr. MORGAN JACKSON from the University of Virginia, and Ms. Sade Omo-are from Virgin Island were selected to join team leaders. A significant part of supported students were from minorities underrepresented in STEM and FANH sciences, as well as students who were first generation in college. We have received eleven eligible applications for the four non-UMES positions in the summer internship. The group of mentors, graduate students, and UMES administration anonymously evaluated students' applications for their application credentials. Then, Zoom interviews were conducted with seven finalists, and the four best candidates were selected. Two teams of three students, including the team leader, worked on two active, experiential projects: (1) creating a ripening gauge for Aronia berries and (2) creating a natural, organic, sugar-free power drink and its full labeling and characterization. These were continuation projects that were initiated during the summer of 2020. For the first two weeks, students read reports from previous years, conducted a literature search, planned their experiments, and wrotethe materials and methods part. They were trained in effective report writing and how to make milestones and tasks for each project goal. Students had an average of two workshops per week and a total of 9 field trips daylong, with presentations for farmers at each trip along with learning and hands-on experiences in farming and production facilities. We conducted daily meetings with all participants, weekly meetings with project teams, and weekly meetings with team leaders to support their leadership roles. Every week, teams submitted a progress report and PowerPoint presentation, and we conducted discussions for each group. The external evaluator worked with teams and mentors via Zoom twice and then during a week-longvisit to the site sites and meeting teams on farming facilities. The evaluator and PI conducted some gaming and group evaluation activities during these visits. Teams were trained to disseminateresults to farming communities and held 11 presentations to farmers while visiting different farming facilities. Students completed pre- and post-workshop assignments for each workshop conducted and all required surveys from the evaluator. By the end, each team submitted a final report for the year, made in the form of a research paper,a PowerPoint slides, and a poster. During this summer, for the first time, we have conducted a pilot project in which a group of high school students joined the REEU trainees for two weeks of joined activities, helping to build a filling learning community that covers high schoolers, their teachers, undergraduate students, graduate students-mentors, and a group of faculty, farmers, and extension agents. Based on the success of this pilot, we have submitted the AFRI-EWD-FANE proposal, which was funded; STarting in the summer of 2024, the practice of joint activities and learning community building will become a new routine of the programs. Such activities also help develop leadership and interpersonal communication skills for EU students who mentor and teach high schoolers. To support this innovation, we have created a web page for the newly funded ASTEMA FANE program and added tubs for all materials of theREEU program. Now, all materials for both programs can be found on one open-access web page:ASTEMA (google.com) Students held a final presentation during the closing event at UMES. The event was also held jointly among REEU and pilot high school trainees. There were both scientiffic project presentations and outreach presentations of power aid drinks and the gauge to farmers and local communities. Two new team leaders have been determined for the summer of 2024.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Ezra Cable, Breann Green, Deborah G. Sauder, Andrew G. Ristvey, Victoria Volkis
Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD, 21853. Phytochemical Development over the Ripening Process of Aronia mitschurinii, Sambucus nigra, Morus alba and lonicera caerulea. 2023 UMES Regional Research Symposium. April 2023.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Ryan Buzzetto More,1 Ezra Cable,1 Andrew G. Ristvey,2 and Victoria V. Volkis1. 1-Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853; 2 - University of Maryland Extension, Wye Research & Education Center, P.O. Box 169, Queenstown, MD 21658-0169. University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, Maryland 21853. Using a Ripeness Gauge to measure Anthocyanins and Brix of Superfoods. 2023 UMES Regional Research Symposium. April 2023.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Aronia mitschurinii New Generation of Super Fruits with Multiple Health Benefits. Keith Bratley1, Travis Ford1, Andrew Ristvey2* and Victoria V. Volkis1 . 1- Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853; 2 - University of Maryland Extension, Wye Research & Education Center, P.O. Box 169, Queenstown, MD 21658-0169. In press. J. Berry Research, 2024.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
V. Volkis. When Phytochemistry Meets Material Science. Invited webinar talk for Jookender LLC College Prep Program. April 9, 2023.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
V. Volkis and S. Grebenyuk. Increasing the Participation of Minority Students and Advancing STEM in Agriculture Using Active Experiential Learning and Groups Pedagogic. AAC&U Transforming stem in higher Education Conference, Arlington, VA, November 2023.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
William Weaver1, Sasha Grebenyuk2, Andrew G. Ristvey3, and Victoria V. Volkis1 *1 - University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Department of Natural Sciences, Princess Anne, MD 21853; 2 WOM Communications LLC, 945 Concord St., Framingham, MA 01701; 3 - University of Maryland Extension, Wye Research & Education Center, P.O. Box 169, Queenstown, MD 21658-0169. Advancing STEM in Agriculture with Active Experiential Learning Engagement for High School and College Students Focused on Creation of Health Product from Super-fruits and Medical Herbs. ACS Spring National Meeting 224, New Orleans, LA, March 2024.
|
Progress 04/01/22 to 03/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:Six undergraduate students were participating in the program during spring and summer 2022. Of them, two were from UMES and the other four from other universities. Graduate students served as students-mentors but were funded from other sources. Team leaders from 2021 summer were serving as an undergraduate students-mentors for REEU teams. They were supported by other sources of funding. As of March 2023, two new team leaders for the summer 223 were hired and started their training - Ms. Ludan Osman and Ms. Makalah Wolfe. During summer 2022 and spring 2023, a significant part of participants was from minorities underrepresented in STEM and FANH sciences. Faculty and extension specialists served as mentors and lecturers. Drs. Ristvey of WyeREC extension, Dr. Weaver of UMES, and Ms. Henriette Den Ouden of UMES demonstration farm, along with PI Volkis have made major contributions to the training of program participants.Farmers hosted visits to farms and attended results dissemination presentations made by students. Students and faculty nationwide were attending the presentation of results of projects during presentations made by students at a national and regional meetings, including two major national meetings of ABRCMS targeting undergraduate minority students, and national American Society meeting, targeting more than 8,000 specialists of chemical, biological, agricultural, food, and environmental sciences and engineering. Faculty and administration at UMES were attending the final presentations of the project. Office of Public relationships participated in advertising the project and dissemination of results. A professional external evaluator supported the program all year long and worked with students. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The following workshops and farming facilities visitation activities, developed in 2020 and 2021 were repeated in 2022: 1. Phytochemistry 2. SciFinder and ChemDraw workshop. 3. Instrumental analysis. 4. CV/resume writing. 5. Application to graduate school. 6. Application for federal jobs. 7. EPA virtual tour. 8. UMES farm, herbal garden, and planting of medical herbs. 9. Habanera farm visit and medical teas workshop. 10. Tour of Wye REC facilities. 11. Scientific harvesting at WyeREC. 12. Tour of Mills Run farms. 13. Horticulture and plant physiology of Aronia. 14. Plant nutrition and weather instrumentation. 15. Soil analysis. 16. Agricultural statistics. Additionally, new visits to Hagerstown mental hospital and UMD extension and to DNR native plants facility, - both for service-learning, wereconducted. A new workshop in patenting was also developed. Students participated in 11 meetings with farmers, where they presented their projects. Students were trained in basic agricultural and phytochemical analysis techniques, lab safety, and performing basic lab operations. Students were trained in weekly and final presentations and presentations at national meetings. Students had an average of four hours per day in vet phyto chemical lab and got training in the use of basic analytical instrumentation. Leaders and graduate students-mentors received leadership training in addition to professional and laboratory training. Students developed and learned to prepare eight varieties of power aid drinks, were conducting tasting and surveys. 3D printing technology was used in the ripeness gauge project, and four prototypes were developed and evaluated, of which one was selected as a master-prototype for further optimization. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?By the end of summer 2022, both teams of students held a symposium where they presented the scientific results, followed by the hand on presentation of products to farmers and local community. Later, team leaders in collaboration with the team prepared and presented a series of posters and talks on national and regional conferences. We had 11 presentations and demonstrations to farmers during field trips in summer 2022. We have prepared and submitted to UMD office of patenting lawyers the patent application for our power aid drink. One graduate student presented a final defense talk to UMES scientific community during the DNS symposium and won one of top three posters award. The other student, along with a former team leader, presented two posters at the ACS National Meeting in Indianapolis in March 2023. In September 2022, the PI was invited to farm trip in MA and RI, where she presented projects to four educational farms and to the local community of immigrants families. Visitation of one of farms resulted in the agreement of growing haskap for the needs of REEU and other PI's projects. Finally, activities of REEU project were highlighted in UMES web page dedicated to REEU program, as well as on designated Facebook page for the REEU program. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to form another two teams of students for summer 2023 with two team leaders already identified and in the process of training. We plan to repeat all workshops and field trips that we had in summer 2022, just replacing the visitation to Mill Run farm with visitation of the similar Ray's Farm, due to retirement of Mill Run farmers. We also plan to add the following new activities: - expand the use of3D printing from design of cartridges for ripening gauge project into developing the pans for gummies with content of phytochemicals similar to power aid drinks. Also, the goal for team drinks will be to develop a drink where aronia will be combined with young ginger to add more health benefits to it and develop the gummies with phytochemical content similar to drinks. For gauge project, we plan to optimize the master-prototype to make the data more reproducible, invest in developing the custom strips for the gauge and control dilutions.We will continue all the evaluator activities and track our alumnae. We will evaluate workshop materials and assignments, following last years' experience and the evaluator's recommendations. We also will work on developing the continuation REEU proposal for the next cycle. Finally, there are plans for two additional publications in peer reviewer journals.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Two team leaders were supported during the spring 2022 semester for leadership and scientific training and preparation for the summer program: Ms. Kanaya Streeter (rising sophomore, biology major, LSAMP student) and Mr. Ryan More(rising junior, chemistry major, Honors, and LSAMP student). These two students served as team leaders during the summertime. Additional four students from universities in DE, NC, and MD were supported along with team leaders during ten weeks of summer 2022 summer internship: Mr. Kpardeh Boayue from Montgomery community college in MD; Ms. Devki Shah from the University at College Park, MD; Mr. Andy Van Kirk from University of Maryland Baltimore county, MD; and Ms. Anuja Witter from the DePauw University in NY, were selected to join team leaders. A significant part of supported students was from minorities underrepresented in STEM and FANH sciences, and also students with disabilities. We have received a total of ten eligible applications for the four non-UMES positions in summer internship. Students first were evaluated by the group of mentors, graduate students, and UMES administration for their application credentials anonymously. Then Zoom interviews were conducted with nine finalists, and the four best candidates were selected. Two teams of three students, including the team leader, worked on two active experiential projects: (1) creating a ripening gauge for Aronia berries and creating a natural, organic sugar-free power drink and its full labeling and characterization; and (2) Engineering of the ripening gauge for fruits rich by anthocyanins. These were continuation projects that were initiated during summer 2020. During the first week, students read reports and materials from the previous summer, and came up with their objectives and milestones for summer. Students had an average of two workshops per week, and total of 11 field trips day long with presentations for farmers at each trip along with learning and hand on experiences in farming and production facilities. We conducted daily meetings with all participants, weekly meetings with project teams, and weekly meetings with team leaders to support their leadership roles. We have also done a progress report, PowerPoint presentation and discussion for each group. The external evaluator was working with teams and mentors via zoom, and twice was visiting the sites and meeting teams on farming facilities. During these visits, some gaming and group evaluation activities were conducted by evaluator and PI. Teams were trained in the dissemination of results to farming communities and held 11 presentations to farmers while visiting different farming facilities. Students completed pre-and post-workshop assignments for each workshop conducted, and all required surveys from the evaluator. By the end, each team submitted a final report for the year, made in the form of a research paper and PowerPoint slides, and a poster. Students held a final one-hour per team presentation during the closing event at UMES. Students also presented their results at the ABRCMS national meeting in November 2022 and during the American Chemical Society national meeting in August 2022 in Chicago IL. In December 2022, we conducted the third follow-up with program alumnae, and the document for it is available upon request. In January 2023, we have started an advertisement and recruitment campaign for summer 2023, as well as updated UMES web site devoted to REEU program. Two new team leaders have been determined and now are being trained for leading teams during summer 2023.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
The Effect of Cultural Management and Bush Age on the Antioxidant Content of Aronia mitschurinii Grown in Maryland. Breann V. Green1, Blessing Aroh1, Deborah G. Sauder,1 Victoria V. Volkis1*, Andrew Ristvey2*. 1 - Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853. 2 Wye Research and Education Center, University of Maryland, Queenstown, MD, 21662. ACS Omega, Jan 2023. PMCID# PMC9893470.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Extraction of Antioxidants from Aronia mitschurinii Juice Using Microporous Resins. Heather Goldsborrough1, Breann Green1, Mohamed Abdelmotalab, Andrew G. Ristvey2, Debora G. Sauder,1 and Victoria V. Volkis1*. 1Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD, 21853; 2University of Maryland Extension, Wye Research & Education Center, P.O. Box 169, Queenstown, MD 21658-0169. ACS Omega, 2022, 7, 29877?29885. PMCID# PMC9435055
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Environmental solutions on the edge of phytochemistry and polymer science. By: Bratley, Keith; Sharma, Preeti; Suleiman-Adamu, Amal; Barry, Teemer; Zebelo, Simon; Volkis, Victoria. Abstracts of Papers, ACS Fall 2022, Chicago, IL, United States 2022
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Specialty Crops and Medical Herbs as Natural Solution for Antifouling Protection. Victoria V. Volkis, Keith Bratley, Breann V. Green, Teemer Barry, Joseph Pitula, William Weaver. Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853. AEES 2022 National Meeting. Baltimore. June 2022.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Victoria Volkis. Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853. When Phytochemistry Meets Polymer Science. Invited plenary talk and keynote address. Second International Conference in Recent Advances in Material and Chemical Sciences (ICRAMCS 2022). Nov. 3-6, 2022, Bangalore, India (hybrid)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Phytochemical Characterization of Aronia, Elderberries, Haskaps, and Mulberries - New Generation of Super Fruits. Andrew G. Ristvey, * and Victoria V. Volkis*. 1 - Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853; 2 - University of Maryland Extension, Wye Research & Education Center, P.O. Box 169, Queenstown, MD 21658-0169. ACS National meeting, Indianapolis, March 2023. Section: Agricultural and Food chemistry/general oral session.
|
Progress 04/01/21 to 03/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Six undergraduate students and two undergraduate students-volunteers were participating in the program during spring and summer 2021. Graduate students served as students-mentors, but were funded from other sources.Faculty and extension specialists served as mentors and lecturers. Farmers hosted visits to farms and attended results dissemination presentations made by students. Students and faculty nationwide were attended the presentation of results of projects during presentations made by students at a national and regional meetings. Faculty and administration at UMES were attending the final presentations of the project. Office of Public relationships participated in advertising the project and dissemination of results. A professional external evaluator supported the program all year long and worked with students Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The following workshops and farming facilities visitation activities, developed in 2020 were repeated in 2021: 1. Phytochemistry 2. SciFinder and ChemDraw workshop 3. instrumental analysis 4. CV/resume writing 5. Application to graduate school 6. Application for federal jobs 7. EPA virtual tour 8. UMES farm, herbal garden, and planting of medical herbs 9. Habanera farm visit and medical teas workshop 10. Tour of Wye REC facilities 11. Scientific harvesting at WhyREC 12. Tour of Mills Run farms 13. Horticulture and plant physiology of Aronia 14. Plant nutrition and weather instrumentation 15. Soil analysis 16. Agricultural statistics Additionally, new visitation to NJ facility that process aronia into jelly and jam products was conducted. New workshop in patenting was also developed. Students participated in seven meetings with farmers, where they presented their projects. Students were trained in basic agricultural and phytochemical analysis techniques, lab safety, and performing basic lab operations. Students were trained in weekly and final presentations and presentations at a national meeting. Students had at least an average of four hours per day every day report in vet phyto chemical lab, and got training in use of basic analytical instrumentation. Students created planters with medical herbs during the workshop, and later had a herb growing competition. Leaders and graduate students-mentors received leadership training in addition to professional and laboratory training How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?By the end of summer 2021, both teams of students, as well as remote team of volunteer hold a symposium where they presented the scientific results, following by the hand on presentation of products to farmers and local community. Later, team leaders in collaboration with team have prepared and presented a series of posters and talks on national and regional conferences. We had seven presentations and demonstrations to farmers during field trips on summer 2021. Later a major presentation was done during the annual Small Farm Conference, and additional one during UMES farm Agricultural Community Day. We have prepared and submitted to UMD office of patenting lawyers the patent application for our power aid drink. One graduate student has presented a final defense talk to UMES scientific community. Finally, activities of REEU project were highlighted n UMES web page dedicated to REEU program, as well as on designated Facebook page for the REEU program. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to form another two groups of students for summer 2022 with two team leaders have already been identified and in the process of training. We plan to repeat all workshops and field trips that we had in summer 2021, and add following new activities: - incorporate 3D printing for design f cartridges for Riening gauge project; - add service learning activities in Rotary Club of Hagerstown MD and at DNR forest facility at Denton MD. - Add more hand on experience with instruments during instrumental analysis workshop; - Add new lecture about connection of different science majors to agricultural science; - Add training in ACD Labs software. We will continue all the evaluator activities and track our alumnae twice a year. We will evaluate workshop materials and assignments, following last years' experience and the evaluator's recommendations.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Two team leaders were supported during the spring 2021 semester for leadership and scientific training and preparation for the summer program: Mr. Ezra Cable (rising sophomore, biochemistry major, honors student) and Mr. Bokary Sylla(rising junior, chemistry major, Honors, and LSAMP student). These two students served as team leaders during the summertime. Additional four students from Universities in DE, WA, MA, and MD were supported along with team leaders during ten weeks of summer 2021 summer internship: Ms. Liz Wagner, University of Delaware, rising junior, chemical engineering major; Ms. Sasha Kraimer, rising sophomore, University of Washington, engineering major; Ms. Julia Shelepov, rising sophomore, Catholic University of America, biomedical engineering major; Ms. Brooklin Green, South Carolina A&T University, rising junior, technology major. Additionally, we have enrolled a team of two remote students-volunteers majoring in computer sciences: Mr. Daniem Popovski, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Mr. Daniel Sardak, Worchester Polytechnic Institute.The total applications accepted were 14, all from eligible students. Students first were evaluated by the group of mentors, graduate students, and UMES administration for their application credentials anonymously. Then Zoom interviews were conducted with nine finalists, and the four best candidates were selected, along with two volunteers. Two teams of three students, including the team leader, worked on two active, experiential projects: creating a ripening gauge for Aronia berries and creating a natural, organic sugar-free power drink and its full labeling and characterization. These were continuation projects that were initiated during summer 2020. During the first week, students read reports and materials from previous summer, and came with their objectives and milestones for summer. Students had an average of two workshops per week, and total of seven field trips day long with presentations for farmers at each trip along with learning and hand on experiences in farming and production facilities. We conducted daily meetings with all participants, weekly meetings with project teams, and weekly meetings with team leaders to support their leadership roles. We have also done a progress report PowerPoint presentation and discussion for each group. The external evaluator was working with teams and mentors via zoom, and twice was visiting the sites and meeting teams on farming facilities. During these visits, some gaming and group evaluation activities were conducted by evaluator and PI. Teams were trained in the dissemination of results to farming communities and held six presentations to farmers while visiting different farming facilities, and later additional presentation during UMES regional Small Farms Conference in November 2021. As well, topics were presented during commissioners meeting at WyeREC in fall 2021. Students completed pre-and post-workshop assignments for each workshop conducted and all required surveys from the evaluator. By the end, each team submitted a final report for the year, made in the form of a research paper and PowerPoint slides, and a poster. Students held a final one-hour per team presentation during the closing event at UMES. Students also presented their results at the ABRCMS national meeting held virtually in November 2021. In December 2021, we conducted the second follow-up with program alumnae, and the document for it is available upon request. Finally, one master level graduate student who collaborate with summer Team Gauge and used the data in master research has defended the thesis and graduated. In January 2022, we have started advertisement and recruitment compaign for summer 2022, as well as updated UMES web site devoted to REEU program.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Developing a Portable Device for Gauging Ripeness in Fruits Rich by Anthocyanins and Sugars. Ezra Cable, Destiny T. Parker1, Melanie Y. Staszewski1*, Monica Elavarthi1**, Breann V. Hrechka1, Andrew G. Ristvey2, Victoria V. Volkis1 ICSS conference, April 2021
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
All-Natural, Organic, Sugar-free Power Drinks from Super-Berries Reach by Anthocyanins. Bokary Sylla*, Liz Wagner[1], Brooklyn Green[2], Breann V. Hrechka*, Andrew G. Ristvey**,Victoria V. Volkis[3]* *Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Hazel Hall, Building, Room 3085, Princess Anne, Maryland 21853, USA **Wye Research and Education Center, University of Maryland, Queenstown, MD 21658, USA. 2021 ABRCMS National Meeting. Virtual event. Nov. 2021.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Developing a Portable Device for Gauging Peaks of Phytochemical and Nutritional Ripeness of Super-fruits Basing on Quantification of Anthocyanins and Brix. Ezra Cable1, Alex Kreymer1*, Julia Shelepov1**, Breann V. Green1, Andrew G. Ristvey2, Victoria V. Volkis1? 1Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Hazel Hall, Building, Room 3085, Princess Anne, Maryland 21853, USA 2Wye Research and Education Center, University of Maryland, Queenstown, MD 21658, USA. 2021 ABRCMS National Meeting. Virtual event. Nov. 2021.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
When Phyto-Chemistry Meets Material Science My Research in Few Elevator Pitches. Victoria V. Volkis*. Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853. 2021 UMES Research Symposium. April 2021.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Development of a Portable Device capable of Gauging Ripeness in Fruits rich in Sugars and Anthocyanins. Ezra Cable* and Victoria Volkis. Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853. 2021 UMES Research Symposium. April 2021.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Development of an All-Natural, Organic Power Drink from Aronia Berries. Bokary Sylla*, Ayanna E. Lynn1, Mohammad Abdelmotalab1, Jordan R. Brooks1*, Itohan R. Eromosele1**, Andrew G. Ristvey2, Victoria V. Volkis1 . 1Department of Natural Science, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853. 2 University of Maryland Extension, Wye Research & Education Center, Queenstown, MD 21658-0169. 2021 UMES Research Symposium. April 2021.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
The Power of Aronia. Dr. Victoria Volkis (UMES), Dr. Andrew Ristvey (UMD), Mr. Bokary Sylla, Mr. Ezra Cable and Mr. Keith Bratley. 2021 Small Farms Conference. UMES, Nov 2021.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Breann V. Green. Cultural Management and Developing of Sugars and Antioxidants Over the Ripening Process of Aronia mitschurinii. Adviser: Dr. Victoria V. Volkis. December 2021. University f Maryland Eastern Shore.
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Progress 04/01/20 to 03/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Students were participating in the program. Graduate students served as students-mentors Faculty and extension specialists served as mentors Farmers hosted visits to farms and attended results dissemination presentations made by students. Students and faculty nationwide were presented to results of projects during presentations made by students at a national meeting. Faculty and administration at UMES were attending the final presentations of the project. Office of Public relationships participated in advertising the project and dissemination of results. A professional external evaluator supported the program all year long and worked with students. Changes/Problems:Last year we were prompted to run the program in hybrid mode. For such, we had to do a minor re-budgeting of trainee support part of the project, giving students more in stipends instead of supporting their housing and board at campus - to allow students to drive their cars to all farming facilities, and to help students have fast internet and electronic aids for successful zoom part of the program. Therefore, an appropriate request was sent to the agency and officially approved. Next summer, we are on campus, and unless the COVID situation changes rapidly, we will not need to deviate from our original plans What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students had the following workshops and farming facilities visitation activities: Phytochemistry SciFinder and ChemDraw workshop instrumental analysis CV/resume writing Application to graduate school Application for federal jobs EPA virtual tour UMES farm, herbal garden, and planting of medical herbs Habanera farm visit and medical teas workshop Tour of Wye REC facilities Scientific harvesting at WhyREC Tour of Mills Run farms Horticulture and plant physiology of Aronia Plant nutrition and weather instrumentation Soil analysis Agricultural statistics Students participated in four meetings with farmers, where they presented their projects Students were trained inbasic agricultural and phytochemical analysis techniques, lab safety, and performing basic lab operations Students were trained in weekly and final presentations and presentations at a national meeting. Leaders and graduate students-mentors received leadership training in addition to professional and laboratory training How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Students conducted four presentations of their research projects to the farming community, as following locations: - UMES Farm - Habanera Farms - WyeResearch and Education Center - Mill Runs Farms Students conducted final talks at UMES, as well as two presentations at ABRCMS national meeting What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will hire a new cohort of two team leaders and four additional students. In addition, this year, the program will be on campus. We will conduct all the workshops and farm visitations that we did with the previous cohort and add a new visitation to the Aronia processing farming facility in south NJ. We also plan to combine agricultural statistics workshops with scientific harvesting events to learn the materials in theory and immediately follow up with the practical application. We will conduct a mock interview for federal jobs led by the EPA HR department. We want to try and organize a zoom event with USDA-NIFA for agency overview and career opportunities for students majoring in different fields of science and engineering. The program director will be contacted by PI for it. We will provide a deep in the lab and field research experience for students and instrumentation training. We hope that the improved COVID situation will allow more face to face meetings and conferences next year, where mentors and students can present research results. We will continue all the evaluator activities and track our alumnae twice a year. We will evaluate workshop materials and assignments, following last years' experience and the evaluator's recommendations.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Two team leaders were supported during the spring 2020 semester for leadership and scientific training and preparation for the summer program: Ms. Destiny Parker (rising sophomore, biochemistry major, honors student) and Ms. Ayanna Lynn (rising junior, nutrition major, Honors, and LSAMP student). These two students served as team leaders during the summertime. Additional four students from Universities in DE and MD were supported along with team leaders during ten weeks of summer 220 summer internship: Monica Elavarthi: the University of Delaware, sophomore, female: Chemical engineering major and food science minor Jordan Brooks: Towson, sophomore, female: Forensic science major and entrepreneurship minor Itohan Eromosele: Towson University, sophomore, female: Biology major and chemistry minor Melanie Staszewski: Salisbury University, sophomore, female: Biology major, chemistry minor The total applications accepted were 18, out of which eligible students were 13. Students first were evaluated by the group of mentors, graduate students, and UMES administration for their application credentials anonymously. Then Skype interviews were conducted with eight finalists, and four best candidates were selected. Two teams of three students, including the team leader, worked on two active, experiential projects: creating a ripening gauge for Aronia berries and creating a natural, organic sugar-free power drink and its full labeling and characterization. Prompted by COVID 19 conditions, we delivered the summer program in hybrid mode. Most workshops, the theoretical part of the research, group and subgroup meetings with PI were conducted using zoom. Every week 1-2 times, students drove to one of the farming facilities, where tours, practical demonstrations, and research experiments were conducted. We pursued six foldable tables brought portable chemical and horticultural devices, glassware, reagents, and distilled water to farms, and after tours and workshops, students spent 2-3 hours working on their projects, whereas mentors were available to answer all questions. Each team was also assigned a graduate student-mentor who had access to the research labs and performed some experimental measurements for students, following the research plan they had created together. We conducted daily meetings with all participants, weekly meetings with project teams, and weekly meetings with team leaders to support their leadership roles. We have also done a progress report PowerPoint presentation and discussion for each group. The external evaluator was working with teams and mentors via zoom, and twice was visiting the sites and meeting teams on farming facilities. Teams were trained in the dissemination of results to farming communities and held four presentations to farmers while visiting different farming facilities. Students completed pre-and post-workshop assignments for each workshop conducted and all required surveys from the evaluator. By the end, each team submitted a final report for the year, made in the form of a research paper and PowerPoint slides, and a poster. Students held a final one-hour per team presentation during the closing event at UMES. Students also presented their results at the ABRCMS national meeting held virtually in November 2020. In December 2020, we conducted the first follow-up with program alumnae, and the document for it is available upon request.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Developing an All-Natural Organic Power Drink from Aronia Berries. Ayanna E. Lynn1, Jordan R. Brooks1, Itohan R. Eromosele1, Andrew G. Ristvey2, Victoria V. Volkis1* 2020 ABRCMS Virtual
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Developing a portable device for gauging ripeness in fruits using quantitative determination of anthocyanin and sugar content. Destiny T. Parker1, Melanie Y. Staszewski1*, Monica Elavarthi1**, Breann V. Hrechka1, Andrew G. Ristvey2, Victoria V. Volkis1 2020 ABRCMS Virtual
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