Progress 01/01/23 to 12/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The primary target audience for this project are undergraduate students who will participate in experiential learning in laboratory and other research settings. The students will participate in an integrative and collaborative research pipeline that that creates novel crop traits and applies innovative bioprocessing and formulation technologies to develop new food and feed applications. Student participants will also gain leadership and critical-thinking skills through science communication activities. Building on our recruitment plan, we anticipate that this audience will be comprised primarily of underrepresented minority students from 1890 Land Grant Universities (LGUs) and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Secondary audiences for this project include university educators/researchers and industry. Faculty participants will gain experience in student training and mentorship and developing research and teaching environments that promote inclusive excellence. The project will also provide an opportunity for faculty participants to identify students for future graduate research training in their laboratories. Through our workforce development efforts, students trained through this program will be better prepared for future employment in agricultural and food science-related industries to meet the food, feed, and bioproduct needs of the US and global economies. Changes/Problems:We have now formally replaced Paul Velander as Co-PD with Christine Booth. Dr. Velander left the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the fall of 2022 for an industry position. Dr. Booth participated in our project during the summer of 2023, as the change of Co-PD paperwork was being processed. We are happy to have Dr. Booth on the team as she brings strength in undergraduate education and scientific communication training. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During the summer of 2023, the Crop-to-Food Innovation program provided professional development to 10 participants in the following areas: Biotechnology Lab training program. The participants received training in a variety of laboratory fundamentals during the first five days of their summer internship, including laboratory safety, Emergency Preparedness, Chemical Safety, Experimental design, wet lab math practice, buffer preparation, pH meter use, autoclave use, optimal micro pipetting techniques, correct use of lab notebooks, DNA extraction and concentration measurement, streaking bacterial plates, Mammalian Cell Culture basics, aseptic techniques, discussion of results. The goal of this training was to bring the group's molecular biology background up to speed and have them ready to start working in their host labs. Weekly discussions: Every Wednesday, the participants joined the PI and Co-PIs for one hour presentation (and lunch discussion) with different speakers, who presented their scientific work and answered questions related to their work and their own professional career development. We hosted two external speakers (one from Corteva and one from DSM) and three UNL faculty. Out-of-campus Visits: Additionally, students got to explore the facilities of a private company called Neogen. In addition, students went to the biotech field site, cattle fields, soybean fields, and corn fields at UNL's Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center (ENREC). Professional Development. Students had several hours of professional development such as: best practices for creating a poster, mock poster presentations and feedback for improvement. The Office of Graduate Studies provided professional development to the whole cohort of summer participants attending at UNL: Title IX, Scientific Writing, Authorship, Relationships, Navigating Grad School, Applying to Grad school, Research Self-efficacy/Individual Development plans, Data Visualization, Positionality, GRE workshop (optional) How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All student participants presented research findings from their laboratory experiences in a Summer Research Fair on the last day of the summer program. This involved 124 total students from the 16 summer research programs hosted at UNL during the summer of 2023. The posters were presented to >500 undergraduate and graduate student, postdoctoral scientists, faculty, and staff attendees. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue providing the students with similar professional development opportunities: (1) biotechnology training during the first week, (2) on-bench training in their respective hosting labs, (3) provide weekly meetings with different speaker guests for scientific and professional development discussions, and (4) professional development in Scientific Writing, Poster Development and Presentation, Scientific Literature. Our goal for 2024 is the recruitment of 10 students, with a focus on the recruitment of primarily underrepresented minority students to achieve our over-arching goal of expanding opportunities in agricultural sciences. We will also work toward improving our recruitment of students from HBCUs, HSIs and 1890 Land Grant Universities by building a strong, more personal network with faculty at these institutions. Toward this goal, we established a formal collaboration with North Carolina A&T University's USDA-NIFA NEXTGEN program "SAPLINGS" as a 1890 Land Grant University student recruitment portal. Through this collaboration, we were able to recruit one student for our 2024 program. We are hopeful that this collaboration will allow us to recruit additional students in subsequent years.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1: Recruit and provide 46 undergraduate students, primarily from 1890 Land Grant Universities and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities with a research-intensive training experience in the laboratories of interdisciplinary faculty teams to develop crop and food solutions for human and livestock nutrition and health. During the summer of 2023, the project hosted 10 undergraduate students participating in training activities: Lucas Kramer, from Grand View University, was hosted by Dr. Holdin's laboratory and worked on the research project: Impact of Genetic Mutation on Sweet Corn Crop Components. Kwesi Kumi, from Messiah University, was hosted by Dr. Clemente's Lab and worked on the research project: Dissecting function of the gene model Gm20P that governs the soybean QTL cqSeed protein-003. Marie Nicole Shaffer, from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was hosted by Dr. Frels and Dr. Rose's laboratories and worked on the research project: Arabinoxylan concentrations of Wheat with high water absorption. Myles Sam, from Southern University and A&M College, was hosted by Dr. Ramer-Tait's Lab and worked on the research project: Effect of tannins on the ability of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii to colonize mice harboring a human gut microbiome. Graciela Couret Morales, from Antillean Adventist University, was hosted by Dr. Auchtung's Lab and worked in the research project Investigating potential probiotics for ability to inhibit Clostridioides difficile infection. Sherman Cravens, from Langston University, was hosted by Dr. Danao's and Dr. Sullivan's laboratories and worked on the research project: It's more than astronaut ice cream!. How freeze-drying works, best practices, and potential impact freeze-drying can have on the 21st century diet and home. Joy Duan, from University of Alabama at Birmingham, was hosted by Dr. Ramer-Tait's lab and worked on the research project: Effects of sorghum fiber on disease severity in a T cell-driven mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease. Destinae' Monae' Davis, from Southern University and A&M College, was hosted by Dr. Achtung's and Dr. Rose's laboratories and worked on the research project: Effect of Microbiota Accessible Carbohydrates Concentration on the Metabolism of the Gut Microbiota from Different Fecal Donors. Bernadette Triana, from Juniata College, was hosted by Dr. Cahon's lab and worked on the research project: Combinatorial Genetic Strategies for Enhanced Astaxanthin production in Camelina. Nikole Salas, from Oklahoma State University, was hosted by Dr. Ciftci's laboratory and worked on the research project: Camelina seed mucilage bioaerogel: A novel ingredient for 3D food printing. Goal 2: Provide training activities that expand the participation of underrepresented minority students in agricultural sciences by preparing them for future opportunities in graduate education and careers in crop and food innovation. During the summer of 2023, the Crop-to Food Innovation program trained in different areas of the food pipeline 10 undergraduate students from different races and ethnicities. This cohort of students consisted of six females and four males. Among the ten participants, two were first-generation; three were African American; one was American Indian/African American; two were Asian (one white Asian); and two were white. Two of the ten participants identified themselves as white Latinos. Three of the ten students were from HBCUs and 1890 Land Grant Universities, one student from HSI, three were from private universities, two were from land-grant Institutions, and one was from a public university. To date, our program has provided agricultural STEM opportunities to 16 students, which alligns with the project goals to date. The cumulative demographic information for our participants over two summers is: Institution type: Out of these 16 students, seven were from HBCUs, five were from 1890 Land Grant Universities, one from a HSI, four from private institutions, two from land-grant research Universities and two from public institutions. Gender: Out of 16 students, eight were males and eight were females (one identified as cis female). Race/Ethnicity: Out of the 16 students, eight identified as African American (within this group one also identified as American Indian and one identified as Hispanic), seven students identified as White (whitin this group one identified as White/Asian and three identified as White/Hispanic) and one student identified as Asian. First Generation: Of all 16, five were first generation students. Goal 3: Promote student leadership skills through scientific communication training that builds on an extension framework to enhance students' abilities to understand and relate emerging technologies in crop and food production to diverse audiences. The students participated in scientific writing, creating a poster of their research activities and results, and mocked their presentations to practice their speaking skills, fluency, message delivery to other participants, PI and Co-PIs. The participants received feedback related to the clarity of their posters and their speech.
Publications
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Progress 01/01/22 to 12/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The primary target audience for this project are undergraduate students who will participate in experiential learning in laboratory and other research settings. The students will participate in an integrative and collaborative research pipeline that that creates novel crop traits and applies innovative bioprocessing and formulation technologies to develop new food and feed applications. Student participants will also gain leadership and critical-thinking skills through science communication activities. Building on our recruitment plan, we anticipate that this audience will be comprised primarily of underrepresented minority students from 1890 Land Grant Universities (LGUs) and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Secondary audiences for this project include university educators/researchers and industry. Faculty participants will gain experience in student training and mentorship and developing research and teaching environments that promote inclusive excellence. The project will also provide an opportunity for faculty participants to identify students for future graduate research training in their laboratories.Through our workforce development efforts, students trained through this program will be better prepared for future employment in agricultural and food science-related industries to meet the food, feed, and bioproduct needs of the US and global economies. Changes/Problems:One of our two co-PDs Paul Velander left the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in September, 2022. We are currently working to identify a replacement, which we plan to have in place by the middle of May, 2023. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During the summer of 2022, the Crop-to-Food Innovation program provided professional development to six participants in the following areas: Biotechnology Lab training program. During the first five days of their summer internship, the participants were trained in different aspects of laboratory basics such as wet lab math practice, preparation of buffers, pH meter use, autoclave use, best micro pipetting practices, proper use of laboratory notebooks, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Nucleic Acid standard curves, discussion of results, and protein enzyme assay. The idea with this training was to levelized the group's basic knowledge of molecular biology and prepare them to enter to work in their host labs. Weekly discussions: Every Wednesday, the participants joined the PI and Co-PIs for one hour presentation (and lunch discussion) with different speakers, four internal and four external (virtual) who presented their scientific work and answered questions related to their work and their own professional career development. During this time, the project provided eight hours of scientific presentation and discussion. Speakers: Dr. Edgar Cahoon (UNL), Dr. Ben Pejsar (Neogen), Dr. David Holding (UNL), Dr. Kim (Pairwise), Dr. Andrew Benson (UNL), Dr. Amanda Ramer-Tait (UNL), Dr. Ross Zirlke (DSM Nutrition), Dr. Davide Sosso (Google X). Out-of-campus Visits: Students also had the opportunity to visit a private company, Neogen, and toured its facilities. Additionally, students visited UNL's Eastern Nebraska Research an Extension Center (ENREC) where the students visited the fields of corn, soybean, cattle, and biotech field site. Professional Development. Students had several hours of professional development such as: best practices for creating a poster, mock poster presentations and feedback for improvement, Diving into primary scientific literature, Goal setting and business ideation in STEM and beyond: Making Careers decisions, Lean Business Model, Actionable versus gravity problems. The Office of Graduate Studies provided professional development to the whole cohort of summer participants attending at UNL: Title IX, Scientific Writing, Authorship, Navigating Grad School, Applying to Grad school, Diversity Statements or Interpersonal Development, Self-efficacy in Research, GRE workshop (optional) The students participated in entrepreneurship training through UNL's Engler Entrepreneurship Program. This training involved four 1.5 h modules on problem observation, business ideation and fundamental pitching, which were intended to give the students ideas on how to present new product ideas in a commercialization pipeline. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All student participatnts presented research findings from their laboratory experiences in a Summer Research Fair on the last day of the summer program. This involved ~120 total students from the 17 summer research programs hosted at UNL during the summer of 2022. The posters were presented to >500 undergraduate and graduate student, postdoctoral scientists, faculty, and staff attendees. Student Nathlita Karnley, submitted an abstract for the presentation at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientist (ABRCMSS)-2022. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue providing the students with similar professional development opportunities: (1) biotechnology training during the first week, (2) on-bench training in their respective hosting labs, (3) provide weekly meetings with different speaker guests for scientific and professional development discussions, and (4) professional development in Scientific Writing, Poster Development and Presentation, Scientific Literature, and Entrepreneurship Trainining. Our goal for 2023 is the recruitment of 10 students, with a focus on the recruitment of primarily underrepresented minority students to achieve our over-arching goal of expanding opportunities in agricultural sciences. We will also work toward improving our recruitment of students from HBCUs and 1890 Land Grant Universities by building a strong, more personal network with faculty at these institutions.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1: Recruit and provide 46 undergraduate students, primarily from 1890 Land Grant Universities and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities with a research-intensive training experience in the laboratories of interdisciplinary faculty teams to develop crop and food solutions for human and livestock nutrition and health. During the summer of 2022, the project had six undergraduate student participants in the following training activities; Gannon Cole, from West Virginia State University, was hosted by Dr. Edgar Cahoon's laboratory and worked on the research project: Synthetic biology of EPA and Ketocarotenoids production in soybean to provide sustainable agricultural feedstocks. Nathlita Karnley, from Fayetteville State University, was hosted by Dr. Jennifer Auchtung's Lab and worked on the research project: Validation of CAZyme gene enriched predicted in microbial communities. Deuris Pena, from Bloomfield College, was hosted by Dr. Thomas Clemente's Lab and worked on the research project: Soybean Genome-editing to modify seed proteins. Shane Rice, from North Carolina A&T State University, was hosted by Dr. Ozan Ciftci's Lab and worked on the research project: Development of novel astaxanthin-rich camelina seed oil oleogels as saturated fat replacers. Dulcie Archuleta, from Nebraska Wesleyan University, was hosted by Dr. Amanda Ramer-Tait's Lab and worked in the research project: Dietary Sorghum provides protection against chemically-induced colitis in human microbiota associated mice. WrayVauze Givens, from Lincoln University, was hosted by Dr. Devin Rose's lab and worked in the research project: Insoluble neutral carbohydrates in various lines of maize. Goal 2:Provide training activities that expand the participation of underrepresented minority students in agricultural sciences by preparing them for future opportunities in graduate education and careers in crop and food innovation. During the summer of 2022, the Crop-to Food Innovation program trained in different areas of the food pipeline six undergraduate students from different races and ethnicities. The group consisted of two females and four males. Out of six, we had four Black or African American, and two White students. From the six, two identified themselves as Latinos. Of the six student participants, four were students from HBCUs and three were students from 1890 Land Grant Universities. Goal 3:Promote student leadership skills through scientific communication training that builds on an extension framework to enhance students' abilities to understand and relate emerging technologies in crop and food production to diverse audiences. The students participated in Scientific Writing, Creating a poster and mocked their presentations to practice their speaking skills, fluency, message delivery to other participants, and PI and Co-PI. They received feedback related to the clarity of their posters and their speech. Students also participated in entrepreneurship training through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Engler Entrepreneurship Program.
Publications
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