Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Research experiences supported by intentional mentoring programs have the potential to contribute to students' persistence in their major. For Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) these experiences are even more valuable and contribute to them becoming stewards of the discipline. Preparing the next generation of BIPOC researchers in the fields of Agriculture, Food Safety, Renewable Energy, and Biological Engineering will require strong mentoring experiences, social skill training, and science-based research projects.This Food/Feed Safety and Renewable Energy Summer Hands-on (FRESH) Research Experience proposes a 10-week summer research internship for undergraduate students in Bio-based engineering programs and related fields interested in Food and Feed Safety and Renewable Energy. Through this FRESH REEU we will 1) provide an Undergraduate student research experience which delivers broad knowledge of food safety, microbial modeling, and renewable energy utilization, 2) identify effects of Atmospheric Cold Plasma (ACP) treatment of food and feed commodities for shelf-life preservation, 3) quantify treatment effects of ACP on agro-industrial waste for chemical valorization and energy production, and 4) build skills for graduate studies and develop mentoring and leadership skills through the development of educational learning modules. In addition to research and mentoring we hope to develop a pathway for undergraduate scholars to graduate school in the Biological and Agricultural and Engineering (BAEN) Department at Texas A&M University.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
80%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
Our overall goal is to develop a summer undergraduate research program to introduce engineering students to reuse capabilities of agro-industrial byproducts. This will be accomplished by achieving the following goals and objectives: 1) provide Undergraduate student research experiences that offers broad knowledge of food and feed safety, microbial modeling, and bioenergy conversion; 2) model the effect of atmospheric cold plasma and ozone on quality parameters of contaminated food and feed products; 3) determine the optimal treatment parameters of atmospheric cold plasma on bio-oil produced from agro-industrial byproducts; and 4) improve mentoring and student leadership skills.
Project Methods
Indicators that will be measured will include 1) student assessment of learning gains, 2) sentiment changes from aspirational, social, and familial capital (through NVivo7), and 3) longitudinal tracking (persistence indicators).