Performing Department
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Non Technical Summary
This multi-institutional $18,110,000 project will establish an inclusive consortium of institutions from nearly every MSI category to build and sustain the future workforce in food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANHS). We will build present and future student knowledge of the processes and pathways leading to education opportunities and employment in Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences whileadvancing equitythroughstudent scholarships(SSP),experiential learning(ELP), andoutreach and engagement(OEP).Tasks/activities to be conducted will accomplish the following objectives of the project: 1) Attract and engage youth through leadership and experiential learning (Junior MANRRS and Native Youth Clubs establishment and cultivation, youth leadership curriculum development and dissemination, immersive learning and educators development); 2) Attract and engage high school and college learners through research, work experiences, and study abroad experiential learning opportunities; 3) Fund high quality underserved students through FANHP scholarships (dual enrollment, in-state and out-of-state tuition, room, and board) and cultivate innovative underserved student recruitment and retention strategies; 4) Attract underserved learners through outreach and engagement [Positive Youth Development (PYD) conference, PYD , Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, and Precision/Digital Ag certificates, New Farmer Academy scholarships for nontraditional youth]; 5) Develop a communication campaign and marketing materials to attract/engage future underserved learners to the FANHP. Specific activities include the following:Activity 1.1 Establish Junior MANRRS (JM) chapters and Native Youth clubs in FANHS. Activity 1.2 Create and disseminate a FANHS Careers Curriculum for youth. Activity 1.3. Create a variety of immersive learning activities for youth. Activity 1.4 Train formal and nonformal educators in the use of immersive learning activities for attracting students to the FANHP. Activity 2.1. Engage high school students in supervised FANHS research and entrepreneurship experiences. Activity 2.2. Attract and engage incoming college students through bridge programs. Activity 2.3. Engage college undergraduates in a diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and leadership academy through an alternative spring break. Activity 2.4. Develop, fund, and engage students in paid domestic and international experiences in FANHS. Activity 2.5. Fund college student participation in leadership development organizations. Activity 3.1. Attract high school students through funded, online, out-of-state dual enrollment (DE). Activity 3.2. Support underserved students with scholarships. Activity 3.3. Create greater course access, enhance ease of course transfer, and retain more students in the FANHS by expanding Course Sharing. Activity 4.1. Create and host a Positive Youth Development (PYD) for Career Success Conference. Activity 4.2 Develop and deliver an online PYD Leaders Certificate program. Activity 4.3 Engage underserved youth in TSU's New Farmer Academy (NFA). Activity 4.4 Engage underserved youth and adults in a Precision/Digital Agriculture Certificate program. Activity 5.1 Establish two student-operated podcasts to attract and engage underserved youth. Activity 5.2 Build, market, and disseminate a mobile job opportunity-matching app. Activity 5.3 Create and disseminate NEXTGEN-branded email newsletters, a website, and social media channels.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
To accomplish the overarching goals of recruiting, engaging, and matriculating underrepresented students through education that leads to careers in agriculture, thismulti-institutional Tier 3 project will establish an inclusive consortium of institutions from nearly every MSI category to build and sustain the future workforce in food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANHS). The aim is to build student knowledge of the processes and pathways leading to education opportunities and employment while advancing equity through student scholarships (SSP), experiential learning (ELP), and outreach and engagement (OEP). This consortium includes Tennessee State University (TSU), Fort Valley State University (FVSU) in Georgia, Alcorn State University (ASU) in Mississippi, University of Houston (UH) in Texas, Chief Dull Knife College (CDK) in Montana, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) (NLGCA), University of Tennessee-Martin (UTM) (NLGCA), University of Tennessee (UTK) (1862), Virginia Tech (VT) (1862), Vanderbilt University (VU) in Tennessee, and the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS) organization to serve current and potential students at TSU, ASU, FVSU, and CDKC. Tasks/activities to be conducted will accomplish the following objectives of the project: 1) Attract and engage youth through leadership and experiential learning (Junior MANRRS and Native Youth Clubs establishment and cultivation, youth leadership curriculum development and dissemination, immersive learning and educators development); 2) Attract and engage high school and college learners through research, work experiences, and study abroad experiential learning opportunities; 3) Fund high quality underserved students through FANHP scholarships (dual enrollment, in-state and out-of-state tuition, room, and board) and cultivate innovative underserved student recruitment and retention strategies; 4) Attract underserved learners through outreach and engagement [Positive Youth Development (PYD) conference, PYD , Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, and Precision/Digital Ag certificates, New Farmer Academy scholarships for nontraditional youth]; 5) Develop a communication campaign and marketing materials to attract/engage future underserved learners to the FANHP.
Project Methods
Task 1.1. Each eligible institution in the consortium is committing personnel and other project resources to establish or expand JM or other youth development organizations for underserved learners. Virginia Tech will lead the effort to expose youth ages 10-18 to opportunities in FANHS careers through native youth clubs. VT will modify and incorporate curricula created for Native youth and pilot curriculum innovations with Chief Dull Knife College (CDKC) and western US Native communities.Task 1.2 The TSU 4-H Program Leader (Broyles) will work with a PhD student and the PIs/Co-PIs to develop a curriculum that introduces learners to FANHS careers and pathways to attainment. Broyles will also disseminate the careers curriculum at the Positive Youth Development for Career Success Conference described below.Task 1.3. A total of 24 science laboratory kits will be developed to promote inquiry-based learning. To create digital immersive learning activities around FANHS experiences and careers, learning activities will be developed in cooperation with TransfrVR and Think Digital. We will also virtually connect learners with industry experts for work-based experiential learning and post-secondary planning using Pathful Connect. Camp (Vanderbilt University; VU) will build a repository of experts across the region that can be recruited into Pathful or participate in the career conference representing natural resources, engineering, and geospatial technology careers.Task 1.4 Granberry and Greig (UTK) will host a three-day professional development workshop in each of years 2-5 of the project, during which 60 formal and nonformal educators who work with 7th through 9th grade students from underrepresented areas will be trained in the implementation of VR technology to create immersive FANHS learning experiences. In each of years 2-5, Camp (VU) will host a one- day teacher professional development workshop for up to 15 educators, with content alternating between geospatial technologies or natural resources and climate change impacts on agricultural systems.Task 2.1. Students in high school will engage directly with faculty when project faculty visit respective high schools to help students establish research projects and mentor students in respective areas of expertise. Reddy will host a science fair competition at TSU for high school research project participants in which prizes will be awarded. This project will also support an innovative entrepreneurship education curriculum developed by UTM.Task 2.2. TSU's Summer Apprenticeship Program will be supported and organized by AP, PD-Young (Associate Dean of Academic and Land-grant Programs). High school and community college students will be recruited and competitively selected for a month-long college and research experience. FVSU (Singh) will support four students per year for a similar bridge program with a stipend and housing allowance to engage in their summer research experience/bridge program. ASU (Wakefield) will place nine students per year in a supervised summer bridge internship with USDA. In addition, six ASU students per year will work under the supervision of faculty in various fields of FANHS to gain research experience and be selected for further summer work experiences at USDA locations. UH will build a bridge program for Retailing and Consumer Science. In all bridge programs, participants will be first in line for the scholarship opportunities in this program.Task 2.3. Lockett (TSU) will lead an Exposure 2 Expansion Leadership Academy (E2ELA) alternative spring break program. The E2ELA program will engage students in a for-credit spring break experience focused on networking, service learning, leadership development, introductions to FANHS career opportunities, and training in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA).Task 2.4. NIC students will be selected and paid a living stipend for domestic work experiences each year. ASU will partially fund a graduate student and support nine summer interns each year in various state and federal work experiences. FVSU will provide a living stipend for four students a year to engage in the domestic work experiences of this project in various state and federal laboratories. UH (Stewart/Johnson) will offer a paid semester or year-long work experience in research. International work experiences and study abroad opportunities will also be offered to consortium students. As outlined below, NIC institutions will offer various opportunities abroad from various areas of FANHS that are short-term or work experiences in many countries.Task 2.5. Consortium institutions will fund student participation in FANHS career and leadership development organizations. MTSU (Haruna) will establish at MANRRS chapter at their institution as part of this project.Task 3.1. We will work with NEXTGEN Consortium members and existing partners (i.e. Quottly/Parchment) to offer online DE courses in agriculture to as many students as possible. TN students receive DE grants from the state, but many of our students come from other states. We will fund out-of-state tuition for 20 students to take advantage of our dual enrollment courses in year one and 40, 60, 80, and 100 tuition scholarships in years 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively.Task 3.2. With NEXTGEN funding, NIC institutions will provide full scholarships, including room and board to students. Opportunities for graduate students are also available, and VU will fund students to take part in their courses on geospatial sciences and climate change impacts on agricultural decision-making.Task 3.3. TSU will work with Quottly to grow their course sharing "Ag Network".Task 4.1. In years 2-5 of the project each year, youth leaders and their adult mentors will attend a Positive Youth Development (PYD) conference for Career Success. This conference will be organized by the MTSU STEM Education Center.Task 4.2 Ricketts will develop this PYD Leaders program, working with the TSU Center for Extended Education to market and facilitate the course.Task 4.3 Five underserved high school-aged youth per year will be recruited for this program, and tuition and a stipend will be paid to incentivize participation and assist with travel.Task 4.4 Mahmud (TSU) and Cui (MTSU) will offer a precision/digital agriculture certificate program for by hosting 10 youth and adult crop growers per year for precision/digital agriculture technologies field demonstrations and training online via the MTSU platform and in-person at the TSU Nursery Education Center to facilitate technological knowledge and skill attainment.Task 5.1 The podcasts will be developed and managed by Rockers (TSU) with the assistance of undergraduate and graduate students supported by this project.Task 5.2 We will work with Perpetual, a vendor from NY, to develop a powerful mobile job and internship opportunity- matching app serving underserved learners in the FANHP.Task 5.3 Rockers will work with students to develop and share NEXTGEN-branded email newsletters with information about upcoming certificate programs, scholarships, learning experiences, and other NEXTGEN-related programming events to encourage participation. Rockers will work with students to develop a NEXTGEN Leaders resource website and social media channels to connect with students, teachers, counselors, extension agents, and others, providing them with resources to implement their own programming around FANHP career opportunities with governmental entities and the private sector. Rockers will work with students to create and manage social media to create a comprehensive campaign publicizing NEXTGEN programming, scholarships, and other developments.