BUILDING A BOULEVARD FOR CAREER SUCCESS IN AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES FOR UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: NEW
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1030786
• Grant No.: 2023-70440-40177
• Project No.: CALW-2022-11855
• Proposal No.: 2022-11855
• Program Code: NEXTG
• Project Start Date: Jun 1, 2023
• Project End Date: May 31, 2028
• Grant Year: 2023

Project Director
Still, D.

Recipient Organization
CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIV
3801 WEST TEMPLE AVENUE
POMONA,CA 91768

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
The Building a Boulevard project supported by the NEXTGEN program will provide meaningful mentoring and financial assistance to help build a diverse and highly skilled food, agriculture, natural resource and human science workforce. Over the five-year duration of the grant, 418 students (200 master's, 180 undergraduate, and 38 community college) willwork on career-advancing projects with faculty mentors, gainin-depth discipline-specific knowledge, exercisecritical thinking skills, learn about thediversity of FANH careers and the pathways to attain these careers. The Building a Boulevard project will organize and host a series of workshops where fellows will a) participate in interactive workshops to develop and practice leadership skills; b) learn and practice the tenants of effective science communication; and c) learn about USDA Pathways program and USDA careers from USDA employees. Fellows will be financially supported to present and attend at professional and URM conferences. As a result of participating in the Building a Boulevard project, student participants will have increased discipline-specific knowledge, improved leadership skills, increased awareness of USDA careers, improved research skills (which include critical thinking and problem-solving skills), and have increased confidence in their abilities - all skills needed for a thriving FANH workforce.

Animal Health Component

5%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
102	1430	1081	30%
121	0199	1070	20%
111	1131	1010	20%
502	0999	1010	20%
216	1199	1070	10%

Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 111 - Conservation and Efficient Use of Water; 216 - Integrated Pest Management Systems; 121 - Management of Range Resources; 502 - New and Improved Food Products;

Subject Of Investigation
1131 - Wine grapes; 1430 - Greens and leafy vegetables; 0999 - Citrus, general/other; 1199 - Deciduous and small fruits, general/other; 0199 - Soil and land, general;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology; 1081 - Breeding; 1010 - Nutrition and metabolism;

Keywords

experiential learning

critical thinking

fellowships

leadership

probl

research

underrepresented

Goals / Objectives
The Building a Boulevard progran willhelp build a diverse and highly skilled FANH workforce by recruiting, training, and mentoring students from across the California State University system. Over the five-year project, we willrecruit, train and mentor 418 students (200 master's, 180 undergraduate, and 38 community college). Our goal with ARI-NEXTGEN Fellowships is to provide meaningful financial assistance and mentoring that will allow students to focus on their studies, immerse themselves in a discipline-specific, career-advancing project, work on-campus with faculty mentors, gain knowledge about careers, and learn skills that will help advance their FANH careers. Over the five-year grant, underrepresented students will apply for 400 fellowships that will support undergraduate and graduate students to engage in research and professional FANH projects. We will organize and host a series of workshops where fellows: a) participate in interactive workshops to develop and practice leadership skills; b) learn and practice the tenants of effective science communication; and c) learn about USDA Pathways program and USDA careers from USDA employees. Fellows will be financially supported to present and attend at professional and URM conferences. Scholarships will be provided to 40 community college students to enroll in a FANH program and obtain a bachelor's degree and 10 students from our program that matriculate and complete their first year in a FANH-related PhD program will receive scholarships. Student participants will have increased discipline-specific knowledge, improved leadership skills, increased awareness of USDA careers, improved research skills (which include critical thinking and problem-solving skills), and have increased confidence in their abilities - all skills needed for a thriving FANH workforce.

Project Methods
Applying to the Program: Twice annually, (February, October) a request for applications will be advertised across the CSU system through the ARI network, the offices of Research and Sponsored Projects at each CSU campus, and offices of UG Research across the CSU system. Fellowship applications will be reviewed by a committee and awarded on a competitive basis. We find it very effective to recruit promising students from classes we teach, through department and faculty social media pages and announcements to student clubs. ARI will utilize a web-based fellowship application. Participants will agree to these program requirements: 1) participate in an IRB-approved evaluation of the program; 2) prepare a short proposal identifying and justifying the problem they wish to work on; 3) describe their proposed contribution to the project; 4) state career goals; 5) submit transcripts; 6) a signed commitment from a faculty sponsor to mentor and commit the resources needed for successful completion of the project; 7) participate in a problem solving/critical thinking discipline-specific activity culminating in a written report; 8) attend and participate in four Communicating Science and Leadership workshops; and 9) present project results at a professional meeting and/or attend a URM national conference. PI's Still and Robinson will curate a list of programs for Ag Communication and Public Policy Fellows to apply to, assist students with their applications, and serve as their CSU faculty mentors. In the event we cannot find an external internship for the Ag Communication or Public Policy Fellow, we will convert those funds to support a different fellow position.An ARI review committee comprised of CSU faculty and ARI administrators will review applications. We will favor applicants whose faculty mentors are currently funded by the ARI or whose research has been funded by an external agency or industry. This ensures faculty will have project-related resources and their project is relevant to industry or a funding agency. We will encourage projects and collaborations that are inter-collegiate and multi-disciplinary. Students will be selected based on criteria evaluation metrics, which includes the ability to adequately and persuasively address in their application: 1) problem identification and justification; 2) their contribution to the project; 3) commitment to pursue a FANH-related career or attend graduate school; 4) resources available to the student; and 5) a phone or in-person interview. Outreach, recruitment and application information will emphasize that URM students are especially encouraged to apply. Students wishing to work with faculty who are not receiving ARI or external funding at time of application are eligible for support. If a student wishes to work on a project or area of research but cannot find a faculty sponsor and otherwise has demonstrated project knowledge and ability, we will find a faculty sponsor.Faculty that agree to sponsor a student will sign a pledge to mentor the student and will assign discipline-related work that is meaningful and critical to the success of their project or professional learning experience. We will provide a mentoring guide that explicitly states mentor expectations and provide workshops that will help participants learn of different careers and pathways to obtain the career they seek. Faculty mentors will provide the student an overview of the research project, the hypotheses being tested, methodology, work/research ethics, and close oversight of the student's project throughout the year. ORecent graduates will serve as Graduate Advisors: Underrepresented students from this Building a Boulevard program will serve as graduate advisors as part of the layered mentoring approach. Recent MS and PhD graduates that have participated in previous HSI grants, as well as other successful and inspirational recent graduates from other programs, will be invited to provide mentoring and share experiences during the in-person Communicating Science and Leadership Conference and other virtual workshops. Student participants will be encouraged to follow up with mentors after the workshops.ARI-NEXTGEN Fellows will Attend Professional and URM Conferences: Each year, student fellows will be encouraged to attend a professional conference and/or a URM conference (e.g., MANRRS, HACU, BUGS, IAC, etc.). Most often, students working on research projects are expected to attend a professional conference, and we will encourage and support that. ARI-NEXTGEN Fellows will be encouraged and supported to attend and present their project data at a profession conference; students with their own data will be given preference. In addition to attending a professional conference, our ARI-NEXTGEN Fellows will be encouraged, to attend a URM conference. URM conferences provide opportunities to learn about issues facing their communities, and these events include networking and career recruiting, often with federal agencies.?ARI-NEXTGEN Fellows will Attend the Communicating Science and Leadership Conference: Each cohort of ARI-NEXTGEN Fellows will attend three virtual and one in-person events designed to improve their science communication and leadership skills. The first workshop will be virtual and the subject matter will be communicating science through oral presentations. Students will learn the basics of how to communicate their science to an educated lay person through five-minute oral presentations or two-minute lightning talks. The workshop is designed and hosted by PI Still. The second workshop, "Communicating Science and Leadership Conference", will be attended in-person and will be held in Sacramento. The conference is organized and hosted by our Building a Boulevard program. Our conference will also include a session in which USDA careers and the USDA Pathways programs are presented by USDA representatives. Students will present an oral presentation or a lightning talk of their research. Our program will also help support students to present their work at professional conferences. The third workshop will be virtual and is titled "My Career (How I Got Here)". This workshop is presented by a successful first-generation URM who tells their story of how they successfully navigated the academic and professional world, largely on their own, and the lessons they have learned along the way. These successful young men and women are articulate and inspiring and have been a huge hit in the feedback we have received from students in our HSI grant. If schedules allow, we will add an additional "How I Got Here" session to the in-person conference in Sacramento. The fourth workshop, also virtual, will include a short primer on their final project write-up, and a final oral and lightning talk session, thus providing a second opportunity for students to practice communicating their work.

Progress 06/01/23 to 05/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:We reached target audiences across the California State University (CSU) system that included underrepresented, first generation, and low income students interested in food, agricultural, natural resource, and human sciencecareers (FANH). In addition to students, we conducted outreach to faculty, deans, and the chief research officers across the CSU system.Most students were enrolled in traditional FANH majors, but we also targeted students and faculty that are increasingly important and interested in contributing their talents and knowledge to solving myriad problems facing agriculture through mulit-disciplinary approaches. Changes/Problems:Co-Project Director Dr. Sam Robinson left the CSU system. We will replace Dr. Robinson with another person that has a science background and a wealth of mentoring students in the CSU system. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Over the last year, we provided four professional development and communicating science workshops. Three of the workshops were virtual, and one was in-person. Atttendance of all four workshops is mandatory. Workshop 1 includedinformation on what is science, why we should care about communicating the impact of our science, and the tenants of communicating science to your peers and more importantly, to non-scientists. Workshop 1 was virtual. Workshop 2 included information on careers, including USDA careers, USDA Pathways program, graduate school, and non-traditional careers that are still science and/or ag-related. We have a USDA person present the USDA Pathways program. Workshop 2 also includes information and exercises in buidling confidence as a leader and time managment, and was led by a nationally known leadership development professional (Dave Kelly). NextGen students also delivered either a lightning talk or a five-minute oral presentation on their work, using the communicating science tenants from Workshop 1. We provided two students an opportunity to speak in front of the California State Legislature where they presented their ARI-NextGen research, again, practicing the tenants of communicating science simply, accurately, and memorably, to non-scientists. Workshop 3 was centered on communicating science through short lightning talks. Each NextGen fellow was required to give a lightning talk on their ARI-NextGen-supported research. In addition, students were provided an overview and examples of how to develop and present a poster and encouraged to present their research at a professional meeting and that our program would provide financial support for them to attend and present. Workshop 4 was centered on communicating science through five-minute talks. Each NextGen fellow was required to give a five-minute talk on their ARI-NextGen-supported research, but we required the talk to be geared for a general audience that would be educated, but not experts in your field. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have written about the NextGen program in our newsletters, on our website, and in our annual report (available on-line and in print),all of which are widely disseminated to students, faculty, California indutries, and state agencies. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, we will add a full-time recruiter and program coordinator. We will also replace Co-PD Robinson, who left the CSU system. Our goal is to recruit a total of 80 students into the second cohort. Our goal is to recruit USDA personnel to serve as mentors and provide projects to our students. Currently, we have zero USDA people serving in this role. We will expand Workshop 2 , which is our Communicating Science and Professional Development Student Conference. This year we will invite all the CSU NextGen schools to attend and participate, as well as develop a program that servest their needs and provides students and PD's opportunities to network and develop ideas of how we could work together to leverage resources and opportunities.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Over the five-year project, we have a goal of recruiting421 students to participate in the program. We conducted program outreach to communicate infromation about the program through on-campus visits, informational webinars, newsletters, and email campaigns to CSU chief research officers, deans and departpment chairs. Towards this goal, werecruited 37 graduate students. We provided financial assistance to each student accepted into the program. As part of the program each student must have a mentor who will provide a research or professioinal project.Over the last year, each student worked with, and were mentored by, CSU faculty or agency/non-profit professionals, who provided mentoring, laboratory, field of office space, and day-to-day oversigh and mentoring on their research or professional project. Each student was provided an opportunity to attend a professional meeting and present the results of their ARi-NextGen supported research or professional project. Each student was provided an opportunity to attend one of the two USDA-hosted events in Washington, D.C. This project spefically wishes to impart an impact on the student participants by a) providing significant finanical assistance to help the student focus on their career, b) improve their critical thinking skills by working on a research or professional project, c) learn the importance of communicating science to civilians, and d) learn about the wide array of careers that are available, especially USDA careers. Because the vast majority (over 70%) of students attending CSU have a job, the financial support from these fellowships are impactful. Many of our students have writtten to let us know this. Almost none of the students applying to the program haveconsidered working for the USDA (we ask in our application), so we know the exposure they get about the USDA, careers in the USDA, and the USDA Pathways program is important. And finally, many of our students write to us regarding the value of communicating science, and how they had not thought about it before, and that they have made a serious and conscious effort to improve their communication skills.

Publications

• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Soderstrom, CP. ASSESSMENT OF LOCI ASSOCIATED WITH WATER USE EFFICENCY IN LETTUCE. A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science In Plant Science.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Ferrenberg, Z. Effects of Feeding Essential Oils on Late-Laying Hens Production Parameters, Egg Quality, and Gut Microbiome" Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Townsend, L. Investigation of Monkeyface Prickleback (Cebidichthys violaceus) for Commercial Finfish Aquaculture
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Sandoval, C. Interactions between urban wildlife, people, and ticks across the San Gabriel Valley, California.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Pelayo, T. Identification and Characterization of Novel Splicing Variant Isoforms in the Flowering Gene Network in Soybean (Glycine max) Amidst Environmental Variability
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Kagan, K. Experimental Verification of Inferred Regulatory Interactions in the Circadian Clock and Flowering Gene Networks in�Glycine max
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Caldera, K. Field Evaluation of Walnut Blight in Newly Developed Varieties in the Northern California Region