Progress 09/15/23 to 09/14/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The PR-FIELD project aims to increase awereness of agriculture and agroecology inHispanic undergraduate studentsat Inter American University of Puerto Rico - Metropolitan Campus (IAUPR-MC). Our project reached Hispanic faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, K-12 students, and K-12 teachers during this reporting period by participating in our project'sactivities. We also reached local and federal government staff.Three student organizations on our campus were reached through our grant.This project has impactedstudents beyond our institution and reached more K-12 students than targeted through outreach and education activities. Furthermore, the Project Director, Dr. Ivelisse Irizarry, served as a convener for a symposium on Plant Microbiomes for Sustainable Agriculture at the Microbe 2024 conference in Atlanta, Georgia organized by the American Society for Microbiology. Various speakers were from the USDA along with academic researchers. The symposium reached over 50 participants. She also served as a speaker at the Future Leaders Mentoring Fellowship Symposium of the American Society for Microbiology which impacted dozens of graduate students in the field of Microbiology about scientific communication. Three (3) Hispanic faculty collaboratedto develop laboratory activities and incorporate the project into existing courses such as Mycology, General Microbiology, and Entrepreneurship. The faculty was involved in the design of the activities, collaborated to integrate the activities into their courses, and motivated students to participate in our activities by offering incentives (bonus points) to participate. The faculty collaborated in identifying the materials and supplies necessary to implement the new activities into the courses. One (1) member collaborated in identifying needs to improve production in our student-led garden called Huerto de Todos. Four (4) Hispanic faculty are serving as research mentors to the five (5) undergraduate student researchers serving as participants of PR-FIELD. Our proposal established that a total of five (5) undergraduate students would be recruited as undergraduate research participants during Year 1. Thus, we have met our target of recruiting undergraduate research participants. Two of the undergraduate research participants are Hispanic females in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship and three of the undergraduate students (2 males, 1 female) are in STEM programs including Microbiology (2) and Biomedical Sciences (1). Two (2) additional Hispanic faculty members of IAUPR-MC collaborated with the Project Director to lead workshops on seeking research and internship opportunities and a peer review workshop for personal statements to better support students looking to further their skills in research to pursue graduate school. In total, five (5) Hispanic faculty members have directly participated in the project's activities. Four Hispanic faculty members were from the Department of Natural Sciences and one other is from the Department of Business Administration. Five (5) Hispanic undergraduate students were reached by providing undergraduate research opportunities. The five (5) students are being mentored by three (3) different Hispanic faculty members at IAUPR-MC and receive stipends for their time dedicated to developing their research projects. The students are enrolled in various undergraduate STEM academic programs including 2 students in Microbiology, 1 student in Biomedical Sciences, and 2 students in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship. A total of 223 students participated in 8 mentoring workshops, 109students in scientific seminars, 126 students in experiential learning activities, and 654 K-12 students ranging from 4th grade to 12th grade. Most students served were from public schools. A total of 24K-12 teachers were reached through our outreach activities, visits to schools as part of outreach activities, and through the Project Director's participation as a speaker during a residential workshop for K-12 teachers at another university, Inter Barranquitas, which has a Professional Development for Agricultural Literacy (PDAL)grant. Collaborating with another project has increased our network of peers and provided synergy. A total of 4graduate students participated in mentoring workshops about Careers at NRCS led by NRCS staff that visited IAUPR-MC. Three student organizations have been impacted through our activities including organizations named Students in STEM, Asociación de Estudiantes en Microbiología, and Inter Emprende. These student organizations serve students in STEM fields broadly, in Microbiology, and Entrepreneurship. Members and student leaders of the organizations have participated in our field trips, immersive experiences, and course interventions. They have helped us recruit participants for our activities, disseminate announcements of our activities, and have adopted our activities as part of their annual work plan. Collaborating with student organizations at IAUPR-MC has allowed us to have greater reach amongst the student community. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Our PR-FIELD project has provided training and professional development opportunities for students. Our students participated in mentoring workshops including: Creating your Profile in USAJobs.gov provided by local NRCS staff, How to Prepare a Personal Statement, How to Seek Graduate and Internship Programs in STEM and Agricultural Sciences and Careers in Agriculture. As a result, one of our undergraduate students and participant in the grant was accepted to participate in the summer research experience at the Boyce Thompson Institute where he researched virus-insect interactions. The 5 undergraduate students engaging in research activities develop skills in applying the scientific method and analysis of information through their experiences. Threestudents are learning techniques in microbiology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. Two students are learning about entrepreneurship, creating a business and brand, and bringing it to market by developing a customizable coffee product. Two of our students participated in the BE Fest festival in Ponce, Puerto Rico, a local business and entrepreneurship conference providing professional development sessions, seminars, and networking. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have disseminated the activities and goals of the project through outreach activities, social media, and at institutional meetings with academic leaders. We have created two lessons on DNA barcoding that have been shared with other faculty members and the students enrolled in the courses impacted through the grant. Our outreach activities have served to share information with K-12 students in underserved and low-income communities of the local metropolitan area. The students have learned about pollinators, natural pigments, natural product and medicinal chemistry, plant reproduction, reforestation, and microbiology careers relevant to agriculture. We have exceeded our target number of K-12 students to impact in four years of our grant in the first year alone. Some of our project's activities are being disseminated through our social media account @plantmicrobiologylab which was included in our proposal and has a total reach of 588 users to date. Our posts have reached hundreds of Instagram users include local farmers, agribusinesses, students, non-profit organizations, collaborators, and international scientists. Our visits to agribusinesses have been shared through social media accounts of the businesses we visit and collaborate with. We are currently sharing a photographic guide of fungi we created for the Pterocarpus Forest in Humacao, Puerto Rico through a social media account and the forest's website has also shared the document. The students created an inventory of fungi in a forest to learn about the roles of fungi, forestry, and ecology. This guide has been shared with the public to serve as an educational tool for the public that visits the forest. The project's achievements have been disseminated with external evaluators andinstitutional stakeholders including the Director of Natural Sciences, the Dean of Academic Affairs, the Chancellor, and internal auditors to ensure progress, learn about activities, and ensure compliance with federal and institutional guidelines. We have shared the project's goals and activities with other Project Directors of the Hispanic Serving Institution's program during networking opportunities during the Project Director's meeting. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period we aim to: 1. Impact the general microbiology course with a DNA barcoding exercise to identify bacteria from plants using molecular methods 2. Impact the mycology course with a lesson on edible fungi and an exercise on cooking with fungi 3. Create an agricultural entrepreneurship competition for students to pitch their ideas 4. Visit an agribusiness with students in STEM and Entrepreneurship courses
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During the first year of the grant we have made substantial progress in meeting the 4-year goals established for the project: 1. We have impacted 126 Hispanic undergraduate students through experiential learning or research activities in a total of two STEM courses: Mycology and General Microbiology. This represents a total of 84% of target students impacted through courses. (126/150, 84%) 2. We have impacted a total of 37 students through course interventions and activities for students enrolled in the course Entrepreneurial Culture. This represents 74% of our total target of students impacted. (37/50, 74%) 3. We have provided research experiences for a total of 5 Hispanic undergraduate students. This represents 50% of our total goal of 10 students in research experiences. (5/10, 50%) 4. Our project has contributed to maintaining the current fall-to-fall retention rate at 70% and contributed toincreasingthe general graduation rate at IAUPR-MC from 33% to 35%. Increasing graduation rates is an important institutional priority. Our project collaborates and contributes with other federally funded projects towards this goal at Interamerican University of Puerto Rico Metropolitan Campus.
Publications
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