Recipient Organization
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
660 S MILL AVE STE 312
TEMPE,AZ 85281-3670
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
According to the USDA-NIFA publication Employment Opportunities for College Graduates: 2020-2025 (Fernandez et al., 2020), approximately 59,400 openings will be available annually in the Food, Agricultural, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences (FANH) sector. About 42% of these jobs (24,700) will require expertise in business and management. Despite these opportunities, the agricultural sector "often gets short shrift as a career path or destination." (Grant, 2012). While this challenge has persisted for decades, recent events such as Covid-19, have highlighted the importance of the food and agribusiness sector. Many of the challenges faced by this sector today are directly related to the integration and complexities of the supply chain, international trade, government policy, risk management, and consumer choices. To address these issues, "the United States will need an inclusive cadre of diverse professionals who are technically sound, globally competent, and employable" (Fernandez et al., 2020).To meet this challenge, this project willdevelop an educational program that will provide underrepresented minority, first-generation college, and limited-resource students (First-Gen Pell-eligible URM students) with a comprehensive and multicultural experiential learning opportunity. The program aims to equip students with tools to analyze complex problems in food supply chains while building an appreciation for careers and graduate education related to food and agribusiness. This project, from now on referred to asMODExLforMulticulturalOnlineDigitallyEnhancedExperientialLearning, has the next objectives:1. To provide 32 U.S. First-Gen Pell-eligible URM with experiential learning opportunities that equip them with tools to analyze complex problems in food and agribusiness supply chains:8 undergraduate students (UG) from Arizona State University (ASU)8 undergraduate students (UG) from Texas Tech University (TTU)16 undergraduate students (UG) from the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (UPR)2. To expose students to the research process and engage them in the analysis of policy-relevant constraints to food and agribusiness-related issues.3. To develop students' multicultural, interpersonal, and leadership capabilities to enhance the competitiveness of our nation's future workforce.4. To support academic development and career attainment of underrepresented groups in agricultural economics, agribusiness, and agricultural-related fields (FANH).MODExL begins with students attending a spring-semester, three-credit class taught by ASU, TTU, and UPR professors. This class is intended as preparation for the summer research internship in Puerto Rico. Course topics will include: (1) research methods; (2) overview of food value chains; (3) overview of sustainability issues in agriculture; and (4) Puerto Rico's history, culture, geography, and agricultural sector. Students will learn how to use current research methods to answer agribusiness management and policy-relevant research questions. The course's final output will be a research proposal under the broad theme of Sustainability in Global Coffee Value Chains. The proposal will be designed to better understand the value chain's intricacies for evolving agribusiness enterprises in Puerto Rico. Next, MODExL will cover all associated expenditures (e.g., transportation, lodging, meals, per diems, etc.) and provide all students with an experiential learning opportunity over the summer in Puerto Rico. Students will implement the research study proposed in the spring class during the experiential learning opportunity. The summer field experience will begin with students first refining their research proposal with local partners and ASU, TTU, and UPR mentors' participation. The students will then travel to the field to conduct their research together. Following the summer field experience, students will attend a workshop hosted at the ASU campus to complete data analysis, work on scientific publications with faculty mentors, visit food and agribusiness enterprises in Arizona, and receive mentorship and guidance on how to apply for graduate school programs and look for funding and/or research assistantships.Ultimately, the experiential learning opportunities provided by MODExLwill enhance the competitiveness of the nation's future workforce by developing students' multicultural, interpersonal, and leadership capabilities.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
This project will develop an educational program that will provide underrepresented minority, first-generation college, and limited-resource students (First-Gen Pell-eligible URM students) with a comprehensive and multicultural experiential learning opportunity. The program aims to equip students with tools to analyze complex problems in food supply chains while building an appreciation for careers and graduate education related to food and agribusiness. This project, from now on referred to as MODExL for Multicultural Online Digitally Enhanced Experiential Learning, has the following objectives:1. To provide 32 U.S. First-Gen Pell-eligible URM with experiential learning opportunities that equip them with tools to analyze complex problems in food and agribusiness supply chains:8 undergraduate students (UG) from Arizona State University (ASU)8 undergraduate students (UG) from Texas Tech University (TTU)16 undergraduate students (UG) from the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (UPR).2. To expose students to the research process and engage them in the analysis of policy-relevant constraints to food and agribusiness-related issues.3. To develop students' multicultural, interpersonal, and leadership capabilities to enhance the competitiveness of our nation's future workforce.4. To support academic development and career attainment of underrepresented groups in agricultural economics, agribusiness, and agricultural-related fields (FANH).
Project Methods
Student Recruitment, Selection, and RetentionAny student at ASU, TTU, and UPR will be eligible to participate in MODEXL-but the emphasis will be on recruiting outstanding First-Gen Pell-eligible URM. PD and Co-PDs will work closely with student engagement staff affiliated with their units to promote and recruit students during regular classes in the fall semester. Recruitment activities will include: (1) development of digital collateral (advertisements) to promote the program; (2) use of institution's undergraduate listservs and on appropriate websites; (3) presentations for the local Future Farmers of America (FFA) events (e.g., ASU sponsors at their Poly campus and at informational sessions at the FFA Chapter Officer Leadership Training (COLT) conference); and (4) publications in (a) courses where students explore business majors, (b) with research and learning centers, and (c) with clubs and student organizations. Once students are identified, they will undergo an application and interview process. Successful candidates will then enroll in the Spring class. Contingent on the Spring class's satisfactory completion, students will participate in the summer internship experience. It is highly desired that applicants have some experience with Spanish, but not required.A Spring Semester 3-Credit CourseFollowing selection, participants will enroll in a spring semester three-credit class co-taught by ASU, TTU, and UPR faculty. The proposed course will employ a flipped classroom approach, deviating from traditional lecture-based teaching. Directed readings and video lectures will facilitate the transfer of foundational knowledge in a hybrid setting, with in-person class time dedicated to hands-on work and evaluation of the instructors' past research experiences. The course will offer synchronous and asynchronous learning, integrating collaboration tools like Canvas, Google Docs, Sheets, and Slack to enhance student engagement and interaction. Students will have the opportunity to deliver regular presentations to the class and receive constructive feedback from faculty mentors. The primary goal of the course is to prepare students for their summer research internship in Puerto Rico, where they will gain further research experience and apply their theoretical knowledge to real-world problems. Topics will include: (1) research methods; (2) overview of food value chains, and the organization of the agri-food sector; (3) overview of sustainability issues in agriculture, including climate change impacts, resilience drivers, and sustainable agriculture practices; and (4) history, culture, and geography of Puerto Rico and its coffee sector. The research methods component will cover all aspects of the research process--from reviewing the literature, identifying and formulating a researchable topic, generating hypotheses and developing an empirical strategy, collecting and analyzing data, and writing and presenting findings to a professional audience. It will also cover research ethics and statistical and experimental economic techniques. University IRB procedures will be explained, and students will obtain IRB approval for the fieldwork.Student-student interactions will be encouraged by creating research planning teams comprising ASU, TTU, and UPR students, emphasizing the importance of teamwork in developing research proposals. Students will work in groups and will produce a research proposal by the end of the semester. The research theme for the summer experiential learning opportunity will adjust according to the team's needs and specific interests under the broad theme Sustainability in Global Coffee Value Chains. Broadly, the research proposal will focus on identifying/quantifying impacts of climate change, resilience factors, and other sustainability-related issues around coffee production--this is consistent with the overarching priority of the USDA Strategic Plan FY 2022-2026, emphasizing equity, resilience, and prosperity of food systems. Ultimately, faculty will be responsible for the final research plans and outputs. However, the primary emphasis is on enabling students to take the lead.Fieldwork in Puerto RicoStudents from ASU and TTU will travel with faculty and join their UPR counterparts for four weeks immediately following the spring semester. This quick start will maintain academic momentum. Student registration in the spring and summer semesters will ensure full institutional support from ASU, TTU, and UPR. ASU and TTU students will spend the first couple of days of the trip in language/culture classes in the morning, and afternoons will be spent visiting local institutions and piloting field methods. This will give students time to adapt to the local culture and provide a building block for students that may have limited Spanish language backgrounds. The meetings with institutions will include visits to coffee farmers' associations and agricultural extension facilities and projects at UPR. Following this, students will participate in data collection. During fieldwork, ASU and TTU interns will partner with counterparts from UPR, including students, faculty and/or extension agents. This partnering will facilitate fieldwork, build cross-cultural teams, and enhance learning about the context. Students will be transported to the research area daily, as needed. If a team member needs accommodations for a disability, we will ensure adequate opportunities to participate and will work closely with the respective institutions' student affairs office (e.g., Disability Resource Center at ASU).During fieldwork, meetings will be held as needed to address concerns and plan for subsequent activities. Faculty members will be present to help with scientific issues, ethics and research questions, and interpreting daily experiences to provide context. Students will be exposed to multicultural mentoring and will gain a broad perspective on farmers and the industry's agricultural development and conditions. Mentors and students will participate as full members in team meetings. This participation will allow diverse perspectives in the research planning and implementation process. After the fieldwork, students will present to a farmer organization, if possible, a summary of their findings from the survey/fieldwork. Out of the 1,363 coffee farms that exist in Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Agricultural Census, 2018), we expect to survey a minimum of 256 farmers each year, for a total representative sample of around 512 farms during the project duration, that is, approximately 38% of all coffee farms in Puerto Rico.We also anticipate an end-of-summer-experience seminar at the host university (UPR).Post-fieldwork ExperienceFollowing their fieldwork, during the week before the fall semester starts, all student interns will attend a workshop hosted at ASU facilities. Faculty members will teach students how to utilize the data collected and produce an actual product-a research report. In addition, the workshop will offer seminars on the importance of pursuing graduate studies and how to apply for graduate school programs. Current faculty in agricultural-related fields from historically underrepresented groups will be invited to share their unique experience with participants and their strategies for success. Likewise, USDA ERS representatives will be invited to present on prospective internships and careers in FANH at the federal government. Finally, in partnership with The Agribusiness & Water Council of Arizona (ABWC), the Arizona Crop Protection Association (AzCPA), and SOURCE Global (see letters of support attached), students will visit and learn from private agribusiness enterprises in Arizona during the workshop.