The Ag eDispatch

International Trade Center gets Rural Development funding

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:02:50 -0500

USDA’s Rural Development office has announced grants totaling $1.5 million that will be going to 15 of the 1890 land-grant institutions, and $100,000 of that total is headed to the SAES’s International Trade Center. Dr. Osei-Agyeman Yeboah will serve as principal investigator for the project awarded funding. Other members of the project team are Drs. Paula Faulkner, Benjamin Gray, Omon Isikhuemhen, Richard Robbins, and Victor Ofori-Boadu, an SAES research associate. The proposal submitted outlines training in agribusiness management and support for agriculturally-based economic development in a 14-county region in eastern North Carolina that has lagged behind the rest of the state in average income. Specific objectives include assistance to shiitake mushroom producers in meeting National Organic Standard Certification standards, and development of a marketing network for shiitake producers.

Gamma Sig to gather

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:01:14 -0500

A&T’s chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, the national honor society of agriculture, will have its first meeting of the 2008-09 academic year on Wednesday, Oct. 8. The meeting will be in Room 262 Carver Hall, and it will get started at 3:30 PM. Atop the agenda is a discussion of plans for chapter activities for the academic year. Annual membership dues of $20 will also be welcome at the meeting.

Stipend for student solutions

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:58:56 -0500

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity, and the Planet” will award grants of up to $10,000 to teams of college students for research projects that offer solutions to challenges that society faces for protecting the environment. The five research areas of specific interest this year are: agriculture, materials and chemicals, energy information technology, water, and built environments. The application window for projects to be conducted during the 2008-09 academic year closes Dec. 23. For ideas and inspirations, check out the Web page with flash presentations covering last year’s winners.

Child Development Laboratory aces evaluation

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:33:00 -0500

Congratulations are in order for the faculty and staff at the Child Development Laboratory. The facility was awarded a perfect score of 15 points by the North Carolina Division of Child Development the highest score possible for an environmental assessment of developmentally appropriate learning for young children and their families that was conducted in late July. The score reflects staff credentials as well as the learning environment for pre-schoolers enrolled at the Child Development Laboratory.

The Child Development Laboratory has facilities for demonstrations, observation and participatory experiences for students studying to become early childhood teachers and administrators, and child development specialists. The North Carolina Division of Child Development gives the facility a 5-star rating, the agency's top rating for an early childhood center's program standards, staff education and compliance history.

ADEC has funding for HBCU scholars with distance education inclinations

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:13:55 -0500

The American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC) has funding support for scholars from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and other minority-serving institutions that will provide up to $1,000 per individual to cover travel, lodging and conference fees for the Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning in Orlando, Nov. 5-7. The five conference tracks this year are learning effectiveness; student services and learner support; technology and emerging learning environments; faculty development and support; professional development and workforce training; and leadership, values and society.

The overarching goal of the ADEC funding program is to nurture additional participation from minority-serving institutions in the world of online learning _ the scope and scale in online programs and courses offered by minority serving institutions _ through support for strengthening individual and institutional involvement. Applications for the Sloan Conference scholarships must be returned to the ADEC office by 8 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 22. Those selected will be notified during the first week of October.

SAES probiotic research gets Beijing premier

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:08:53 -0500

An SAES food scientist, Dr. Salam Ibrahim, was invited to present a seminar in August on recent developments in the use of bifidobacteria ("friendly" bacteria) for health benefits and food product safety at the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering at China Agricultural University in Beijing. Ibrahim’s lecture was in conjunction with a visit to the dairy food functional research group in the food science department, and while at China Agricultural University he also had opportunities to discuss current dairy food safety, such as the use of non-thermal processing procedures in yogurt, with faculty and students. The China Agricultural University is one of the country’s leading agricultural research organizations, and also a leader in international exchanges, with relationships with more than 60 universities in 25 countries.

Food change

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:06:23 -0500

The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) has a scholarship program for college undergraduates with a noteworthy requirement. Applicants must “have completed at least one semester in a restaurant and/or food service-related program.” Students in SAES nutrition and dietetics programs qualify. Applicants must also have 750 hours of work experience in restaurant or food service industries, and minimum GPAs of 2.75 on the 4.0 scale. The application deadline for the next round of scholarship awards is Oct. 31. Details on this program, as well as scholarship programs for high school students, are available at the NRAEF website.

Ag. economists association taps Mafuyai-Ekanem for membership committee

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:00:28 -0500

Mary Mafuyai-Ekanem of The Cooperative Extension Program at A&T has been invited to serve on the American Agricultural & Applied Economics Association’s (AAAEA) membership committee for the 2008-09 academic year. The AAEA membership committee serves to assess trends in the organization’s membership and to suggest strategies for adding to the group’s membership. Mafuyai-Ekanem is also serving as the 1890s Institutions director for the AAAEA’s Extension Section, a post she was elected to in 2007 for a three-year term.

The AAAEA’s work to promote agricultural economics includes publication of two journals,The American Journal of Agricultural Economics and The Review of Agricultural Economics. The AAEA’s commitment to furthering knowledge about the economics of agriculture also includes the Chester O. McCorkle Jr. Student Scholarship, which was established to support a graduate student working on applied research on economic issues relating to agriculture. The scholarship, which is expected to be approximately $2,000, has an Oct. 6 application deadline. Applicants should submit a five-page description of the proposed research, a letter of support from their major advisor, and a transcript of graduate work.

Anima mundi converges on Indianapolis

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:21:04 -0500

The American Dairy Science Association and the American Society of Animal Science joint annual meeting in Indianapolis drew more than 3,000 scientists and researchers specializing in nutrition, genetics and other animal sciences to Indianapolis in mid-July. Research work by SAES food and animal scientists was presented at six poster sessions:
• “Nystatin, pathogen-associated molecular patterns and bovine
neutrophil activation” — with a project team that included Dr. Millie Worku
• “Phenotypic correlations between the ratio of body measurements and economic traits in Korean native beef cattle” — with a project team that included Dr. Sang Oh
• “W85 Evaluation of the effect of bovine colostrum on gene expression in E. coli. — with a project team that included Drs. Worku and Oh
• “Evaluation of buffering capacity of amino acid and milk protein ingredients in acidic conditions” — with a project team that included Drs. Salam Ibrahim, C. W. Seo and Defreng “Tammy” Song
• “Addition of rice extract improves the quality characteristics and consumer acceptability of banana flavored yogurt” — with a project team that included Drs. Ibrahim, Song and Seo
• “Using lactic acid bacteria to detect chemical substances in milk” — with a project team that included Dr. Salam Ibrahim

The American Society of Animal Science is a professional organization for animal scientists working in research, Extension and teaching. The American Dairy Science Association is similarly organized as a professional organization for researchers and educators involved with product development, processing and economics in the dairy industry.

Propagation explication

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:10:26 -0500

Dr. Guochen Yang of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design had some SAES research on exhibit in San Francisco in early August. Yang has been working with Dr. Paul Read of the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska on a study of plant growth regulators with potential for expediting the propagation of woody ornamentals used in the nursery industry. Findings were presented at the research poster presentations at the annual meeting of the Plant Growth Regulation Society of America’s 35th Annual Meeting (PGRSA), Aug. 3 -7.

The PGRSA has been giving scientists from many areas of specialization a central agency for collecting and disseminating information on plant growth regulators, plant tissue culture and other propagation techniques since the organization was established in 1973. The organization publishes reference books and a quarterly journal of technical articles.

Back to school specials

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:37:00 -0500

Dr. Donald McDowell, interim SAES dean, will be hosting the annual academic year kickoff meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 13, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Webb Hall Auditorium. The SAES meeting will put the finishing touches on an entire day of academic year kickoff activities. Dr. Alton Thompson, interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, will be introducing new faculty and staff at the university-wide opening day program that morning. The entire A&T Extension field faculty has also been invited to attend the Aug. 13 events, and the field staff will also be at Coltrane Hall for a training session that begins at 9 a.m.

Cattail tale

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:34:56 -0500

Dr. Ghasem Shahbazi’s research work at the University Farm fueled some interest at the Greensboro News & Record, and on July 28 the paper ran an article covering a couple of his research projects. The story provides some insights into the research Shahbazi is conducting that is looking into the potential to convert cattails and other cellusic plants into ethanol, and also potential for converting swine waste into a heavy oil that can be used in manufacturing.

Surge protection

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:47:32 -0500

Campus electrical transformers are going to get a major upgrade the weekend of July 26 and 27, and the power will be off to all SAES facilities except C.H. Moore and the University Farm. The Department of Information Technology (DoIT) is asking that SAES faculty and staff shut off all computers, printers and other electrical devices before leaving campus on Friday, July 25. Another DoIT advisory affects all SAES faculty and staff: all information technology services -- including email -- will be unavailable while the power is off for the transformer upgrade. If you've got an important email to send on Friday, July 25, don't put it off with plans to get to it over the weekend.

Four-to-eight single-spaced pages is all it takes

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:05:37 -0500

There is an Aug. 1 deadline for paper and presentation proposals for a national educational technology symposium that the Texas Computer Education Association will be hosting in Austin in February 2009. The deadline for submitting papers is Aug. 1. Submissions should be no longer than eight pages, and suited to a 20-minute presentation at the symposium. The short-list of 34 "possible paper topics" includes cultural attitudes and technology, online learning, gender and diversity issues, Web-based instruction and women in technology.

Nothing corny about it

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:44:15 -0500

On June 27, the Burlington Times-News ran an article that took a look at both sides of the question: “Are high corn prices good for local farmers?”. While the story cites skeptics who doubt that the rise in corn prices is going to translate to long-range economic benefits for farmers, Times-News reporter Emily Hohenwarter turned to an SAES economist, Dr. Godfrey Ejimakor, for the other side of the story. Ejimakor is quoted at length in the article’s concluding paragraphs, explaining why he thinks corn prices will continue to rise along with wheat, soybean and other feed grains, and that farmers who manage their production mixes prudently can benefit from the new demands for biofuels spurred by the escalating cost of crude oil.