A&T to Connect Community with Biotechnology

For Immediate Release
April 20, 2001

Greensboro, NC: Hoping to expose underrepresented groups to biotechnology, faculty at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University will work with Guilford County schools and Piedmont area agricultural workers, as part of a new consortium.

In addition to North Carolina A&T State University, the Southern Consortium for AgBiotech Outreach for Underserved Communities includes ten minority schools, and it is led by Alabama A&M University.

As part of the consortium, A&T will conduct biotechnology seminars and workshops, inviting students and faculty from area schools, and others involved in agriculture. In addition, the university will provide summer biotechnology internships to teachers and Cooperative Extension agents from predominantly minority communities.

"The purpose of the consortium is to expose farmers, consumers, educators and students from underserved communities to potentials in the biotechnology field," said Dr. Mulumebet Worku, a biotechnologist with A&T's Department of Animal Sciences and director of the project.

"In North Carolina alone, there are more than 70 biotechnology companies, and because biotechnology is such a new and rapidly changing field, few people are aware that potential careers and improved growing methods are almost literally next door."

According to Worku, the consortium will achieve its goals by focusing on four objectives: educational outreach, helping educators at the K-12 and college-levels integrate principles and applications of biotechnology in their curricula; commodity outreach, identifying, evaluating and promoting biotechnology-based products and interventions for small farms; community outreach, sharing biotechnology information with extension workers, opinion leaders, farmers and consumers; and socio-economic studies into the need for agricultural biotechnology, factors influencing its adoption and the impact of education and information provided through the consortium.

Other A&T faculty working with the project include Drs. Marihelen Glass, Guochen Yang, Abebe Kebede, Alton Thompson and Fred Wood.

Since 1996, A&T has offered a biotechnology certification program which allows students to receive both an undergraduate degree and a certificate in biotechnology. Coursework leading to this certificate is offered in the areas of animal science, biology, chemical engineering, chemistry, and natural resources and environmental design.

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For more information, please contact Dr. Mulumebet Worku, NC A&T State University, (336) 334-7615.