No More Silos” Project: $1 million grant from U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
Year 2 Cohort Student Applications Available Now-Deadline is November 6, 2021!
School of Humanities and Communication Chair Dr. Sam Robinson is currently in year two of an exciting four-year, $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture NIFA Hispanic Serving Institutions Program. She is Co-PI on the project with Dr. David Still, Executive Director of the CSU Agricultural Research Institute (ARI).
A few years ago Robinson was invited to present her research on agricultural coverage in California newspapers to Still while he was visiting CSUMB shortly after becoming the ARI Executive Director. That interaction led to the opportunity to collaborate with Still on the NIFA HSI grant that was awarded in fall 2019.
The “No More Silos” project will provide immersive multi-disciplinary experiences to 100 underrepresented students across the California State University system. Students from all 23 CSU campuses who are interested in careers or graduate school in food, agriculture, natural resources or human sciences are eligible for these paid fellowships ($6,400 per student).
Students develop scientific and professional skills by engaging in mentored fellowships in science, big-data analytics, agricultural journalism and public policy. In addition, about 80 students will attend a five-day workshop to develop skills in big-data analytics. They will also receive career mentoring through leadership and scientific communication workshops and emerge with greater discipline-specific knowledge and skills, improved critical thinking and problem-solving skills, improved knowledge of multi-disciplinary team approaches to problem-solving, and personalized roadmaps that articulate career goals and the steps needed to achieve them.
Drs. Still and Robinson will curate a list of programs for Ag Journalism and Public Policy Fellows to apply to, assist students with their applications, and serve as their CSU faculty mentors. Robinson secured a letter of support from Gannett Publishing to host interns who are part of the agriculture journalism program. Gannett is an important partner because it owns newspapers throughout the state and publishes several Spanish-language newspapers. They set aside half of the journalism fellowships for bilingual projects.
The first year cohort of 22 includes four CSUMB Students: College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences’ Angela Steele, Humanities & Communication major, and three College of Sciences students: Julissa Hernandez, Agricultural Plant & Soil Sciences major; Samantha Miller, Biology major, and Cassandra Tice, Biology major. Dr. Robinson noted the first year cohort is a bit smaller than anticipated due to the COVID-necessitated transition to virtual learning, although commented that an advantage of the virtual environment was that zoom conversations happened more frequently and led to other thoughts on potential expansion of the program.
Passionate about the topic of Ag Communication, Robinson expressed her enjoyment of researching and writing about ag journalism, she points out, “There’s always something new to learn in ag communication. How we cover this impacts public opinion, which impacts public policy.”
As part of the mentoring process, Robinson further collaborated with John Silveus from the College of Science, whose research is in water quality. She worked with cohort member Angela Steele and Silveus to develop a public opinion poll about water quality and what the public cares about (and related to ag) and what they were working on. Robinson explained the benefit of morphing a public opinion survey to provide this information, which would be both impactful for research and for public work and future surveys. Effectively communicating highly technical issues related to agriculture and science to the public is one of the key skills journalism fellows will develop in this program.
In October, ARI will hold their annual meeting virtually. Robinson will facilitate the Effective Communication for Science in Agriculture to the Public workshop, helping the entire cohort with their communications skills. Once it’s safe to travel again, part of Robinson’s and Still’s plan includes taking the students to Washington, D.C., to the USDA Ag Outlook Forum, to allow them to cover it as Ág journalism students. In addition to the paid fellowship, this professional development at a prestigious event such as the Forum, provides a tremendous opportunity that would be otherwise unattainable as an undergraduate student.
Applications for the second cohort are now available through the ARI website. Be sure to scroll down to HSI ARI Student Opportunities (you'll see 6). While this grant is an HSI Grant, anyone from any CSU may apply. If you have questions or would like assistance with the application, please contact Dr. Robinson at sarobinson@csumb.edu.
More about the Otters in the cohort (as taken from their student profiles):
- Project Description: My project seeks to establish best management practices for controlling weeds for organic blueberry production. We will work to develop proactive methods to prevent weeds, rather than controlling weeds after they appear.
- Why are you interested in this project? I will have an opportunity to learn about organic blueberry production – including weed management, while gaining research experience.
- What do you hope to learn or gain experience with through this fellowship? Weeds and pests are common problems in agriculture, including the Salinas Valley. Learning how to manage them will be a great start to my research career, while at the same time we will be helping farmers to deliver high-quality produce which also benefits our community.
- What do you want to do after graduation, and how will the fellowship help you to achieve that goal? After graduation, I want to pursue a Master's Degree in Environmental Science, and eventually obtain a government job in the research sector. This fellowship will help me develop the skills and experience required to work in a real job.
- Interesting Fact: I am the first agriculture student at CSUMB, and I cannot wait to the see the agriculture program evolve!
- Mentor: Elizabeth Mosqueda
- Project Description: We are phenotyping and sequencing strains of bacteria that remediate pyrethroid insecticides to determine their remediation capacity and identify the genes and mechanisms that the bacteria use break down insecticides. The results of this project will help to create a wood chip bioreactor that can help mitigate insecticide contamination from large volumes of agricultural irrigation water.
- Why are you interested in this project? I find this project fascinating because it examines a natural phenomenon that occurs on a microscopic level, but it has a tangible effect that will directly and positively impact the Salinas Valley agricultural community.
- What do you hope to learn or gain experience with through this fellowship? I hope to further my experience with bioinformatics-oriented research and advance my computational skills while making a positive impact on my agricultural community through my research.
- What do you want to do after graduation, and how will the fellowship help you to achieve that goal? I plan to pursue a PhD in evolutionary biology. This fellowship will help strengthen my ties to the agricultural research community while allowing me to focus on my development as a bioinformatician and prepare myself for graduate school and my future career.
- Interesting Fact: I co-founded the CSUMB Linux Users Group and I tutor calculus and genetics.
- Mentor: Nathaniel Jue
- Project Description: I am working on a public opinion survey as well as writing articles for CSUMB and ARI websites, with a focus on water quality, particularly at the nexus of water quality and agriculture.
- Why are you interested in this project? I am interested in environmental topics, water quality being one of them. I have added my minor in Environmental Studies to hopefully gain more knowledge on water quality, and this project will provide a valuable real-world learning experience.
- What do you hope to learn or gain experience with through this fellowship? I am excited to gain hands on experience with environmental journalism.
- What do you want to do after graduation, and how will the fellowship help you to achieve that goal? My career aspirations include working within the environmental realm, ideally environmental journalism or nonprofit work. The fellowship provides a glimpse into this industry.
- Interesting Fact: I have been a member of the CSUMB Women's Water Polo team for the past four years, as well as Team Captain for this past season, and now I spend my time traveling, hiking, and enjoying the beauty that nature has to offer.
- Mentor: Sam Robinson and John Silveus
- Project Description: The objective of my project is to evaluate the sensitivity of Pythium wilt isolates to commercial fungicides. The information from this project will help improve the management of Pythium wilt of lettuce, which is caused by the soil-borne oomycete pathogen Pythium uncinulatum.
- Why are you interested in this project? I am interested in this project because I want to make a positive impact on my community. This pathogen is becoming more prevalent in the Salinas Valley, but is not yet well-researched. Being able to determine how to manage and prevent this disease will be extremely beneficial to the local growers by preventing major crop and financial losses.
- What do you hope to learn or gain experience with through this fellowship? I hope to gain knowledge and skills that will help me conduct research on a graduate level.
- What do you want to do after graduation, and how will the fellowship help you to achieve that goal? After I graduate, I would like to attend graduate school and obtain a master's degree in a field related to environmental science, plant biology, or agriculture. This fellowship will help me gain experience in my field that will strengthen my graduate school applications.
- Interesting Fact: In February 2020, I was selected as a USDA Future Leader in Agriculture and spent five days in Washington D.C. During this time, I attended the 2020 Agricultural Outlook Forum and was able to learn more about current topics in agriculture, network, and explore different careers in USDA alongside the 29 other recipients of this award. In addition to this, I met with United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.
- Mentor: JP Dundore-Arias