- FY 2002 Higher Education Challenge Grants Program -

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03200

PROJECT TITLE

Materials for Safer Food: A Cross-Disciplinary Team-and Web-Based Approach

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Auburn University, AL

PROJECT DIRECTOR

William F. Gale

FUNDS AWARDED*

$99,919

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will fund course development allowing senior undergraduates from materials engineering and agricultural/food/microbiological disciplines to design, select and use materials to produce microbiologically safer food utilizing the latest in instructional technologies. Course materials will be developed to permit course adoption by other institutions. 

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03168

PROJECT TITLE

Case Studies in Agricultural Ethics

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Colorado State University, CO

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Robert L. Zimdahi

FUNDS AWARDED*

$26,583

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will allow revisions to an existing course in agricultural ethics to employ contemporary case-based learning techniques.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03136

PROJECT TITLE

Interactive Grass Tutorials

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Connecticut, CT

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Karl Guillard

FUNDS AWARDED*

$89,191

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will emphasize the development of instructional materials and the use of alternative instructional delivery systems in plant sciences by developing interactive tutorials (Web based and CD-ROM) for the identification of cool-season turfgrasses.  Proposed tutorials will be developed from digitized images that will permit 360 degree viewing, close-up viewing of morphological features, and optional audio descriptions.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03132

PROJECT TITLE

Training the Trainer: The Distance Education Instructional Designer Project

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Florida, FL

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Ricky Telg

FUNDS AWARDED*

$249,952

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will work with the Agricultural Communicators in Distance Education and Instructional Design and the American Distance Education Consortium to develop a series of six synchronous and asynchronous, Web based, train-the-trainer, virtual conferences. Project participants from across the country (designated university distance education specialists) will be invited to improve their practices in distance education and to share these improvements with faculty.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03133

PROJECT TITLE

Interdisciplinary Program in Natural Resource Management: Integrated Analyses of Forested Watersheds

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Florida, FL

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Eric J. Jokela

FUNDS AWARDED*

$99,814

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will establish an interdisciplinary and experiential learning program in natural resources management to be offered by the University of Florida and in collaboration with the Czech University of Agriculture in Prague.  The project is aimed at providing students and faculty of both universities with an opportunity to gain knowledge and professional experience in the field of forest landscape and water resources analysis using a comparative model approach based upon both the US and European environment.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03131

PROJECT TITLE

Three Dimensional Animations of Signal Transduction Mechanisms

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Georgia, GA

PROJECT DIRECTOR

James N. Moore

FUNDS AWARDED*

$97,530

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will extend the efforts of a previously-funded Higher Education Challenge Grants award involving signal transduction elements (STEs) as keys to understanding animal diseases.  This phase will involve the teaching of biology, disease process, and therapeutics via a CD-ROM containing 3-D animations of STEs.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03181

PROJECT TITLE

Resources for Internationalizing Capstone Design Experiences

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Georgia, GA

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Williams S. Kisaalita

FUNDS AWARDED*

$80,984

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will expand the undergraduate’s international perspective in programs in agricultural and biological engineering by developing and offering a special section within an existing capstone course.  The section will focus on solutions to international problems by using an interdisciplinary, multimedia approach.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03169

PROJECT TITLE

The Space Food Challenge

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Iowa State University, IA

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Cheryll Reitmeier

FUNDS AWARDED*

$100,000

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will result in knowledgeable faculty with an educational platform for teaching students about the problems of providing food on earth as well as in space, with the long-range goal of designing and implementing an effective educational program about sustainable food systems.  The development of a space food curriculum with active learning and communication strategies can be expected to have a significant positive impact on food science programs throughout the US and will enhance NASA’s existing education programs.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03091

PROJECT TITLE

International Experiential Learning in Agriculture (ISU/ITESM-Mexico)

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Iowa State University, IA

PROJECT DIRECTOR

B. Lynn Jones

FUNDS AWARDED*

$93,935

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will develop guidelines in learning/teaching systems and evaluation methodology to assess the role of student interns completing agricultural internships abroad.  Student interns will participate in seminars on learning modules, pre-departure orientation and preparation, on-site interview, and post-travel interview and evaluation.  Faculty from various disciplines in two universities and work site business supervisors will participate in professional development seminars on teaching systems, experiential learning, and evaluation tools.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03100

PROJECT TITLE

Practicing Sustainability: An Interdisciplinary Approach to a Capstone Course in Natural Resources

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Idaho, ID

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Charles C. Harris

FUNDS AWARDED*

$97,641

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will fund further improvement and evaluation of the senior-level capstone course in the integrated core curriculum, College of Natural Resources.  In this project, students work in interdisciplinary teams to define sustainability, identify criterion indicators and standards, and use this information to evaluate alternative management scenarios in forest and resource management on the South Fork of the Salmon River. 

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03250

PROJECT TITLE

What’s on Your Plate? Agriculture Across the Curriculum

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Southern Illinois University, IL

PROJECT DIRECTOR

S.L. Anderson

FUNDS AWARDED*

$249,996

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will involve faculty from several undergraduate institutions, primarily teaching general education courses, in a series of workshops with the objective to establish an Agriculture-Across-the-Curriculum initiative.  One outcome will be the development of a CD-ROM that will be used in a number if institutions to enhance agricultural program recruitment activities by focusing on the common theme of food.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03114

PROJECT TITLE

Milk Secretion & Mastitis: On-Line Teaching and Outreach Curriculum Development

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Illinois, IL

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Geoffrey E. Dahl

FUNDS AWARDED*

$99,999

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

To address the declining numbers of trained faculty in the Animal Sciences disciplines, this award will develop a series of modules for instruction in the areas of animal lactation physiology and mastitis to be delivered via CD-ROM.  In addition, a companion series will be developed providing applied problem-based presentations that can be used as virtual laboratories and on-line Extension presentations, and as a Web-based course in milk secretion and mastitis suitable for Junior/Senior-level undergraduates that will be made available throughout the Northeast, nationally, and internationally.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03201

PROJECT TITLE

Community College Science Internship Program

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Illinois, IL

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Jesse C. Thompson, Jr.

FUNDS AWARDED*

$97,111

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award proposes an eight-week program for minority students attending urban-based community colleges to participate in a science mentoring and career enriching experience on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Its aim is to create a learning opportunity that will increase the experience base of transfer students in science and technology, and to create on-going partnerships with urban community colleges to increase awareness and access to educational programs in the food and agricultural sciences.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03199

PROJECT TITLE

National Food and Agribusiness Management Commission

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Kansas State University, KS

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Michael Boland

FUNDS AWARDED*

$249,768

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will create a new “National Food and Agribusiness Management Education Commission” to review food and agribusiness management education and to plan a national conference to assess the current status and to explore major issues within the discipline anticipated for the next 15 years.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03113

PROJECT TITLE

Experiential Learning Integrated

Across the Agronomy Curriculum

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Kansas State University, KS

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Johanna A. Dieleman

FUNDS AWARDED*

$90,826

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will organize and develop a Learning Farm where students, throughout their undergraduate career in Agronomy, can develop the necessary technical skills and intellectual competencies through field-site experiences and investigations, and modify current laboratories and add new courses across the Agronomy curriculum to include student experiential learning activities that would actively use the Learning Farm.  A Web site will provide regular and annual reports, a GIS database of all collectable data, course visits, and field activities occurring at the Learning Farm, and be available for current and future students.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03210

PROJECT TITLE

Integrative Hands-On Summer Learning Experience for Undergraduate Students with an Interest in the Plant Sciences

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Louisiana State University, LA

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Collins A. Kimbeng

FUNDS AWARDED*

$93,886

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will actively recruit students from underrepresented communities and offer them a 10-week, integrative, hands-on summer learning experience in molecular biology by providing exposure to breeding program techniques, side-by-side experiences with laboratory researchers, and field trips to USDA-ARS stations and industry laboratories.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03158

PROJECT TITLE

Distance-Education for Natural Resources Students to Improve Private Forest Land Management

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Massachusetts-Amherst, MA

PROJECT DIRECTOR

William McComb

FUNDS AWARDED*

$93,289

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will ensure that specialized courses in land management resource issues will be available to students in the northeast, and that a suite of courses will be available through Web-based continuing education to both degree and non-degree individuals (students, consulting foresters, agency natural resource management professionals, …etc.) throughout the country.  Coordination of courses will be by the Northeast section of the National Association of Professional Forestry Schools and Colleges and the Association of North American University Fish and Wildlife Programs.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03241

PROJECT TITLE

Cross-Border Curricular Programs in International Environmental and Agribusiness Management

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Maine, ME

PROJECT DIRECTOR

George K. Criner

FUNDS AWARDED*

$228,472

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will explore avenues to overcome human and financial resource constraints by developing an international curriculum in the Department of Resource Economics and Policy at the University of Maine.  International components will be included in new and existing courses, an International Environmental and Agribusiness Management concentration will be developed, and cross-border study programs with Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Laval University, and the University of New Brunswick will be developed.  Distance education delivery systems and student experiential learning will be accomplished utilizing cross-border programs with Canada and the Food and Resource Economics Department at the University of Florida.  Private sector linkages, forged by non-profit business development agencies, will provide real-world, trans-national student internships.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03175

PROJECT TITLE

Discovery-Based Undergrad Opportunities: Collaborative Research Support Programs

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Montana State University-Bozeman, MT

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Florence Vaccarello Dunkel

FUNDS AWARDED*

$242,458

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will strengthen higher education agricultural sciences programs by developing synergistic collaborations between undergraduate education and USAID-funded Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSP) in developing nations.  The project will link undergraduate instruction in four Land Grant institutions, including a tribal college, as well as a network of private institutions, with the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) CRSP research in Mali.  This project will allow undergraduate students the opportunity to have hands-on, discovery-based learning in Africa working with IPM CRSP researchers, and permit additional students (estimated at 2,800 over the 3-year life of the grant) to benefit from the infusion of actual problems and issues derived from the research activities of the IPM CRSP into popular, undergraduate courses in entomology and other subjects.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03165

PROJECT TITLE

An OpenCourseWare Approach to Undergraduate Education in Agricultural Education

INSTITUTION/

STATE

North Carolina State University, NC

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Gary Moore

FUNDS AWARDED*

$99,996

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will place five, common, undergraduate agriculture education courses on the World Wide Web via the OpenCourseWare (OCW) concept.  At least ten professors from other universities will participate in developing, for each course, 15-45 on-line lessons that will contain readings from the professional literature, information sheets, student-learning activities, interactive tests, and links to other Web sites that contain supportive information.  OCW, an educational initiative created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, strives to make educational materials available to Internet users around the world at no cost.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03130

PROJECT TITLE

Integrating Biosecurity Practices into Livestock Production Mgmt. on Farms and Ranches to Insure Sustainable and Wholesome Food Supply

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Gary P. Rupp

FUNDS AWARDED*

$249,792

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will develop and evaluate practical biosecurity educational media and deliver biosafety educational programs.  Resulting information will be available to a wide spectrum of users, including practicing veterinarians, veterinary students, extension specialists, livestock organizations and other colleges and universities.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03147

PROJECT TITLE

Agriculture and Food System Learning Community

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Leverne Barrett

FUNDS AWARDED*

$98,524

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will develop an Agricultural Food Systems Learning Community to provide: innovative materials, strategies, and curricula; enhance faculty capacities to implement creative approaches to learning; design experiential learning activities that will prepare students for future careers; and allow sharing of materials with local, national and international audiences.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03195

PROJECT TITLE

Experiential Agroecology Team  Learning and Teaching in Living Classrooms

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Pennsylvania State University, PA

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Heather D. Karsten

FUNDS AWARDED*

$94,328

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will permit a collaborative teaching and learning, whole-farm perspective for students and faculty in agroecology.  Six students will be supported each summer for two years to spend one week on campus studying agroecology and farming systems and then for a 10-week experiential session on a farm conducting individual projects. Students will work with faculty to implement a whole-farm, experiential agroecology curriculum and promote an endowment for on-farm internships.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03253

PROJECT TITLE

Sustainability: A Curricular Model and Program to Promote Core Values for a Green Campus

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Rhode Island, RI

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Deborah Grossman-Garber

FUNDS AWARDED*

$94,365

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will support the development and implementation of a structured undergraduate curriculum in Sustainability at the University of Rhode Island.  Faculty and professional staff will develop institutional capacity to implement and support a robust and rigorous cross-disciplinary curriculum to address the environmental, economic and ethical complexity inherent within this discipline.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03251

PROJECT TITLE

Creating Experiences and Building Skills in Agriscience and Biotechnology

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Clemson University, SC

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Salvatore Sparace

FUNDS AWARDED*

$98,088

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will revise the Agriculture Education undergraduate major by adding three new courses and revising two existing courses.  New courses will include a freshman seminar where students will shadow a practicing agriscience researcher; a course titled Teaching Agriscience, where prospective teachers will learn agriscience concepts, techniques, and develop teaching materials; and a three-week summer Agriscience Institute that includes travel to working research farms and field sites.  Seniors will take a Biotechnology in Agricultural Education course and synthesize their learning in a Senior Capstone Seminar.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03163

PROJECT TITLE

Sustainable Environmental Design: Collaborative Experimental Learning Through a Service Learning Model

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Clemson University, SC

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Mary Haque

FUNDS AWARDED*

$100,000

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will develop, teach, implement, and evaluate sustainable designs in horticulture and agricultural education courses using a service learning model.  Integrated into courses will be education on sustaining natural resources.  Experiential learning will help students build competencies and integrate and synthesize knowledge from various disciplines.  A revised course curriculum will be developed to incorporate sustainable environmental design approaches.  Student experiential learning will be conducted through community-based service learning projects.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03180

PROJECT TITLE

Integration of Technology-Mediated Teaching Tools and Multidisciplinary Courses to Strengthen Ornamental Horticulture Curriculum

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Tennessee, TN

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Jerome Franklin Grant

FUNDS AWARDED*

$97,555

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will develop an innovative, multidisciplinary, on-campus and on-line course in ornamental horticulture incorporating a non-traditional approach providing broad, practical applications for undergraduate students. .

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03208

PROJECT TITLE

Building Communication and Quantitative Reasoning Skills in Natural Resources Curricula

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Utah State University, UT

PROJECT DIRECTOR

F.E. Busby

FUNDS AWARDED*

$100,000

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will establish undergraduate “Learning Associates” within the College of Natural Resources.  These individuals will serve as student peer tutors, versed in communicating in the areas of rhetoric, mathematics, information literacy, and quantitative reasoning.  The long-term goal will have the Learning Associates tutor every student with needs in the College.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03198

PROJECT TITLE

Development of an Interactive, On-Line, College-Level Course in the Fundamentals of Nutrition

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, VT

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Lyndon Carew

FUNDS AWARDED*

$99,878

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will convert a college-level, computerized textbook into an interactive, on-line, stand-alone course on the Fundamentals of Nutrition. The new format has been shown to be especially conducive to helping students with learning difficulties.  The resulting course can be used in the classroom or it can be viewed by interactive TV, on the Internet, or by CD-ROM.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03183

PROJECT TITLE

National Partnership for Facilitation Teacher Preparation for Family and Consumer Sciences

INSTITUTION/

STATE

Central Washington University, WA

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Janet Bowers

FUNDS AWARDED*

$250,000

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will build a national support system and clearinghouse for the family and consumer science discipline.  It addresses the critical, national shortage of educators in this area as well as the corresponding need for teacher preparation.  It will establish a national data bank of distance learning opportunities that can be used to enhance an institution’s teacher education program as well as meet alternative licensor requirements for a specified state.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03144

PROJECT TITLE

Creating a Student-Centered Ag Engineering Tech Curriculum

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Wisconsin-River Falls, WI

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Derek Whitelock

FUNDS AWARDED*

$99,973

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will allow the revision of courses in the Agricultural Engineering Technology curriculum to incorporate student-based learning objectives and electronic portfolios.  In addition, students will be required to complete a field-based capstone project and a comprehensive, electronic portfolio by graduation to measure that learning objectives were met and to assess the overall effectiveness of the curriculum.

PROPOSAL NUMBER

02-03190

PROJECT TITLE

Using Technologies to Reach All Rural Learners: Access for Students with Disabilities

INSTITUTION/

STATE

University of Wyoming, WY

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Bernita Quoss

FUNDS AWARDED*

$93,542

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This award will make a family life education (FLE) degree available to distance learners.  It will serve as a model of fully-accessible learning opportunities for students with disabilities, both physical and learning, and become the only FLE distance degree in the US.  Academic project members will adapt cognate and experiential courses in the resident FLE degree for distance delivery, implement a recruitment plan, place sample courses on the Internet, and complete a FLE Distance Degree Handbook.  Disability specialists will adapt course materials and develop alternative learning formats.