Regan Announced as Biden’s Pick to Lead EPA
Aggie alumnus Michael Regan ’98, the current Secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, is President Joe Biden's choice to head the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
As such, the CAES earth and environmental sciences major would be the first Black man to lead the agency, which was established under President Richard Nixon. While it is not technically a Cabinet position, the position traditionally is given Cabinet rank after being approved by committee hearings in the House and Senate.
Regan is expected to be approved.
During his tenure as the state’s top environmental official, Regan led a landmark multi-billion dollar coal ash cleanup from Duke Energy and worked with a largely Republican legislature on such projects as extending the power grid to rural communities and rebuilding the state’s eastern agricultural operations in the wake of several devastating hurricanes.
Regan spent almost a decade after graduating from N.C. A&T at the Environmental Protection Agency, first as a post-graduate intern and then full time, eventually serving as a national program manager responsible for designing programs aimed at reducing pollution and improving energy efficiency and air quality.
Expectations are high. As the nation’s top environmental official, Regan will inherit an agency that will be charged with enacting President-elect Biden’s ambitious agenda to address issues of climate change, environmental racism and transitions to “green energy.”
Thanks to his professors and the curriculum of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, Regan said that he is ready for his future role in a recent interview.
“I’m a proud grad,” Regan said. “I never miss a chance to talk about how N.C. A&T prepared me. It absolutely strengthened my understanding of who I am and what I can do for society.”
Student and Community Farm to Benefit from $6,000 Wellness Grant
The CAES’s Student and Community Farm is one of 11 recipients of “community health mini-grants” from the American Heart Association and Blue Cross North Carolina.
The Student and Community Farm received $6,000, the largest grant amount from the organizations. The funds will go to fresh herbs and healthy food demonstrations at the farm, which opened officially as an area of the University Farm in the fall semester of 2019.
The Student and Community Farm is run through the faculty advising of Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design.
Since its opening, lecturer Odile Huchette and William Randle, Ph.D. have been among the professors leading students in planting and harvesting on the farm. Previous crops have included sweet potatoes, peanuts, pumpkins and sunflowers.
Currently, the faculty’s goal for the student farm is to teach the intricacies of the food cycle, from planting and growing to harvesting and marketing. Eventual plans are to make the farm self-sustaining through marketing the produce, possibly from a roadside stand or through boxed delivery of fresh food items.
The local mini-grants focus on food security, community health education, hypertension management and addressing increased local need due to COVID-19. The mini-grants will impact families in underserved communities, university students and their surrounding communities, and local congregations, according to Annie Thornhill, vice president of community impact for the American Heart Association, Southeast.
““It is very exciting to continue our efforts with Blue Cross NC to address health equity issues in our communities and to offer community mini-grants to bolster existing programs or inspire new programs to bloom,” she said. “Together we are working to build sustainable change in the health of our communities.”
Across North Carolina, a total of 21 community health mini-grants were awarded out of 166 applications, totaling nearly $100,000. These community organizations and companies will be working to improve heart health among North Carolinians who are most at risk for cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
Extension Specialists Designated Faculty Members
Congratulations to Cooperative Extension specialists, who are now officially non-tenure track faculty (NTTF) members with assistant professor titles. The new designation recognizes these professionals for their educational attainment and subject matter expertise, and elevates their status within the university, the college, and their professional fields.
The new faculty members are:
- Misty Blue-Terry, Ph.D., assistant professor and Extension specialist, 4-H STEM
- Carinthia Cherry, Ph.D., assistant professor and Extension specialist, nutrition
- Michelle Eley, Ph.D., assistant professor and Extension specialist, community and economic development
- Sanjun Gu, Ph.D., assistant professor and Extension specialist, horticulture
- Jimo Ibrahim, Ph.D., assistant professor and Extension specialist, farm safety, energy and environment
- Shannon Wiley, Ph.D., assistant professor and Extension specialist, 4-H youth development.
FCS Undergraduate Food and Nutritional Sciences Programs Gain IFT Approval
The food and nutritional sciences undergraduate programs in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences have received approval from the Institute of Food Technologists Higher Education review board for degrees in food science.
The Institute of Food Technologists is an international, non-profit scientific society of professionals engaged in food science, food technology, and related areas in academia, government and industry. It has more than 17,000 members from more than 95 countries.
CAES graduate student wins second place in competition
Enoch Anabire Ayamga, a graduate student in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design, won second place in the graduate students' oral competition at the recent 78th Annual Professional Agricultural Workers Conference (PAWC). Hosted by Tuskegee University, the student competitions were held virtually in December.
For the competition, Ayamga presented results from his master's thesis research project, which looks at ways to maximize the utilization of sweet potatoes through dual-purpose use of root and leaf varieties, and to examine the antiproliferative effect of sweet potato leaf extracts on triple-negative breast cancer. He will be awarded a cash prize and a certificate.
Ayamga’s adviser, Beatrice Dingha, Ph.D., praised his diligence, attention to detail, and familiarity with his research.
“Enoch is a promising student with a strong work ethic and a passion for process, technology, and truth,” Dingha said. “He is driven by a deep desire to make his home country, Ghana, a better place, and has made that his life's goal. Therefore, it came as no surprise when he won the second prize out of 45 competing graduate students from universities across the nation.”
His co-advisors are.Louis E. Jackai, Ph.D., Patrick Martin, Ph.D., and Checo Rorie, Ph.D. The project was funded by a USDA-NIFA Evans-Allen grant awarded to Dingha.
Ayamga will graduate in 2021 with a master's degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Systems.
The conference is an annual forum committed to promoting equal opportunity and equitable access to information and technology for sustainable development of communities and natural resources. The conference began in 1942, mainly with Tuskegee University and local and state support and participation. It is now national in scope, including representatives from the national land grant community and the state, federal, and private sectors.
Alumnus Bell Featured on NCSU Podcast
Alumnus Kamal Bell ’14,’15, owner of Sankofa Farms in Efland, was featured on an episode of the Farms, Food and You podcast entitled Giving Back: Kamal Bell and Sankofa Farms. The podcast is produced by NC State University.
Currently, Bell is earning his Ph.D. at NC State after earning his master’s degree in agricultural education and his bachelor’s degree in animal science (animal industry) from the CAES. At Sankofa Farms, Bell focuses on teaching middle school-age students about agriculture and nutrition.
In a 2019 interview for CAES News, Bell said that Associate Professor Chastity Warren English, Ph.D., and Professor Antoine Alston, Ph.D., “made me interested in ag ed and in working with youth. That became my life’s passion.”
