Four CAES freshmen pursuing degrees in the food, agricultural, natural resources and human sciences  are receiving funding, mentoring and skill-building opportunities thanks to a grant from the Higher Education Multicultural Scholars Program, a national, competitive grant program offered through the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

The program gives students who are underrepresented in the food, agricultural, natural resources and human sciences a mix of mentoring, formal and informal programs, advisement and professional experiences, as well as partial funding, for all four of their undergraduate years.

The students, who recently completed their freshman year, are Oyon Martin, a sustainable land and food systems major; JaQuan Battle, whose major is agricultural education (professional service); Kyra Pierce, a food science major; and Lauren Arnao, whose major is animal science.

“Upon graduation, MSP Scholars will have many career options due to the 57,000 annual job openings in food, renewable energy, and environmental sciences,” said Paula Faulkner, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education who serves as program director. “The program prepares these students for graduate education and to take advantage of the job market.”

Other professors serving as MSP Mentors and co-directors for the students  are Arnab Bhowmik, Ph.D., from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design; Robert Cobb, Ph.D., from the Department of Graphic Design and Technology in the College of Science and Technology; Salam Ibrahim, Ph.D. from the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences; Mulumebet Worku, Ph.D., from the Department of Animal Sciences; and senior research associate Tahl Zimmerman, Ph.D., from the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences.

In addition to working with their mentor on their coursework and professional development involvement, the students will gain experience in such subjects as entrepreneurship training and understanding supply chains, and such “soft skills” as time management, Robert’s Rules of Order and leadership development provided by the program’s MSP Advisory Board members.

An experiential learning trip to the University of the West Indies (St. Augustine) in Port of Spain, Trinidad is also planned for 2023 to expose the scholars to international agriculture

“Being awarded a second MSP grant is both rewarding and exciting,” Faulkner said. “Now that the first cohort of five scholars from 2010 have graduated and are serving as high school agricultural education teachers, data analysts and registered dieticians, it is time to spend the next four years preparing a new group of students to be professionals in the FANH sciences.

“I am also pleased to have one of the first MSP Scholars return to serve on the current MSP Advisory Board,” said Faulkner.

This work is supported by the Multicultural Scholars Program, grant no. 2020-38413-30732, accession no, 1021174 from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.