Godfrey Gayle, Ph.D.

Dr. Godfrey Gayle, a professor of biological engineering, has secured a $400,000 contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to provide scholarships and other support to students studying biological engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

The two-year contract seeks to increase enrollment and improve retention of undergraduate and graduate students studying biological engineering, especially natural resources and agricultural engineering programs in the CAES. The contract has multiple goals, including to:

• Provide highly skilled graduates to satisfy the needs of NRCS.
• Integrate technology and research in projects or capstone designs in undergraduate training in an effort to satisfy the needs of society.
• Provide an opportunity to train students to use state-of-the-art technologies for both specific and broad-based information transfer.
• Provide laboratory training and/or field trip opportunities in soil- and water-quality modeling and water management.
• Provide training so that students will become proficient in the use of technology tools and soil and water conservation.
• Expose students to professional conferences and student design rallies to enhance their skills in communication, design and teamwork; and provide a venue so that students can meet other students and engineers.
• Provide quality graduates whom NRCS can recruit.
• Provide students the opportunity to work with N.C. A&T constituents, especially disadvantaged or limited-resource farmers.

Gayle is a faculty member in the CAES’ Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design. His successful proposals for scholarship funds have brought about $2.2 million to A&T.

“The funds can also be used for students and faculty to attend local and national meetings, conferences and workshops for professional development and for interaction with professionals and students from the USA and other counties,” Gayle says. “Students need support to attend events of local and national organizations such as the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and the Irrigation Association.”