A&T researcher presents truffle research at TEDxGreensboro
Two of N.C. A&T’s researchers brought their skills to a regional audience this week as members of TEDxGreensboro’s 2021 speaker panel.
Omoanghe Isikhuemhen, Ph.D., a professor of mushroom science and fungal biotechnology in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences spoke live during the day-long TED presentation.
TED talks – technology, entertainment and design – offer a day-long series of informative speakers and artistic performances. Greensboro’s event is designed to showcase the spectrum of people and ideas being generated in Greensboro, ranging from science to business to global issues.
“Dr. Omon” centers his research primarily the study of mushrooms and truffles. A respected specialist in shitake cultivation who has helped North Carolina farmers get into mushroom cultivation, Isikhuemhen have succeeded in producing truffles, a high-dollar, notoriously finicky edible fungus that grows underground, for a farmer in Warren County, catching the industry’s attention worldwide in 2019.
Now, he and his team are working to build on that success.
“It’s our goal that North Carolina will become the largest truffle-producing state in the nation,” Isikhuemhen said.
Child Development and Family Studies receives approval from national group
The undergraduate Child Development and Family Studies program, in the Dept. of Family and Consumer Sciences, has met the standards for the provisional Certified Family Life Educator designation from the National Council of Family Relations.
The program includes course work for 10 family life educator content areas required for the designation. Graduates of the program now qualify to complete a CFLE-approved application.
The designation assures that the program has met or exceeded the criteria for providing high-quality family life education.
Virtual workshop teaches value-added agriculture
The Department of Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics and Agriscience Education presented a virtual workshop showcasing value-added agricultural products on Tues., Sept. 12. The workshop was shared through Cooperative Extension.
Topics of the virtual sessions included business finance and bookkeeping, value-added agriculture, and agritourism. Annie Baggett, agritourism specialist for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture; Darrell Tennie, an accountant specializing in agriculture; and Terri Rivers, a successful value-added farmer, joined Obed Quaicoe, Ph.D., who presented an overview of the subject.
The workshop was Funded through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
