News
 Food Systems,
Nutrition and Health in a Changing Environment
Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy, director, National Institute of Food
and Agriculture, presented at “The
Agriculture/Food System: Global Status and Challenges that Impact Public Health”
at the American Society for Nutrition’s Scientific conference held April 21, in
Chicago. The presentation was part of the Food Systems, Nutrition and Health in
a Changing Environment: A Workshop to Build Connections to Address Global
Priorities. The American Society for Nutrition, provides the best nutrition
science to over 36 million people worldwide through research and practice. Watch
the presentation.
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 Thanks for a Job
Well Done
By Robert Martin
On behalf of the NIFA’s Best Place to Work Committee, please
accept our heartfelt thanks for all the
efforts Jim Kahler, Thomas Devine, and Sharon Porter put forth to ensure that NIFA’s
representation at the USDA’s Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day was an
outstanding success. Your professionalism and customer service was
superb.
Thanks to you, our children participated in a variety of
activities exposing them to the great work and services USDA agencies provide
to the American people daily.
We look forward to your support again next year!
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 2018 National
Extension and Research Administrators Conference
Michigan State University, in partnership with the
Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College, will be hosting the 2018 National Extension and
Research Administrators Conference (NERAOC), April 22-25, 2018, in Grand Rapids,
Michigan. Please bookmark the 2018 NERAOC
website to reference as more information is released about the
conference. As planning gets underway for the 2018 conference, the
National Planning Committee is seeking your valuable input and ideas for
potential sessions and speakers. Please go online and suggest topics using the session
planning form. Topics will
be accepted until June 18. If
you have any questions or need assistance, please contact Erin
Daly at (202) 315-8686 or Lisa
Read (DePaolo) at (202) 731-1366.
 Discussion on
Distributed Peer Reviews Hosted by the Collegial Discussion Group
Distributed Peer Review (DPR) is a novel mathematics
based peer review process which eliminates the need for costly panels by using
a programs applicants as reviewers. The system uses software to automate some
of the most work intensive processes of peer review. This system integrates
these new tools to leverage NIFA’s existing peer review infrastructure and is
designed to provide a seamless implementation of the process into applicable
competitive programs.
The discussion will be led by Clyde Ellis, Thursday, May
25, 12 to 1 p.m., in room 4103.
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Congratulations
Finishers
Yesterday, some of NIFA’s Fitness and Wellness Committee
members participated in a 3.5-mile race called "Loop the Lincoln"
around National Mall. The free event was sponsored by CLIF bar in support of
Organic Week in D.C. It was the perfect summer morning! Make sure you’re not
missing out on any upcoming events by visiting the Fitness
and Wellness page and contacting committee chairs if you have any
questions.
The Favored Strawberry Screening
 Tom Bewisck, Ben Butler,
John Lea-Cox and Kurt Rom part of the discussion panel at the screening of “The
Favored Strawberry,” documentary, May 16.
 Urban Oasis in Ohio
Urban GEMS (Gardening
Entrepreneurs Motivating Sustainability), uses gardening to engage at-risk youth
in Franklin and Mahoning Counties, where communities face high rates of
poverty, health issues, unemployment, and food insecurity. The program receives
support from NIFA’s Children, Youth and
Families at Risk (CYFAR) grant program.
Urban GEMS increases
participants’ fresh fruit and vegetable consumption and improves their
knowledge of healthy eating, all while learning how to use different systems to
grow and harvest crops. Students grow leafy greens on aeroponic towers (growing
plants in an air or mist environment without use of soil), learn how to prepare
and cook their harvests, teach their peers and families about healthy eating,
and donate produce to the homeless. So far, there are tower gardens in nine
locations. The research team has plans to create a sustainable business growing
food in food deserts with as many as 90 gardens in the next five years. Read more
about Urban GEMS.
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 University of California
Collaboration Unlocks a Key to Biofuel
By Stuart Wolpert
Plant biologists and biochemists from UCLA, UC Berkeley
and UC San Francisco have produced a gold mine of data by sequencing the genome
of a green alga called Chromochloris zofingiensis. Scientists have learned in
the past decade that the tiny, single-celled organism could be used as a source
of sustainable biofuel and that it produces a substance called astaxanthin,
which may be useful for treating certain diseases. The new research could be an
important step toward improving production of astaxanthin by algae and
engineering its production in plants and other organisms. Read full University
of California article.
Photo caption: Inside the alga’s cells, showing the
nucleus (purple), mitochondria (red), chloroplast (green) and lipids (yellow).
Photo credit Melissa Roth/HHMI and Andreas Walters/Berkeley Lab
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 May Events
May is Asian
Pacific American Heritage Month
Learning Links:
Library of
Congress
Smithsonian
PBS
May to June, Join the “Virtual Race”
May 25, USDA Asian Pacific
American Heritage Month Observance, from 10 to 11:30 a.m., in the Jefferson
Auditorium of the South Building.
May 25,
Collegial Discussion - Distributed
Peer Review with Clyde Ellis, from noon to 1 p.m., in room 4103
May 29, Memorial Day
June 8, USDA LGBTQ Pride
Month Flash Mentoring Event, 1 to 3 p.m., Whitten Patio, Whitten Building
June 8,
Collegial Discussion - Pre Application/Letters of Intent with
Mark Mirando, from noon to 1 p.m., in room 4103
June 15, Men’s
Health 101 Webinar, 12:30 to 1:30
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 USDA Blood Drive
On Wednesday, May 31, 2017, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., USDA
will host an Armed Services Blood Drive in the back of the South Building
cafeteria. Please join in and support of our military members–they are in
constant need of blood!
Schedule your appointments online. Registered
donors may login and new donors may create a profile: insert sponsor code “USDA,”
and follow the instructions for scheduling an appointment. To make your
donation go smoothly, you are reminded to bring your ID and list of any current
medications, drink plenty of water, and eat a wholesome meal. For further
assistance, contact USDA Medical Services at (202) 720-3281 or Shawntel
Trowell.
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 USDA LGBTQ Pride Month Flash Mentoring Event
USDA will lead a discussion on these LGBTQ Pride Month topics:
- Transgender Issues/Transitioning at Work
- LGBTQ Generational Diversity (bridging the gap between
our older and younger LGBTQ employees)
- Navigating Being Out at Work
Please register in AgLearn
by the close of business on May 30 for the event. Seating is limited and will
be on a first come, first serve basis via RSVP. Please contact Perry
Stevens for reasonable accommodations requests. For additional information contact Roderick
Mance.
Thursday June 8, from 1 to 3 p.m., at the Jamie L.
Whitten Building patio
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 Webinar on
Webinars
NIFA uses webinars frequently to communicate to grantees
and partners. It’s most likely, however, that many of us have not been
taught how to run a successful “webinar.” As a result, these virtual gatherings
can often appear boring, plagued with technical problems, and waste the time
they’re supposed to be saving. In this hour-long online course, “Webinar on
Webinars” June 7, 11 a.m. to noon, instructor Andy
Goodman, will explain:
- How to keep participants engaged from beginning
to end;
- The fine details of creating a good online
experience;
- How to overcome “the loneliness of the
long-distance learner”;
- How to use your two assets (voices and visuals)
to maximum advantage; and
- What we learned from talk radio that makes
webinars better.
Register in AgLearn.
Please note: The webinar link will be sent separately. All classes will be
recorded.
Wednesday, June 7,
11 a.m. to noon
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 Men’s Health 101 Webinar
Hosted by WorkLife4You
The leading causes of illness and death today are heart
disease, cancer, and stroke. June is Men’s Health Month and the Office of
Management’s Employee Safety, Health & Wellness invites you the “Men’s
Health 101,” webinar presented by Dylan Flegar of LifeCare, Inc. The webinar
will focus on diseases specific to men, routine screenings, risk factors and
preventative steps, managing your major health conditions, and how to find the
right doctor. The webinar is Thursday June 15, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. You must register online
to attend. If you have any questions, please contact the FSIS
Wellness Program Manager.
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How to Make
Raising Difficult Issues Everyone’s Job
By Ron Carucci
The CEO of a large real estate development company
recently complained to me about a frustrating executive team meeting he’d just
finished. One of the company’s historically high-performing businesses was
struggling. Its leader had been in the job only six months and had made some
changes to their marketing plan. The CEO believed this to be the culprit behind
the slipping performance, and knew everyone on the team shared his view. But
nobody raised it during the meeting. Frustrated and confused, he vented to me,
“It’s not like we’re shy about having spirited debates. We are very blunt with
one another. So why didn’t anyone volunteer their insight to help out a
struggling peer? Read full Harvard Business Review article.
The Surprising
Thing Richard Branson Looks for in Leaders
By John Eades
As I sat across the table watching the man talk, I could
physically see his mouth moving, but my mind wouldn't allow me to listen
anymore. I had heard all I needed to hear after 20 minutes of what felt like an
echo of "I's" and the importance of the almighty dollar. Truth be
told, I had high hopes going into the meeting because I knew what he had
accomplished as a entrepreneur and businessman. Unfortunately, he left me
disappointed, thinking, "Just because you are a good in business doesn't
mean you are a good leader." Read full Linkedin article.
A Goal-Setting
System I Learned From Google
By Karl Sun
During Google’s first year, investor John Doerr pitched
the idea of using an organizational system called Objectives and Key Results
(OKRs) for goal setting. He presented it as an effective way to both set high
level goals and also measure progress toward these goals in a quantifiable way.
I’m sure he made a pretty persuasive pitch, because they were quickly adopted
across the entire company and, during my first week at Google, I found myself
outlining my very first set of OKRs. Read full Forbes article.
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Inspiring a Life
of Immersion
We each want to live a life of purpose, but where to
start? In this luminous, wide-ranging talk, Jacqueline Novogratz introduces us
to people she's met in her work in "patient capital" — people who
have immersed themselves in a cause, a community, a passion for justice. These
human stories carry powerful moments of inspiration. Watch the full Ted
Talk.
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