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 The NIFA
Update is a weekly compendium of news and information that may be of
interest to Land-Grant and non-Land-Grant Universities, NIFA stakeholders, and
other subscribers.
Oct. 25, 2017
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NIFA Honors Employees at Day of Appreciation
NIFA honored several outstanding employees and teams Oct. 12 during its annual Day of Appreciation ceremony. The 2017 Director’s Awards for Excellence
recognized the following NIFA staff for their outstanding achievements and significant contributions in supporting
the mission:
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Meneca Brown, program assistant in the Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition's Division of Nutrition – is
recognized for excellence in program support at the National Institute of Food
and Agriculture. |
William Goldner, national program leader in the Institute of Bioenergy, Climate, and Environment's, Division of Bioenergy – received recognition for his leadership ensuring effective implementation
of coordinated agricultural projects to deliver meaningful impacts in
integrating research, education, and extension. |
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Elizabeth Ley, management and program analyst in the Office of Information Technology's Information Policy, Planning, and Training Division – is recognized for her outstanding leadership and administration of Grants Modernization NIFA's flagship information technology improvement initiative. |
This year’s
A.J. Dye Award for Diversity was
awarded to Jodi Williams, national program leader in the Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition's Division of Food Safety, for her outreach and collaborative efforts with the 1890
land-grant community to promote NIFA programs and increase the diversity of the
competitive grant process.
 Two NIFA
Team Awards were presented. The first went to the Commodity Board Provision Team in the Science Category for successfully devising a process
that increases interactions with the commodity boards while protecting NIFA’s
financial and peer review integrity. The Commodity Board Provision Team members
are: Virginia Bueno, Andrew Clark, Erin Daly, Margaret Ewell, Azine Farzami,
Paula Geiger, Felicia Harmon-Darby, Robert Hedberg, William Hoffman, Deborah
Hutcherson, Pushpa Kathir, Paularie Knox, Olivia Kwong, Mark Mirando, Joanna
Moore, Susan Rice, Whitney Rick, Desiree Rucker, Angela Simmons, Paul Tanger,
Davida Tengey, and Jeanette Thurston.
 The second team award recognized the Science Week Team in the People Category for successfully
hosting the agency’s first-ever Science Week and providing all agency
scientists a voice in identifying NIFA’s science priorities. The Science Week
Team members are: Timothy Conner, Caroline Crocoll, Denise Eblen, Mike Fitzner,
Otto Gonzalez, Randi Johnson, Charlotte Kirk Baer, Lisa Lauxman, Karl Maxwell,
Selina Meiners, Ali Mohamed, Olivia Moreno, Joyce Parker, Brad Rein, Jan Singleton,
Suresh Sureshwaran, Maxim Teplitski, Luis Tupas, Adele Turzillo, and Jillian
Worthen.
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NIFA News
Don’t forget to RSVP for NIFA Listens: Sacramento, California
If you were unable to attend our first listening session in Kansas, the recordings are now available on the NIFA Listens webpage.
To those of you joining
us tomorrow in Georgia at our second listening session, we are excited to see
you! If you cannot make it out tomorrow, there are still two more
opportunities you can sign up for. We really want to hear from you about
priorities and opportunities in agricultural! That is why we are hosting
in-person listening sessions in different regions across the country and
accepting submission of written comments.
Our next listening
session is Nov. 2 in Sacramento, California. Please remember to RSVP by today if you wish to attend the in-person session. You must complete your RSVP via the input form.
Session Locations and
Dates:
- Atlanta,
Georgia (Oct. 26) at Atlanta
Marriott Marquis
- Sacramento,
California (Nov. 2) at Westin
Sacramento
- Greenbelt,
Maryland (Nov. 8) at Greenbelt
Marriott
RSVP Deadlines:
Regardless of attendance
at in-person events, submissions of written comments will be accepted via the input form
through Dec. 1.
Visit NIFA website
for more information.
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USAID's Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research
NIFA has participated in the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) Program since 2014. PEER is
a competitive grants program that invites scientists in developing countries,
partnered with U.S. government-supported collaborators, to apply for USAID funding to
support research and capacity-building activities on topics with strong
potential development impacts. U.S. researchers with eligible NIFA awards may opt to partner with developing country scientists who seek USAID funding.
Research proposals
submitted under the Open Call may address a variety of topics, including:
biodiversity, agriculture, environment, climate change, clean energy, disaster
mitigation, food security, water/sanitation, urbanization, democracy and
governance, and education. Current NIFA awardees with expertise in these
subject areas are eligible to serve as partners on PEER pre-proposals. There are also regional or country-specific calls.
PEER is currently accepting pre-proposals with a deadline of Jan. 12, 2018. In order for a PEER pre-proposal to be eligible for review, the NIFA-supported partner’s award must remain active for at least 12 months after the expected start date of the PEER project (which may start no earlier than Sept. 1, 2018) to ensure that both sides have resources available to support their collaboration. For more program information visit NIFA's PEER webpage and the National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine website for PEER.
 Tribal Colleges: Acknowledging the Past, Understanding the Present, and Aspiring to a Successful Future
Blog by Sonny Ramaswamy
Oct. 20, 1994, is an important milestone in our nation’s history in regards to equity in research, education, and extension.
On that date, 29 tribal colleges, representing different histories, cultural orientations, and organizational structures, received land-grant university (LGU) status. Such LGU status gave these institutions—referred to as 1994 LGUs—access to federal resources to help improve the lives of tribal students, while respecting sovereignty and promoting self-sufficiency in American Indian communities. In the ensuing 23 years, significant progress has occurred in building capacity at the 1994 land-grant system to better serve Native American students and communities.
The 1994s are part of the family of land-grants that NIFA supports through research, education, and extension programs. These programs recruit and retain students in the food and agricultural sciences, enhance economic opportunities and quality of life, improve nutrition and health, and protect natural resources and the environment. Read the full USDA Blog. Photo Credit: Tim Grosser
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 Agricultural Economics Student has Once in a Lifetime Experience
in Honduras
By Latasha Ford
Traveling to another
country can be intimidating for some people, but Fort Valley State
University (FVSU) agricultural economics junior LaShombria Ellerbee overcame
her fear by going to Honduras and now views it as an unforgettable learning
experience. Traveling internationally for the first time, Ellerbee, 21, a native of
Albany, Georgia, along with six FVSU and three Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University
(AAMU) students, went to Honduras during summer 2017. USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture funded the trip. Read the full FVSU College of
Agriculture article.
Photo caption: Fort
Valley State University junior LaShombria Ellerbee (right) samples a fresh
custard apple before field work with students at the Universidad Nacional de
Agricultura in Catacamas, Honduras.
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 International Food Security Assessment, 2017-27
by Birgit Meade and Karen Thome
Eliminating food insecurity is a goal shared around the globe and it requires ongoing assessments to inform decisionmakers and stakeholders about the direction and speed of progress made. Employing a uniform assessment approach to a large number of countries around the world allows for regional and country-by-country comparisons. Economic Research Service researchers assess the food security status and outlook for 76 low- and middle-income countries that are former or current food-aid recipients for the 2017-2027 period. Food prices and income changes affect international food security. The current report presents food security indicators, the number of food-insecure people, the share of population food insecure, and the food gap, projected for 2017 and 2027 based on projected food price and income changes. Read the full Assessment Report.
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 Congressional Briefings on Retaking the Field
In collaboration with 11 partnering universities, the
SoAR Foundation is releasing "Retaking the Field:
Empowering Agricultural Sciences for Health” Nov. 2. The report tells stories about exciting advances and innovative
research in the zoonotics, nutrition, and food safety from: Colorado State University, Cornell University, Iowa State
University, Michigan State University, North Carolina A&T State University, The Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Texas A&M University,
University of California Davis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of
Wisconsin-Madison. This report is the third in the “Retaking
the Field” series, which is part of SoAR’s broader education and advocacy to
encourage additional federal support for food and agricultural research.
Congressional Briefings, Nov. 2:
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1 to 2 p.m. Senate Briefing; Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing Room, Senate Russell 328A
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2:30 to 3:30 p.m. House Briefing; House Agriculture Committee Room, 1301 Longworth House Office Building
The following researchers presenting:
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Dr. Robert Hutkins, Khem Shahani Professor of Food
Science, University of Nebraska
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Dr. Bradley P. Marks, professor; biosystems engineering, Michigan State University
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Dr. Melha Mellata, assistant professor,
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University
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Dr. Carmen I. Moraru, professor, Department of Food
Science, Cornell University
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Boosting Producer Learning, Exchange and Adoption of Water Use Efficient Technologies: Strategies from the High Plains/Ogallala Region
The Climate Learning Network and ANREP Climate Science Initiative present this webinar Nov. 2, at 3 p.m. EST. A trio of professors working on serious challenges related to water in the Ogallala Aquifer region. Drs. Jonathan Aguilar, Kansas State University, Daran Rudnick, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and Chuck West, Texas Tech University will discuss their experiences running popular outreach programs targeted at agricultural producers. Visit the Webinar Portal for Climate Science for more information.
USDA Strengthens Agricultural Sciences at Hispanic-Serving Institutions to Cultivate Future Scientists and Leaders
NIFA announced grants to support
agricultural science education at Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs). These
grants will strengthen the ability of the institutions to carry out education,
applied research, and related community development programs.
The Hispanic-Serving
Institutions Education Grants Program promotes and strengthens
efforts to attract, retain, and graduate outstanding students capable of
enhancing the nation’s food, agricultural, natural resource, and human sciences
work force. HSIs are colleges and universities that have an enrollment of at
least 25 percent Hispanic students. Currently, some 472 HSIs are located in 21
states and Puerto Rico serving more than 3.15 million students. Read the full HSI Announcement.
NIFA Biotechnology Grants Put Science at Center of Food
Safety Policy
The science of
agriculture grows more complex every year. NIFA announced support for projects to help bridge the gap between biotechnology
innovations and the policies on how to use them. These grants are funded
through NIFA’s Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research Grants (BRAG) Program. Established
in 1992, the Biotechnology
Risk Assessment Research Grant program supports research
to help evaluate hazard potential and other effects of genetically engineered organisms. Read the full BRAG Announcement.
USDA Invests in a More Diverse Agricultural Science
Workforce
NIFA announced grants to increase women and minority representation in the agricultural science workforce. Funding is made through NIFA’s Women and Minorities in, Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Fields Program (WAMS).
The Women and
Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Fields Program
supports research and extension activities to increase the number of women and
underrepresented minorities from rural areas who will pursue and complete
postsecondary degrees in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics disciplines. Read the full WAMS Announcement.
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NIFA’s mission is to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension to solve societal challenges. NIFA’s investments in transformative science directly support the long-term prosperity and global preeminence of U.S. agriculture.
Judy Rude, Editor
If you wish to submit a news item or information, send to NIFAUpdate
USDA is an equal opportunity lender, provider, and employer.
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