By Kathleen Curtis
Rory Wang, a Ph.D. candidate in food microbiology, was curious about what researchers at Cornell AgriTech do with their apple, pumpkin, broccoli and berry harvests, and whether they would be willing to donate the crops to local food banks.
“I talked to everybody. What are they doing with their research crop? Are they harvesting?” he said. “The majority wanted to donate them but had concerns, and one stood out: They were unsure if the crops were safe.”
Wang tackled this project through a Cornell AgriTech Extension Outreach Assistantship (EOA), in which students work directly with farmers and researchers to solve problems and develop new approaches to real-world challenges. This outreach experience provides a way for students to enrich their studies and explore career options beyond teaching and research.
“Students participating really learn the difference between academic research and outreach,” said Anna Katharine Mansfield, associate director of Cornell AgriTech. “Teaching assistantships are designed to give students teaching experience if that is a path they want to pursue, but EOAs are the equivalent for extension work.”
Each year, roughly 12-20 students participate in the EOA at Cornell AgriTech in food science, entomology, plant pathology and horticulture after going through a competitive selection process. An EOA committee reviews the applications and ranks them to decide which applicants best fit the goals of the program, Mansfield said.
One stipulation of the program is that students work on a project that is not directly tied to their graduate research topic. This gives participants the opportunity to explore another area of interest and potentially work with a different advisor. “If we’re not explicit about that separation, there’s a danger that the funding will be used to support research, which is not our aim,” Mansfield said.
The opportunity of working outside her field enticed Jean Sabety, who is pursuing her Ph.D. in plant pathology. While she understands diseases that affect the crop she works on – apples – she realized she could learn a great deal about issues affecting other crops.
For her outreach project, Sabety delved into plant disease diagnosis, working twice a week in the CALS diagnostic lab with Sarah Pethybridge, associate professor of plant pathology. “I learned the logistics to figuring out a final disease diagnosis,” Sabety said.
She then put on a program for CALS faculty and staff, as well as Cornell Master Gardeners, on the processes used in diagnosing diseases in plants. “It was a good opportunity to explore the topic and share what I learned,” she said. The experience furthered her interest in diagnostics, which is an area she says she may want to pursue.
Wang worked on his harvest project for two semesters with Olga Padilla-Zakour, the Seneca Foods Foundation professor and director of the Cornell Food Venture Center, and Elizabeth Bihn, director of Cornell’s Produce Safety Alliance. After canvassing the researchers on the crops that might be available to donate to food banks, he turned his attention to addressing their safety concerns.
Wang completed a curriculum on agricultural best practices and food safety compliance offered by the Produce Safety Alliance. He became a food safety trainer, and then gave a one-day workshop for food researchers.
Wang and his advisors were not sure about how many researchers would attend, but they were happily surprised when 30 people participated. “I was very impressed by that motivation,” Wang said. “It was very rewarding.”
While the EOA program has been in place for years, a new element was introduced last spring: The students presented posters of their work at the annual SAGES Symposium, a research presentation event held by the Student Association of the Geneva Experiment Station. It was a chance for the outreach associates to learn about each other’s work and share what they themselves had learned.
“We wanted more of our community to know the great projects the EOAs have been working on, and we feel that the effort was successful,” Mansfield said. “We also wanted to clearly demonstrate that funding for EOAs was creating significant impact on our extension mission.”
Wang said he enjoyed learning about the work done by other extension associates.
“It was great to know that many people are interested in extension work,” he said. “I feel more confident that I can make extension my career in the future after talking with people during the poster session who are full-time extension professionals.”
Source : cornell.edu