UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State's Engaged Scholarship and Experiential Learning Seed Grant Program, offered through the University's Institute for Sustainable Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Science (SAFES), has awarded five teams funding to help students apply skills they are learning in class to meet the needs of an external partner or stakeholder. 

The program provides College of Agricultural Sciences faculty with funding to develop new engaged scholarship and experiential learning opportunities that integrate student learning with partnerships and engagement.

Heather Preisendanz, director of SAFES, said the institute is uniquely positioned to offer the program.

“Our mission is to integrate research, partnerships and engagement, and outreach,” she said. “I can think of no better way to execute this vision than through engaged scholarship and experiential learning. I am so grateful for the wonderful ideas and opportunities that the seed grant recipients are providing to our students, community partners and beyond. Each program is a shining example of what living the land-grant mission looks like.”

This year’s recipients and projects are:

• Jody Kull, assistant teaching professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences: “From Pasture to Plate: Becoming an Ambassador for Our Food Production System.”
  • Agricultural ambassadors and veterinarians play an important role supporting food production systems to consumers, but as rural veterinarians are retiring more quickly than students are entering the field, there’s a shortage of people filling these roles. This project aims to create an immersive experiential learning opportunity for veterinary and biomedical sciences students to acquire the necessary skills to be a beef industry ambassador, provide conversation about the food production industry, and gain insight and grow interest in the livestock industry. An outreach project designed and implemented by the students will complete the ambassador experience and spark interest in the livestock industry.
• Frans Padt, teaching professor of agricultural economics, sociology, and education: “Learning From a Student-Facilitated Collaborative Approach to Sustainable Land Use Planning in Smethport, PA, and Beyond.”
  • The borough of Smethport has expressed a desire to strategize with nearby communities to adapt to the county’s changing economic dynamics, providing an opportunity for students to participate in a community project aimed at helping them develop essential planning skills in stakeholder engagement, technical analysis and reflection. Students in the “Land Use Planning and Procedure” course will conduct a stakeholder analysis to explore potential synergies and conflicts, which they then will communicate to stakeholders. The aim is for students to develop a comprehensive understanding of community needs from the stakeholders’ perspectives, which will guide the subsequent technical analysis.
• Timothy McNellis, associate professor of plant pathology and environmental microbiology: “High School Student Citizen Scientist Participatory Research for Plant Gene Discovery.”
  • Many K-12 classrooms have a need for programs that model realistic science practices for high school students. Through this project, students will have the opportunity to gain experience by participating in research exploring why some plants are immune to fire blight, an economically impactful disease affecting apple and pear trees. High school students will collaborate with researchers in the Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology to perform trait analysis for 80 varieties of Arabidopsis plants. The students will grow plants for five to six weeks before inoculating plants with bacteria and monitoring plant immune responses. They will utilize the practices of scientists by organizing their research, gathering and analyzing data, and reporting data back to the principal investigator’s lab.
• Kevin Curry Jr., associate professor of agricultural and extension education: “Plant Yourself in Ag Day: Agricultural Careers Immersion Experience for Secondary Youth in PA.”
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture has predicted that the U.S. will see an annual demand for more than 57,900 jobs for college graduates with agricultural degrees. But in a typical year, only 35,000 students graduate with a baccalaureate degree or higher in agriculture-related professions. This project will pilot a National Teach Ag Day Career Immersion Event that will take place on Sept. 19 at Penn State’s Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center. Students will explore multiple stations related to agriculture and the environment, including farm tours, presentations of agricultural science research, a recruitment fair, and a career readiness and employability skills session.
• Patrick Drohan, professor of pedology: “The Genesis of Western U.S. Landscapes and Their Management.”
  • This project will create a new embedded course that addresses the western U.S.’s unique environmental challenges, including water scarcity, desertification, urbanization, wildfires and climate change — issues that also affect other areas of the globe. Throughout the course, students will explore the complex interactions between land management, ecosystem and environmental science, geology, geomorphology and soil science. They also will take part in a 10-day field tour that will provide hands-on experience in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. The skills developed through this course will prepare students to contribute to the work of federal land management agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and the United States Forest Service.

For more information, visit the  Engaged Scholarship and Experiential Learning 2024 Seed Grant Program website.