12/06/2006

Two Programs Selected for National Needs Grants

Writer:

Martha Filipic
filipic.3@cfaes.osu.edu
(614) 292-9833

Source:

Ken Lee, Food Science and Technology
lee.133@osu.edu
614-292-7797

Molly Bean Smith, Social Responsibility Initiative
bean.21@osu.edu
614-688-8798

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Two programs in Ohio State University's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences have received five-year grants to expand their graduate student ranks. The goal is to foster excellence and increase expertise in critical areas of national need.

The Department of Food Science and Technology was awarded $229,500 to fund three doctoral students in Emerging Food Safety Issues. In addition, the Department of Human and Community Resource Development and the college's Social Responsibility Initiative was awarded $156,000 to fund four master's students in Sustainable Sciences Through an Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Rural Sociology.

The awards come from the Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowships program coordinated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.

"Fewer than 20 percent of applications to this program are funded, so I think it's a real coup for Ohio State to get two of them," said Ken Lee, director of the Center for Food Safety and author of the food safety grant.

"There is a shortage of high-quality doctoral talent focusing on food safety issues," said Lee, who holds appointments with both the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and Ohio State University Extension. "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 5,000 people die every year because of foodborne illness. That's unbelievable in the most technologically advanced nation in the world. I think that with additional training and focus on food safety issues, there is the possibility within our lifetimes to bring those numbers (fatalities) down to single or double digits."

The food safety program is part of a public health initiative selected to be part of the university's Targeted Investments in Excellence (TIE). The additional doctoral students made possible by this grant will help meet the TIE goal of helping solve some of society's most pressing challenges with focused university investments in high-impact programs, Lee said.

The rural sociology grant will help support efforts within the college's Social Responsibility Initiative, said Bill Flinn, SRI director. One of the initiative's goals is to nurture research and programming with an integrated approach to food, agriculture and the environment, taking into account four broad aspects: production efficiency, economic viability, environmental compatibility and social responsibility.

The program will recruit the four master's students under this grant with backgrounds from each of those four dimensions, said Flinn, whose work also encompasses OSU Extension and OARDC.

"A national need exists for scholars with integrated training in food, agricultural and environmental systems to address contemporary and emerging issues associated with them,” said Molly Bean Smith, a research associate with SRI. This need, she said, is supported by a Bureau of Labor Statistics job outlook report that specifies agricultural scientists will be expected to balance the need for increased agricultural output in conjunction with both social and environmental needs.

"As the fellows work together, they'll be exposed to different aspects of food and agricultural systems," Smith said. "The idea is to use these funds to train professionals who will take leadership roles in food, agricultural and environmental sciences. They'll need a broad understanding of issues, and they'll be trained in an interdisciplinary manner in the fields represented by the Social Responsibility Initiative."

Both programs will recruit students from groups currently under-represented in their graduate programs. For more information on the food safety program, contact Ken Lee at (614) 292-6281 or lee.133@osu.edu. For more information on the sustainable sciences program, contact Molly Bean Smith at (614) 688-8798 or bean.21@osu.edu.

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