skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: Using an Agricultural Supply Chain to Train the Next Generation of STEM Professionals
The market for microgreens as a specialty crop is gaining increased attention as concerns about global warming, food insecurity, food supply chain and food safety have become salient issues among consumers, food cultivators, and food regulators. The farm-to-table concept continues to trend and attract followers and adoptees, and many stakeholders (including consumers, local growers, restaurateurs, and grocery stores owners) are eager to learn more about the economic prospect of the microgreen movement. In a science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) academic setting, microgreens, which are harvested 7 to 14 days after germination, are ideal for teaching underrepresented students about food and nutrition. We are interested in conducting research that investigates how to grow, harvest, and transport microgreens using quantitative analytic and systems engineering tools. Specifically, we will highlight our undergraduate and graduate student researchers and their progress in learning how various STEM disciplines can be applied to address agricultural problems.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2000266
PAR ID:
10451532
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract The majority of food in the US is distributed through global/national supply chains that exclude locally-produced goods. This situation offers opportunities to increase local food production and consumption and is influenced by constraints that limit the scale of these activities. We conducted a study to assess perspectives of producers and consumers engaged in food systems of a major Midwestern city. We examined producers’ willingness to include/increase cultivation of local foods and consumers’ interest in purchasing/increasing local foods. We used focus groups of producers (two groups of conventional farmers, four local food producers) and consumers (three conventional market participants, two locavores) to pose questions about production/consumption of local foods. We transcribed discussions verbatim and examined text to identify themes, using separate affinity diagrams for producers and consumers. We found producers and consumers are influenced by thestatus quoand real and perceived barriers to local foods. We also learned participants believed increasing production and consumption of local foods would benefit their community and creating better infrastructure could enhance efforts to scale up local food systems. Focus group participants also indicated support from external champions/programs could support expansion of local foods. We learned that diversifying local food production was viewed as a way to support local community, increase access to healthy foods and reduce environmental impacts of conventional production. Our research indicates that encouraging producers and consumers in local food systems will be more successful when support for the local community is emphasized. 
    more » « less
  2. Abstract Consumer effects on rainforest primary production are often considered negligible because herbivores and macrodetritivores usually consume a small fraction of annual plant and litter production, even though consumers are known to have effects on plant production and composition in nontropical systems. Disturbances, such as treefall gaps, however, often increase resources to understory food webs, thereby increasing herbivory and feeding rates of detritivores. This increase in consumption could lead to more prominent ecosystem‐level effects of consumers after disturbances, such as storms that cause light gaps. We determined how the effects of invertebrate herbivores (walking sticks) and detritivores (litter snails) on understory plant growth may be altered by disturbances in a Puerto Rican rainforest using an enclosure experiment. Consumers had significant effects on plant growth, but only in light gaps. Specifically, herbivores increased plant growth by 60%, and there was a trend for detritivores to reduce plant growth. Additionally, plant biomass tended to be 50% higher with both consumers in combination, suggesting that herbivores may mediate the effects of detritivores by altering the resources available to detritivore food webs. This study demonstrates that disturbance alters the effects of rainforest consumers, and, furthermore, that consumer activity has the potential to change rainforest successional processes. 
    more » « less
  3. This paper reports a study of 10 post-secondary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) instructors’ beliefs about mathematical modelling and the role of mathematics in STEM coursework. The participants were selected from STEM disciplines that are atypical to the literature base (e.g., anthropology and geography), in order to extend what is known about STEM instructors’ beliefs to other disciplines. We conducted episodic narrative interviews to hypothesize the genesis of participants’ most salient beliefs. We then conducted a cross-case synthesis to reflect on the similarities between our participants’ beliefs and findings previously reported in STEM education literature. Our participants held many beliefs in common with typical STEM instructors with regards to how they define modelling, the role of modelling in STE (Science, Technology, Engineering) courses, and their views of students as learners of mathematics and modelling. Our analysis suggests participants’ commitments within these categories are interdependent and arise from lived experiences. Additionally, participants within the same field held competing beliefs about modelling, suggesting that constituting ‘major’ as an independent variable in future research may not be straightforward 
    more » « less
  4. While the tech sector has seized upon the food system as an area in which it can have a major impact, innovators within the agri-food tech domain are dogged by concerns about public acceptance of technologies that may be controversial or simply not of interest. At the same time, because they operate within an investor-dependent political economy, they must demonstrate that the public will consume the products they are creating. To both secure markets and legitimate their approaches to problem-solving, entrepreneurial innovators draw on three existing imaginaries of consumers, each of which articulates with a particular tendency they have pursued in problem-solving. Reflecting a tendency of solutionism, those promoting technologies that promise minimal processing and/or short or traceable supply chains invoke a health- and eco-conscious consumer. In keeping with technofixes, those promoting technologies of mimicry invoke a complacent consumer. Reflecting the tendency toward scientism in problem-solving and related projections of public knowledge deficits, those promoting potentially controversial technologies invoke a fearful consumer and embrace transparency to inform and assure such consumers. By promising future consumers who will willingly accept emerging technologies, each of these imaginaries seeks to resolve – for investors – potential problems of consumer acceptance generated by the particular approaches to problem-solving innovators have adopted. While STS scholars have shown how public-facing engagement exercises and policy work are often limited by deficit-driven imaginaries of the public, in these investor-facing spaces possible objections are both imagined and overcome without any interaction with actual publics. 
    more » « less
  5. With the modern age of using genetically engineered products and growing concerns about food recalls and outbreaks, businesses are looking for ways to secure their brand names and assuring consumers about food safety and quality. Recently, Blockchain has been introduced as a promising approach for increasing the visibility of the supply chain and reducing the sale of contaminated and counterfeit products. Along this line, this study discusses the capabilities of Blockchain for the collection and monitoring of product lifecycle information ranging from production, wholesale, and logistics to standards, business reputation, and certification. The particular focus of the study is to discuss the use of videogrammetry as a data collection mechanism for bringing the product lifecycle data on digital Blockchain platforms and solving the “last mile” problem and data verification issue on Blockchain platforms. A conceptual example of organic meat processing is discussed to describe the proposed procedure and show how videogrammetry in combination with RFID and fingerprints can be used to solve the data verification issue on Blockchain platforms. 
    more » « less