Innovative Approaches Integrating Research, Extension, and Teaching

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Innovative Approaches Integrating Research,
Extension, and Teaching

• Martin Wiedmann
• Department of Food Science
• Cornell University
• Ithaca, NY

2
Introduction

• Appointed as Assistant Professor in Food Science
  in 1999
• Appointment is 60 research 40 teaching
• Research focuses on transmission of bacteria that
  cause human disease from animals through foods
  and environmental sources to humans

3
My philosophy

• Research at a university must incorporate
  teaching
• Undergraduates involvement in research can
  provide more meaningful experiential learning
  than lectures and classroom instruction
• Involvement with outside constituencies provides
  for societal benefits of research and can further
  enhance experiential learning opportunities for
  students

4
Basic tenets for successful integration of
research, teaching and extension

• Qualified and motivated collaborators are key
• Not all collaborations initiated will work out
  well
• All activities need to be grounded in a strong
  extramurally funded research program and in a
  commitment to teaching
• All activities need to provide financial or other
  quantifiable benefits for university
• In general, research, teaching and extension
  activities should be supported by extramural
  grants that return overhead to the university
• Leverage funds from different sources
• Inter- and multidisciplinary activities are a must

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Ingredients for success
A competitive, high quality basic research program
Well-trained diverse Graduate students
post-docs
Competitive, high quality applied research
Well-trained diverse undergraduates with
interest in research
High quality and relevant outreach and extension
Enthusiastic and committed teaching
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Basic research program Transmission of
foodborne diseases

• In 1999 Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
  estimated the following annual burdens due to
  foodborne diseases in the US
• 76 million cases of gastrointestinal illnesses
• Cause is unknown for 60 million cases
• 325,000 serious illnesses resulting in
  hospitalizations
• 5,000 deaths
• Research focuses on transmission of Listeria
  monocytogenes and Salmonella, which together
  cause more than 1,000 foodborne death annually in
  the US
• Funded by New York Sea Grant, USDA-NRI, USDA
  Special Research Grants and NIH

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Transmission of foodborne diseases
Animal feed/environment/alternative hosts
Manure
Food animals
Food products
Animal derived food products
Food Processing Plants
RTE Foods/Consumer Homes
Humans
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Applied Research

• Transmission of L. monocytogenes in food
  processing plants
• Research is conducted in commercial plants and
  involves industry collaborators
• Use of molecular subtyping methods and
  bioinformatics tools to detect human listeriosis
  outbreaks and to detect outbreak sources

• Collaborations with state health departments and
  state departments of Agriculture and Markets

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Understanding Listeria transmission - Example
Sample Source
Sample Ribotype Sample Source
RiboPrint Pattern
A A C C B D C C C C C C A
1039A (R) Raw Chilean Salmon
1039A (F) Cold-Smoked Chilean Salmon
VISIT 1
1042C (E) Floor drain, raw materials
area

1042C (IP) Brine solution, trout

1062 (R) Raw Whitefish
1042D (E) Cutting table, raw materials
1042C (E) Floor drain, raw materials
area

1042C (E) Floor drain, finished
product area

VISIT 2
1042C (R) Raw Atlantic Salmon

1045 (E) Floor, finished product
storage cooler
1045 (E) Slicer, finished product
area
1045 (E) Floor drain, brining cold
room

1042C (E) Floor, brining cold room
1042C (E) Floor, finished product
cold room

VISIT 3
1043 (E) Floor drain, raw materials
area
1043 (E) Floor, cold smoker
1045 (E) Floor drain, finished
product area

1042C (E) Floor, brining cold room
VISIT 4
1045 (E) Floor drain, raw materials
area
1045 (E) Floor, finished product
cold room
1045 (E) Floor, brining cold room
VISIT 5
1046A (E) Floor drain, brining cold
room 2
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Extension focus on preventing Listeria
contamination in processing plants

• Collaborations with industry and trade groups and
  extension faculty at various universities
• Focus is on communicating new knowledge generated
  through our applied and basic research efforts
  and assessing impact of the research
• Emphasis is also on assuring that extension
  content is based on sound, peer-reviewed
  research
• Strategies for controlling Listeria contamination
  in smoked seafood processing plants were
  published as a series of 5 peer-reviewed papers
  control manual is now used by Association of Food
  and Drug Officials
• Efforts in New York state have resulted in
  quantifiable reductions in Listeria contamination
  of smoked seafood products

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Applied Research and Extension Funding

• New York Sea Grant (1998 2000) 100,000
• New York Sea Grant (2000 2002) 100,000
• Smoked fish processors and National Fisheries
  Institute approx. 15,000
• Integrated Research, Education, and Extension
  Competitive Grants Program National Food Safety
  Initiative, CSREES/USDA (2000 2003) 600,000
• Integrated Research, Education, and Extension
  Competitive Grants Program National Food Safety
  Initiative, CSREES/USDA (2003 2006) 500,000

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Collaborators

• Within Cornell Food Science, Microbiology and
  Immunology, Microbiology, Computer Science,
  Applied Economics and Management, Populations
  Medicine and Diagnostic Science, Biological
  Statistics
• Other universities University of Nebraska Penn
  State University of Vermont University of
  Delaware Louisiana State University University
  of Maryland, Eastern Shore
• State and federal agencies New York State Dept.
  of Health, Wadsworth Center health departments
  in New York City, Michigan, Ohio New York State
  Department of Agriculture and Markets USDA-ARS,
  Georgia FDA Health Canada
• Industry groups, industry, and non-for profits
  National Fisheries Institute International Life
  Sciences Institute Food Products Associations
  American Meat Institute Kraft Foods

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Undergraduate Teaching overview

• Classroom teaching
• Includes personal 15 min meeting with every
  student in every class
• 10-week university-wide summer research program
  in food science
• Lab research opportunities for undergraduates
  from various disciplines (computer science,
  microbiology, biological and environmental
  engineering)
• Other teaching activities
• Participation in BioExplorations every
  semester, introducing on-going research to 15
  students enrolled in Bio 101 through a 2 h
  hands-on lab tour
• Various guest lectures
• 2 ½ day 4H career explorations program on DNA
  fingerprinting to track foodborne diseases

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The teaching training pipeline
High school students (4H career explorations
participation in high school sciences fairs high
school teacher workshops)
Undergraduate students (Multicultural scholars
program Experiential learning program with SUNY
schools Food Science Summer Scholars Program
Leadership Alliance Cornell Hughes Program
Cornell Presidential Research Scholars Program)
Graduate students (National Needs Food Safety
Training program with internship opportunities
strong applied and basic research programs
teaching opportunities)
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Food Science Summer Scholars Program

• A 10-week summer research and experiential
  learning program for undergraduates with interest
  in food science
• Program components include
• Intensive research experience with faculty
  mentors
• Career development workshops and activities
• Field trips
• Final presentations and abstract
• 3,000 stipend/student
• Initiated in 2000, 5 programs completed

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Food Science Summer Scholars Program (cont)

• National recruitment, including strategic
  relationships with institutions that
  traditionally serve under-represented minorities
  (e.g., Alabama AM)
• Funded through industry sponsors, USDA Higher
  Education Challenge Grants, Cornell University
  contributions, faculty mentor contributions

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Summer Scholars Home Universities

• US Universities
• Cornell University (24)
• Alabama AM University (5)
• Binghamton University (1)
• Brigham Young University (1)
• Clemson University (1)
• Hartwick College (1)
• Kenyon College (1)
• Mississippi State University (1)
• Nicholls State University (1)
• Oklahoma State University (1)
• Oregon State University (3)
• Pennsylvania State University (3)
• Siena College (1)
• Texas AM University (1)
• The University of Arizona (1)
• University of Arkansas (1)

• University of California-Davis (4)
• University of Florida (2)
• University of Hawaii, Manoa (3)
• University of Idaho (1)
• University of Kentucky (1)
• University of Massachusetts (1)
• University of Minnesota (3)
• University of Nebraska, Lincoln (1)
• University of Pennsylvania (1)
• Utah State University (1)
• International Universities
• Universidad De Las Americas, Puebla (1)
• University of Alberta (1)
• University of Guelph (1)
• University of Reading, England (1)
• University of Toronto (1)

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Summer Scholars Impact

• A total of 70 students have participated in the
  program including 11 minority students
• Career paths of program participants
• 5 obtained jobs within food industry
• 18 entered graduate programs in food science
  (including one completed)
• 2 entered other graduate programs
• 3 have gone into medical programs
• 33 are completing their BS degrees
• 9 unknown

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Graduate Training Program

• Includes MS and Ph.D. training
• Multidisciplinary
• Majoring in Food Science and Technology,
  Microbiology, or Comparative Biomedical Sciences
• Minors in Food Science and Technology,
  Microbiology, Comparative Biomedical Sciences,
  Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Education,
  Agricultural Economics, Epidemiology, Genetics,
  Biochemistry
• Opportunities for Internships

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Graduate Training Program (Cont.)

• Opportunities to gain teaching and extension
  experiences
• Many graduate students supervise undergraduates
• Funded by basic and applied research grants and
  training grants (National Needs)

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Integration of research, teaching and extension
provides.

• An opportunity for work that makes a difference
  in peoples lives
• Access to unique expertise and resources
  otherwise not available
• Industry expertise
• Undergraduates with unique expertise, e.g., in
  computer science
• An opportunity to design and conduct better
  research with potential for translation
• An opportunity for broader impact through
  training the future leaders in a field

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Integration of research, teaching, and extension
requires.

• Very dedicated collaborators
• Willingness to move outside ones comfort zone
• Commitment to multidisciplinary activities
• Institutional support, including some start up
  funds (Hatch funds!)
• Institutional support must not foster entitlement
  mentality, but set up faculty and staff to secure
  extramural support
• Mentoring and appropriate support structures

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Final thoughts and conclusions

• The main challenge to successful integration of
  research, teaching, and extension at universities
  is to obtain funding
• Universities cannot be expected to provide
  consistent funding for programs, at best they
  will provide small start-up funds
• Overcoming this challenge requires persistence,
  development of collaborations, and lots of
  practice in grant writing
• The times of the lone ranger are over
• Successful grant writing requires knowing about
  grant opportunities
• Get to know your sponsored programs people
• Subscribe to grants alerts and news releases
• Invite grants officers for federal programs to
  campus

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Acknowledgments - Funding

• New York Sea Grant grants R/SHH-7 and R/SHH-10
• USDA-NRI grants 99-35201-8074 and
  2002-35201-12649 (PI A. Benson)
• USDA Special Research Grants 2002-34459-11758
  2003-34459-12999 and 2004-34459-14296
• NIH grant R01GM63259-04
• USDA Integrated Food safety Initiative grants
  00-51110-9769 and 2003-51110-01712
• USDA Higher Educations Challenge Grants
  2001-38411-10765 and 2004-38411-14735
• USDA Multicultural Scholars grant
  2003-38413-13188 (PI D. Miller)
• USDA National Needs Grant 2002-38420-11738 (PI
  K. J. Boor)
• Hatch grants
• Industry sponsors of the Summer Scholars Program
  Kraft Foods, Pepsi, Gortons, Gallo,
  International Food Network, General Mills,
  Hershey Foods

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Acknowledgments - the people

• Mentors and supervisors C. A. Batt, K. Boor, D.
  Miller, S. Henry, J. Hotchkiss, C. Parrish
• Collaborators K. Gall, N. Dumas, A. Benson, Y.
  Grohn, Y. Schukken, J. Scott, M. Moody, M.
  Verghese, and many others
• Staff J. Robbins, E. Fortes, K. Windham, A. Ho
• Undergraduate students M. Chung, S. Forrester,
  M.A. Pohl, W.-L. Su, S. Cai, J. Overdevest, A.
  Turko, M. Fisher, T. Cunningham, A. Turko, K.
  Evans, B. M. De Leon Melendez, K. Schilke, N.
  Brooks, S. Maron
• Graduate students A. Hoffman, J. Thimothe, A.
  Roberts, K. Nightingale, V. Lappi, D. Sue, B.
  Sauders, M. Kazmierczak, S. Alcaine, R. Orsi, L.
  Tsai, Y. Chan, Y. Hu, E. Fugett, S. Milillo
• Post-doctoral fellows R. Zadoks, U. Schwab

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