College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences

News & Highlights

SAPLINGS • Project Summary

North Carolina A&T envisions leading the 1890 land-grant universities (LGUs) and the nation in growing the next generation of underrepresented minority (URM) workers, leaders, and innovators for food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) careers. The primary goals are to:

  • Improve the pipeline to FANH careers via early outreach, family engagement, recruitment, and marketing research
  • Establish a program consisting of six modules to enhance student learning, training, and success
  • Build collaborations at local, regional, and national levels
  • Establish mechanisms to enable sustainability.

SAPLINGS will prepare URM students across the educational continuum (4-H youth, Grades 5-12, college) for USDA and other federal/private sector employment. Supported activities include formal & informal outreach and engagement, integrated recruitment, training & retention initiatives, scholarships, experiential learning, and other student support led by North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (NC A&T)—the nation’s largest historically black university and host of the 1890 Center for Student Success and Workforce Development (SSWD).

SAPLINGS • Objectives

  • Strengthen the college pipeline by igniting interest and engagement in FANH programs among Grades 5-12 school students, and two educators
  • Use a comprehensive modular approach with multi-layer partnerships to attract, retain, mentor, and graduate more URM college students across the FANH continuum
  • Increase institutional capacity for student success and boost students’ awareness of FANH careers.

Year One • Highlights

  • Identified four "Farmacist" scholars and three Health Disparity scholars, each making significant strides in their respective fields.
  • Three scholars expanded their professional networks at the USDA Spring Summit in Washington D.C. in May.
  • One scholar facilitated a key health disparity webinar with Dr. Seth Berkowitz of UNC-CH, leading an engaging Q&A session in June.
  • A scholar contributed to the Healthy Habits summer camp, delivering interactive nutrition education to local children.
  • A scholar from NCAT excelled in the NCSU Summer Scholars program and represented future food science leaders at the IFT annual meeting in Chicago.
  • Awarded scholarships to four teachers from low-resource communities to attend NCSU's Food Science and Safety CASE Institute program.
  • Over 70 high school students participated in the “Promote Food and Nutritional Sciences to 4-H Youth Development” program, exploring potential careers in food and nutrition.
  • Introduced the Laboratory for Functional Foods and Human Health to approximately 20 George Washington Carver Food Research Institute students.
  • Supervised a scholar in creating an internship poster and presenting at the 13th Annual CAES Student Showcase of Excellence.
  • Planning a three-day workshop on Metabolomics for food and nutrition students and scholars, scheduled for September 11-13.