TRAINING OF FUTURE PROFESSIONALS ALONG THE HUMAN-FOOD INTERFACE THROUGH RESEARCH AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING FOR UNDERGRADUATES

Myriad career opportunities at the human-food interface require a transdisciplinary approach, however, many students in undergraduate-centric and non-land grant institutions often lack opportunities to conduct research in this area; further, demand for such interdisciplinary trained individuals exceed supply.For 5 years each summer, our 8-week program at Penn State will facilitate experiential research, career exploration, and professional development for 10 students from undergraduate-centric institutions across the USA (CA, GA, MD, MS, NJ, PA, TN, TX). Focusing on AFRI farm bill priority Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health, 7 faculty mentors and 10 graduate student mentors will provide layered and closed-tiered mentoring of fellows (1.7 mentor-to-mentee ratio) in areas of human nutrition and food science, including sensory & consumer science, food analysis, food metabolomics, food toxicology and biochemistry, and human ingestive behavior.Pre-arrival training paired with a research bootcamp, independent student-led research, weekly seminars and professional development workshops, company visits, and a final research expo will develop fellows' research and professional skills and encourage career exploration in the topic area. Our evaluation and assessment plan measures fellows' gains in research skills and provides program feedback, allowing for continuous improvement of programming each year.We anticipate that fellows will make gains in all 7 areas of measured research skills, have an overall positive experience of the program, co-author publications and research presentations, and that fellows will pursue careers at the human-food interface, entering the professional workforce and/or enrolling in graduate degrees in food science and human nutrition.