2014 AREAS Annual Report
GRADUATES BY DEGREE PROGRAM (May 2014) Child Development (31) Nutrition and Dietetics (5)
DEPARTMENTAL HIGHLIGHTS
Child Development Cohort Program (2008-2014) -- 35 Head Start teachers received B.S. degrees.
Increased student enrollment by 15 percent.
Reconstituted Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society (11 members inducted).
Faculty presented at national, state and local professional conferences with student poster presentations.
Hosted the Mississippi Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Conference.
Self-study for reaffirmation of accreditation by the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS), in progress.
Students participated in the Internship program sponsored by the Alcorn State University Extension Program (ASUEP).
FULL-TIME FACULTY
The mission of the Alcorn State University Department of Human Sciences aligns with the land-grant mission of the university to prepare and empower students through effective teaching, intensive training, rigorous research, and expansive public service. DEGREE PROGRAMS OFFERED Child Development Nutrition and Dietetics
FALL 2014 ENROLLMENT Child Development (165) Nutrition and Dietetics (40)
Carrie Ford, Ph.D. Chairperson/Assistant Professor Wanda Y. Newell, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Child Development Martha Ravola, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Child Development Cinda Catchings, M.S., R.D. Instructor, Nutrition and Dietetics Edith Ezekwe, M.S., R.D. Instructor, Nutrition and Dietetics
ADJUNCT FACULTY (2014)
April Catchings, M.S., R.D.E., Nutrition and Dietetics Marjuyua Rowser, PhD, RD, LD, Nutrition and Dietetics LaTasha Brown, M.S., C.D., Child Development Stella Gales, Child Development Ouida Pittman, Child Development Dr. Alfred Boyd, Child Development Dr. Grace Prowell, Child Development
Through vibrant teaching, research and outreach activities, the School of AREAS empowers students and citizens educationally and socio-economically to enrich the quality of life for themselves and their communities in Mississippi, the United States and the world.
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Dr. Carrie Ford published two papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Wanda Newell was granted tenure.
Collaborated with Department of Agriculture in Leadership Academy.
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics received probationary accreditation status.
Gwendolyn Lucas, advisor, and graduate student Shalonda Brinkley attended ScholarCon July 24-27, 2014, in Orlando, Florida as part of the Honor Society professional development.
Week of the Young Child 2014 featured the University leadership reading to the Child Development Laboratory Center (CDLC) children. With the assistance of ASUEP, the children of CDLC participated in the community garden project. The children were able to grow and eat their own vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini and squash). Full-time and part-time faculty completed the Online Course training through Florida State University in Jacksonville, Florida.
Faculty members in Child Development became Licensed Approved Childcare Trainers by the Mississippi State Department of Health.
Child Development graduates have secured teaching or administrative positions in Jackson Public Schools, Claiborne and Franklin County Public Schools, AJFC Head Start programs, Mississippi Action for Progress, Inc., and Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital.
Two students have recently completed the dietetic internship at Penn State (Cagney Brown) and Southern A&M University (Marquetta Anderson).
FUTURE DEPARTMENTAL PRIORITIES (5 years)
Re-submit a Master’s Degree Program in Human Sciences to the Institutions of Higher Learning.
Initiate a baccalaureate degree cohort program in Food Service Systems Management that includes a food service certificate.
Expand experiential learning and research opportunities for the Department of Human Sciences students both at home and abroad.
STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS
Nutrition and dietetics graduates have secured positions at the VA Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi, as well as in various public school systems.
Initiate a dietetic internship program.
Initiate an online child development certificate program with the Vicksburg campus.
Initiate a male involvement conference.
Develop a childcare training institute .
Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society will sponsor a Human Sciences Lecture Series.
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One student secured a job at Dell Inc., in Clinton, Mississippi.
Three Homeland Security program students interned at the University of Southern California as a part of a research program conducted by the Department of Homeland Security’s Center Of ExcellenceKREAT.
Two students from the Homeland Security program presented their research paper at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) conference in Melbourne, Australia.
Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Alcorn State Department of Advanced Technologies initiated a professional course on the practical use of Monte Carlo Any Particle software. Training is to be offered at Alcorn. Formerly, this class was offered only at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The Health Physics Program was recognized as one of the strongest health physics programs in the country, with high student enrollment and retention in nuclear fields.
Alcorn was recognized at the professional Health Physics Society (HPS) meeting in July
MAY
Four students secured internships at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); for one student, this is the second opportunity to intern with this institution.
Student secured an internship at the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) lab in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Two students secured internships at Oak-Ridge National Laboratory.
Two students secured internships at Fisk University (supervised by Fisk faculty and Los Alamos scientists).
One graduating student secured a job at McCLEOD Software Inc. in Birmingham, Alabama.
One graduating student secured a job as information technology manager at Home Health Care of Port Gibson, Mississippi.
as the institution with the highest student research presentations –13 students with nine presentations at a single event—and participation. This enticed the president of the HPS to visit Alcorn State University in February.
AUGUST
One graduate student in the Advanced Technologies Radiological Health Sciences program completed an internship at University of Massachusetts Medical school during July – August, 2014. The student shadowed oncologists and nurses during patient admission, treatment, and follow-up procedures.
One graduate student in the Health Physics program returned from an internship at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. This opportunity was initiated under the umbrella of the Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program in 2013 as a part of National Nuclear Security Administration grant received by Jermiah Billa, faculty, Health Physics program. During his internship (June – August 2014), the student designed and constructed a prototype radiation instrument and used the Monte Carlo Neutron Particle code (taught at Alcorn) to model and optimize the detector. The student presented on this detector at th the 59 Annual Health Physics
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SPECIAL MOMENTS 2013-2014
Advanced Technologies instructor and robotics student.
Society Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. He also presented a poster on the same topic at the 2014 Annual Students Symposium held at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
In 2013 and 2014, the Health Physics Program was recognized as the only institution in the United States with highest student research presentations at the annual professional Health Physics Society conference.
Alcorn’s Health Physics Program faculty member Jermiah Billa was recognized with the “Outstanding Mentor and Excellence in Development of Radiation Programs” award by the Health Physics Society, for his extensive contributions in the field.
Collaborations were initiated with Y-12/Oakridge National laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Fisk University, University of Utah, and Colorado State University, resulted in four internships during fiscal year 2012-2013 and eight internships during fiscal year 2013-2014 at national laboratories.
In March, 2014, scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory offered Monte Carlo Radiation Transportation classes at Alcorn State University for the first time.
Two students secured oneyear fellowships at the Los Alamos National Laboratory during fiscal year 20132014.
Four students secured internships at the Water Ways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
For the past three years, the Department of Advanced Technologies has been actively involved with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) outreach programs. More than 200 K-12 students received an introduction to STEM concepts through this outreach program.
OCTOBER The Health Physics Program faculty received a grant of $420,035 from the National Nuclear Security Administration to support research activities at Alcorn. New collaborations between the Alcorn State University Health Physics Department, Colorado State University’s Department of Radiological Sciences, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory were initiated. Faculty from both universities and scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory will provide short term (one-week) classes at Alcorn in the areas of nuclear instrumentation, computational health physics, and preparation for professional certification.
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The mission of the Office of Global Programs (OGP) is to facilitate global engagement—through the infusion of up-to-date and relevant international content, activities and knowledge—and to enhance the global competence of stakeholders. Global Programs operates under five major strategic goals related to the following areas: (1) study abroad for students, language and cultural enrichment and curriculum enhancement; (2) international development and trade; (3) international students and visitors programs; (4) international exchanges; and (5) research and outreach to broaden international perspectives.
Post evaluation of the study tour revealed that for 90% of the participants, the study tour highly increased their knowledge of the geography, culture and history of Nicaragua. Furthermore, 90% of the participants indicated that they learned new concepts related to international agriculture.
The following is a summary of notable outcomes from Global Programs for the period of January to December 2014.
Study abroad: A total of nine students completed a full semester of study abroad during this reporting period. These students studied in Taiwan, Costa Rica, Turkey, Thailand and China.
on the following topics— “Career Opportunities in the Foreign Service,” “Sustainable Development,” the “Twenty Years Anniversary of the Rwanda Genocide,” and “The United Nations Support of Democracy.” These lectures were presented by high level UN agency officials, the Jamaican Ambassador to the UN, and the Rwanda Deputy Ambassador to the UN.
Study Tour: 10 students from the Department of Agriculture travelled to Nicaragua to participate in a faculty-led study tour at the National Agricultural University of Nicaragua. Two faculty and a staff member of the School of Agriculture, as well as Vice Provost of Academic Affairs accompanied the students.
Study abroad workshops were held in the fall and spring semesters. Four students were awarded the Benjamin Gilman scholarship to study abroad. Two of these students matriculated in the School of Agriculture, Research, Extension and Applied Sciences. OGP hosted four Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs) during the calendar year 2014. These FLTAs fully participated in the internationalization initiatives implemented by OGP. More specifically, they taught the Chinese and Arabic languages to students, in preparation for their semester-long study abroad. The United Nations Lecture series, implemented by the OGP in collaboration with Humpty Dumpty Institute and Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), was presented
The Annual Multicultural Festival was implemented in April. The keynote speaker for the occasion was the Liberian Ambassador to the United States, based in Washington D.C. More than 200 students, faculty, staff and the surrounding communities members attended this event.
The OGP facilitated an administrative trip to Russia during the summer of 2014, to renew and ratify the cooperative agreement between Alcorn State University and Voronezh State Agricultural University (VSAU).
A Model United Nations Student Club was created in 2014 by the OGP. Model UN students participated in a national Model African Union Competition held at the National Association of African American Honors Programs (NAAAHP) Conference in October. These Alcorn students won second place. Each participating student received a medal and Global Citizen Award. In addition, the team of students and their advisor received a trophy.
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Agricultural research involves the systematic, rigorous investigation of problems in order to generate new knowledge or validate existing information. The Alcorn State University Experiment Station is an agricultural research center which conducts experiments to investigate difficulties, and potential methods of improvement to food production and marketing techniques. In 2014, different applied research practices were used to compare the yield potential and quality of many alternative crops at the Station. The practices include cultivar trials, cultural practices, and fertilizer applications. Mustard Green Evaluation Three mustard cultivars – Tender Green, Southern Giant Curled, and Florida Broadleaf were evaluated for adaptation, yield potential and quality at the Station. The study served as a “field laboratory” used to provide
hands-on experience to graduate students enrolled in the Advanced Research Techniques (PS 590) course during the 2014 fall semester.
The table-top scale was used to measure yields while visual ratings were used to determine the quality of fresh and ovendried samples.
Study participants included Joshua Coleman, J’Nay Domineck, Kendrick Dorsey, Andrea Dubose, Garreth Hubbard, Napoleon O’Quinn, Chairmaine Payton, Gregory Smith, Crystal Vance, and Genoryis Lewis.
In general the Southern Giant Curled cultivar was more resistant to insect pests compared to both the Tender Green and Florida Broadleaf cultivars. However, nonsignificant pest damages were observed.
Direct seeding of each cultivar was on rows 100 feet long and 3.5 feet wide. Row preparations were performed by the Experiment Station staff. Methods of seeding, plot management, data collection, data analysis, result interpretation, and reporting sequences were demonstrated by the instructor to assist each student in developing a term paper from the study.
Both fresh and dry samples of four randomly harvested greens from each cultivar were similar in color and weight. In conclusion, the students understood that the three mustard green cultivars adapted to Memphis silt loam soil in southwestern Mississippi and produced marketable yields one month from the seeding date.
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A randomized complete block experiment design, with four replications of each spray frequency (0, 7, 14, 21 or 28 days) was used in this study.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AT THE ALCORN EXPERIMENT STATION Two separate organoleptic evaluations were used to determine the quality (based on color, appearance, flavor and consumer acceptance) of native wines manufactured from muscadine, blueberry, sweetpotato, sorrel, and pear grown and harvested at the Experiment Station.
The color was an expression of the characteristics of light, or the quality of light reflected, by which the evaluators were made aware of the products.
Product appearance was assessed based on the outlook that provided each product the power of attracting or arousing the interest of each evaluator.
Flavor was assessed based on a distinctive taste felt to be the characteristic of each product. Consumer acceptance was assessed based on the overall quality of each product.
Findings suggest that muscadine, blueberry, sweet potato, sorrel, and pear harvested at the Alcorn Experiment Station can be used to manufacture consumeracceptable native wines. Although data indicated that these products have the potential for becoming consumeracceptable, the extent to which they are accepted varies with
Muscadine fruit
alcohol content and color. In general, muscadine wine seems to be preferred more than other wines by the evaluators. It seems that adding value to harvested small fruit and vegetables evaluated in this study could enhance the income potential of limited-resource farmers across the state. Adding value means creating or developing new products in an effort to maximize profit and an opportunity to consume them beyond the produce official growing season(s). Enhancing Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) Production of Utilization Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) is a popular, warm-season vegetable crop grown for both home consumption and processing. It is grown indoors in greenhouses and/or outdoors in field plots in Mississippi because of its unique qualities: flavor, richness as a source of vitamins A and C, and versatility as food. A field study was therefore used to determine the effect of four spray frequencies of “Response 9-9-7” liquid fertilizer on field grown Roma’s (a tomato cultivar) yield potential and quality. The study was conducted on Memphis silt loam (Typic Hapludalfs: fine silty, mixed, thermic) soil.
Tomato seedlings were transplanted into rows 6.1 m long and 1.2 m wide, at a within-row plant spacing of 0.61 m. Similarly, a laboratory “taste test” was used to compare the quality (based on appearance, texture, and flavor) of tomato paste developed from each spray frequency (treatment) with the commercially available tomato paste (control). All data were analyzed by the analysis of variance and means separated by the least significant difference test. Plant growth was not influenced by spray frequency except for root dry matter content. Marketable tomatoes generally increased with decrease in spray frequency. The quality of processed tomatoes (experimental paste E-1 through E-4) were similarly in appearance and flavor, but better in texture compared to commercial tomato paste (C-1).
Tomato plant
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Echinacea Seed Germination, Plant Growth Potential and Quality Two sets of laboratory experiments were used to determine the effect of two growing mixes (ProMix® and Potting Soil® ) on seed germination of three Echinacea species (Echinacea angustifolia, E. pallida and purpurea). Additionally, two field experiments were used to determine the effect of three cropping systems (conventional, transitional, and organic) and three planting structures (ridge-row, bed-row and flat-row) on Echinacea purpurea seedling survival, plant growth and quality. Echinacea purpurea had the highest percentage of seed germinations (39.3 and 23.3 percent) for both Pro Mix® and Potting Soil® mixes, respectively. The respective lowest values (11.3 and 8.7 percent) were for E. pallida. The three species evaluated exhibited very low seed germination in a Mark III Enviromental Chamber®. Seedling growth was not different during a one month growth period. The conventional cropping system, which generally displayed greater plant survival and growth, also had the lowest root volatile oil content. Similarly, the ridge-row planting structure displayed greater plant survival and growth, but lowest root volatile oil content. The interactions between cropping systems and planting structures were significant, except for root length (2005) and root volatile oil (2006). Findings suggest that the transitional cropping system favored root volatile oil production more than the conventional and the organic cropping systems. Root volatile oil contents were also favored by both flat-row and bed-row planting structures compared to ridge-row planting structure.
Hot Pepper Sauce Production and Preservation in Southwestern Mississippi Hot peppers (Capsicum annum and C. frutescens) are among the vegetable crops being evaluated for adaptation, yield potential, pest resistance and product development at the Alcorn Experiment Station. Hot pepper processing at the station involves the use of chili peppers to formulate “Alcorn Natural Hot Pepper Sauce” (also known as experimental hot pepper sauce). Organoleptic evaluations were used to determine the effect of storage containers, storage environment and length of storage on the quality (based on appearance, flavor, texture, and pungency) of two experimental hot pepper sauces and two commercially available hot pepper sauces. Mean sensory scores indicate that experimental hot sauces were comparable to or superior to the commercial products in appearance, pungency, flavor, and texture. Research also indicated that glass containers enhanced “quality retention” for all products stored at a room temperature; whereas, plastic containers reduced flavor and appearance of products.
Shiitake Mushroom Production on Blocks Shiitake mushrooms have been cultivated in the orient for hundreds of years. These gourmet mushrooms are the second most popular mushrooms in the world. However, shiitake has only been cultivated in the United States since the 1970s. Since then, annual sales have reached $23 million domestically. To improve productivity, cultivation practices have recently changed from growing shiitake on hardwood logs to production on enriched hardwood sawdust substrates. As the United States enters this competitive world market, identifying more production efficiencies becomes a challenge to research scientists and growers.
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An indoor study was used to determine the effect of block nutrient compositions and exposure on the production and quality of shiitake mushrooms. Nutrient composition treatments for the blocks included corn/soy pellets, cotton pellets, and peanut pellets. The blocks were randomly assigned to three separate rows of metal racks at a within-row spacing of six inches on both the top and bottom levels for each row. Recommended maintenance schedules for the temperature, humidity and moisture applications in the grow room were used in this study. The data was analyzed by the analysis of variance test, and means separated by the least significant difference test. Treatment effects were significantly different for shiitake number on the top level racks, and for both number and weight on the bottom level racks. Blocks which used corn/soy pellets as nutrient source enhanced shiitake mushroom production compared to other pellets used in this study.
Layout and Design of Annual Report: School of AREAS Office of AREAS Communications
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