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A Meeting of the Minds
TSUAg Hosts Largest 1890 ARD Research Symposium in History | By Charlie Morrison
The Tennessee State University College of Agriculture served as the host university for the 21st Association of 1890 Research Directors Biennial Research Symposium, held April 6 – 9 at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center in Nashville. As the immediate past Chair and steering committee member of the symposium, TSUAg Dean Dr. Chandra Reddy was instrumental in getting the event to be held here in Nashville, and the venue, program, and participants did not disappoint as the event was by all accounts, the biggest, best-attended symposium in the organization’s nearly 50-year history.
More than 1,500 faculty researchers, college administrators, staffers, and students from each of the 19 1890 land-grant historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) attended this year’s symposium, the premier event bringing together agriculture-focused researchers from across the 1890 land-grant university system. In addition to showcasing the talents and achievements of the 1890 community, this year’s symposium offered attendees the opportunity to interact, share knowledge, and build networks for expanded research collaborations.
The theme of this year’s symposium was “Climate, Health and Cultivating the Next Generation of Agricultural Leaders: Creating Solutions in Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources,” and as such, this year’s event put the focus on students.
Students had the opportunity to present their research work both orally and through poster competitions, network with like-minded scientists from across the 1890 community, and take part in engaging and important discussions on topics such as climate science research, navigating grantsmanship and outside funding activities, and presenting their research effectively.
A large contingent of faculty, staff, students, and administrators from TSUAg took part in the conference, presenting research, judging competitions, fostering networking connections, and even giving tours of the TSU Agricultural Research Complex. TSU blue was out in force at the event, which also featured a talk by TSU President Glenda Glover herself.
“TSU recognizes the importance of agriculture, I recognize the importance of agriculture having grown up on a farm in Memphis, so I know and love the industry,” said Dr. Glover during her address to the entire conference. “Here we’re doing more to move agriculture forward on our campus in Nashville. Thank you for being here today and for such a meaningful engagement. Continue to perpetuate the legacy of research excellence.” student
Students at the College of Agriculture made their mark on the event as well. In addition to TSUAg contributing 124 of the more than 400 posters presented and 300 oral research presentations that were put forth at the symposium, several students walked home with awards, cash prizes, and memories from the event after being recognized for their efforts in presenting their research. Of the 124 presentations, 38 were faculty presentations, nine were made by postdoctoral students, 61 by graduate students, and 16 were given by TSUAg undergrads.
TSUAg had a particularly strong symposium when it came to graduate students’ competitive oral presentations of their research. College of Agriculture graduate students delivered a clean sweep of the competitive oral presentation competition in the category of Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health. Amritpal Singh took home the top prize in that competition, with Aakash Sharma winning second place, and Pallavi Rathore taking third.
TSUAg also performed exceptionally well in the oral competitions in the category of plant health, production, and plant products with graduate student Divya Jain winning the top prize, and fellow College of Agriculture graduate student Sudip Poudel taking home second. In the category of family, youth, community, and economic development, standout graduate student Jazmine Norwood finished first in the competitive poster presentation competition.
Graduate students Amritpal Singh and Aakash Sharma (with faculty advisior Dr. Ankit Patras) took home first and second place respectively in the graduate oral research presentation competion in food safety, nutrition, and health.
Fellow undergraduate student Kerrington Howard excelled in speaking to the collection of researchers, students, and supporters at this year’s ARD Research Symposium.
Representing the undergraduate student body on the podium was another TSUAg standout, junior Aaliyah Cotton, who won second place for her competitive oral presentation in the category of Renewable Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment for Undergraduate Student Competitive Oral Presentations.
The TSUAg faculty brought home some hardware during the event’s awards banquet as well, with TSUAg Professor and Associate Dean of Academics and Landgrant Programs Dr. De’Etra Young winning the inaugural McKinley Mayes Mentoring Award. The award was created to recognize an administrator who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to mentoring both students and early faculty members, and Dr. Young’s work both on a day-to-day basis at the College and with the multi-university MENTOR program earned her the attention of the ARD’s awards committee.
On top of the awards portion of the four-day symposium, TSUAg students stepped up during the symposium’s opening session as well, when three TSU College of Agriculture undergraduates addressed the Presidential Ballroom at Opryland, a venue that seated all of the more than 1,500 participants. Junior Kennedy Bentley, along with seniors Dominque Smith and Kerrington Howard
all addressed the room with poise and eloquence during the opening session.
“It felt great to address the symposium because I wanted to show what the male leadership at the College is doing, I wanted to show everyone that we’re doing something here (at TSUAg), I wanted to show the symposium what they were investing in... me,” said Howard, a senior and a Dean’s Scholar.
TSUAg’s hosting of the event attracted the support of event organizers, teams from the 1890 universities, and the scientists and students themselves. The Gaylord Opryland Convention Center’s expansive size accomodated the event, the largest symposium in history.
“It’s important for scientists and students to come together and share their research. What that does is it spurs more thought, more collaboration, more problem-solving. Also, it lets the outside world know we’re actually doing important work,” said event co-chair Dr. Louis Whitesides, who serves in his day job as the Vice President & Executive Director of 1890 Land Grant Programs at South Carolina State University.
“This has been excellent, I don’t think I’ve been to a meeting like this before,”said Kevin Kephart, the deputy director of the Institute of Bioenergy, Climate, and Environment (IBCE) at the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. “Having all of these important institutions come together, to have the students involved, to have these great scientists involved, the leaders from these institutions... it’s just been outstanding.”
For his part, TSUAg Dean Dr. Chandra Reddy was buoyant about the College’s performance at the ARD. For Dr. Reddy, a successful showing at the symposium took everyone from the College’s participation, involvement, and engagement.
“I am extremely happy that the event went so well. Our students and faculty succeeded in all the sessions and competitions, with outstanding preparation and engagement,” said Dr. Reddy. “So many of the attendees visited the College and were thoroughly impressed with our research labs and the cutting-edge research being conducted by our faculty, graduate students, and even undergraduate students.”
“It was a prideful moment for my team and I to have our peer institutions treating us as a model for their own institutions and leaders, and we heard that a lot at this year’s symposium,” Dr. Reddy continued.
