CALS Magazine, Spring 2019

MAGAZINE

INSIDE: THE MAGIC OF BIOCHEMISTRY •

SAVING A FAMILY FARM

•

4-H HURRICANE HELPERS

I AM CALS Fred Jimenez Who gift-wrapped office administrator Beth King’s desk with 400 square feet of Santa Claus wrapping paper after she skipped the annual holiday lunch for the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences?

Hard to say. Could’ve been anybody – or everybody.

But there’s little doubt in the department who the ringleader was.

“Fred,” says King.

“Fred,” says Department Head K.P. Sandeep.

“Yeah, it was me,” says FBNS employee Fred Jimenez. His title is technically “ executive assistant,” but that doesn’t cover it. Ten years into his career at FBNS, he is the department’s mister fix-it, master of ceremonies and unofficial CALS search engine.

Jimenez wrangles budgets, organizes events, streamlines personnel tasks, critiques professional presentations, sets up video conferences and anything else that’s needed. If he can’t answer your question about CALS, then he knows the person who can.

He’s also the go-to guy for intangibles like boosting department morale through pranks and kooky office games – and for lending an ear to anyone who needs a listener.

“When he’s in charge of something, I know I don’t need to worry,” Sandeep says. “I know Fred will handle it.”

Continued on page 43

go.ncsu.edu/Fred

NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Spring 2019 14 THE NEW FACE OF BIOCHEMISTRY From your medicine cabinet to your garden fertilizer to your ultrahydrating shampoo, nearly every aspect of your life is impacted by biochemistry. Under the direction of new department head Melanie Simpson – and a broad university partnership thanks to METRIC – the halls in CALS’ Department of Structural and Molecular Biochemistry are buzzing with excitement.

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SAY HELLO TO THE NEW FACULTY

After the biggest hiring push in the college’s history, say hello to the new class of faculty members.

32 HOW EXTENSION SAVED A FAMILY FARM When Lisa Glosson’s husband, a beef farmer, died suddenly, she faced a choice: learn how to manage the farm – alone – or sell. So she signed up for Extension’s NC Women’s Cattle Handling Workshop, praying that the two-day intensive would allow her to save the business her husband built.

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4-H’ERS HURRICANE HELPERS

From book drives to calf rescues, 4-H’ers lived up to their motto: clear

thinking, greater loyalty – and larger service.

4 Bob PattersonYour Tributes

6 PSI Naming Opportunities

8 News: Rural Updates, CALS Book Club and more

30 Science, Translated: Go With Your Gut

42 Oyster Entrepreneur

44 Extension Archives

ONLINE EDITION go.ncsu.edu/CALSMagazine

FROM THE DEAN

I cannot think of a more exciting time in our college.

In a little over two years, we have filled 74 new faculty positions – almost a third of our faculty.

And it’s more than just a personnel expansion.

On page [XYZ], you can read about our threeyear push to bring in an ultimate total of 90 new faculty members. We’ve enjoyed a terrific partnership with our provost and are incredibly grateful for his support. My leadership team and so many of our faculty are highly engaged in the recruitment process. Together, we have one goal: meet our mission of transforming challenges into opportunities that benefit our state, nation and world by hiring the very best.

One of the first hired was Melanie Simpson, head of the Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry. Turn to page [XYZ] to read about her bold vision to lead CALS to the forefront of the field.

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Part of that vision includes the Molecular Education, Technology and Research Innovation Center (METRIC), a university-wide measurement science facility that partners the biochemistry department with the university, the research office and the College of Sciences. METRIC is positioned to become one of the leading analytical facilities in the Southeast (thanks to another new hire, METRIC Associate Director Joe Barycki) – on page [XYZ], read more about how this benefits not just CALS, but the people of North Carolina.

Now is a dynamic time in the history of our college.

Please join me in giving all of our new employees a warm welcome to NC State and CALS. Thanks for your continued support, and Go Pack!

Richard Linton, Dean College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

CALSNEWS This Cow Goes To Market The Wolfpack’s favorite ice cream is now closer to to your dinner table (or your late-night snack spoon): For the first time, select Harris Teeters in the Triangle area now stock six Howling Cow flavors in their freezers.

The grocery store chain licensed the Howling Cow trademark and certain ingredients and formulas from NC State, and now manufactures pints of six favorite flavors: Campfire Delight, Cookie Dough, Chocolate Chip Mint, Cookies and Cream, Butter Almond and Cherry Brick Road.

Proceeds from the agreement will fund student scholarships and dairy and agriculture initiatives.

Howling Cow ice cream has been manufactured on campus for more than 70 years, using fresh milk from the university’s own cows located at the NC State Dairy Farm, part of the university’s Lake Wheeler Road Field Laboratory. Howling Cow cups and tubs are still available for purchase through NC State campus venues.

The initial rollout was 16 Triangle-area Harris Teeters, check with your local store for availability.

CALS’ Newest Spot For Dairy Education (And Ice Cream With A View) And in other Howling Cow news, construction of the new Dairy Education Center and Creamery is underway, funded in full by friends and farmers of the North Carolina dairy industry, including the NC Dairy Foundation and the Titmus Foundation.

Planned as the public hub of the NC State Dairy Farm, the 2,200 square foot facility stands at the farm entrance off of Lake Wheeler Road. Through educational technology, visitors will be able to view the story of our state’s dairy and agricultural systems, and of the ways NC State and CALS contribute to

improvements and efficiency. It’s part of NC State’s Dairy Enterprise System, housed in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences.

The DECC will also be a fantastic place to get a Howling Cow ice cream cone: a large covered porch will overlook the green hills and sparkling ponds of the farm, with the peaked red roof of its sister facility, the new Randleigh Dairy Heritage Museum, on the horizon.

And you won’t have to wait long: The DECC is scheduled to open in summer 2019.

www.cals.ncsu.edu 3

Your Tributes to Bob Patterson Cara Pace @cara_ruth ¡ 28 Jun 2018 Truly one of the most supportive people I know. ...

He nominated me for an award, which of course I got because his letter of recommendation was 5 pages long

Lee Miller The combination of effectively teaching the material and true concern for the well being and success of [his]students serves as a model for all of us.

đ&#x;¤—

Matt Taylor I never took a class from him, but my freshman year he let me work-study under him. He loaned me his car when I needed emergency brakes repair, took me to his home for meals, and always would talk. He taught being generous to students, something I’m still trying to be like him today as I teach my own students. He says he’s fortunate; we’re the fortunate ones to have had him in our lives.

Meredith Bullard @mgbullar ¡ 28 Jun 2018 I can’t think of a kinder or more thoughtful professor ... who truly cares about each of his students (and their families). He was one of the many who inspired me to work towards becoming a professor someday.

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Josh Marcus This man is a treasure & I’m blessed to have had him as my professor.

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Blake Sutton Congrats Dr. Patterson! Many life lessons were learned in class with you in Williams Hall, those that I keep with me and use everyday!!

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@NCStateCALS

Makala Jade @makalajade98 ¡ 28 Jun 2018 Dr. Patterson took our class out to the corn field one day to teach right before a thunderstorm. When it started raining, we all ran for the bus. I turned and looked behind me and all I see is Dr. Patterson running through the field still holding on to his corn stalk.

CALSNCState

Emily Callicutt @EmilyCallicutt3¡ 28 Jun 2018

During World Populations and Food Prospects he fed us before every class. By far one of the best professors I’ve ever had!

CALSNEWS Where are they now?

Training the Future: Christian Gray Since appearing on our Fall 2017 cover, CALS alumnus Christian Gray – basketball trainer, youth mentor and life coach, founder of DIVERSE Training – has gone international. In April 2019, Gray plans to run the first DIVERSE Academy in Tijuana, Mexico. Gray is also expanding his career as a motivational speaker, with a recent engagement as keynote speaker at NC State’s McKimmon Center for the City of Raleigh’s nationally recognized Bring Your A-Game To Work summer youth program.

What’s Next?

CALS Visionaries on ... High-Tech Ag . Youth Development . Gene Editing . and more

WHAT’S NEXT?

CALS Visionaries on ...

High-Tech Agriculture Human Nutrition Gene Editing ... and more

NEWS FROM NC STATE’S COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND LIFE SCIENCES

This Is Sparta: David Cox After gracing our Spring 2018 cover, always-busy Alleghany County native David Cox is now a junior in the Department of Animal Science, where he was selected as both a Caldwell Fellow and a Food Animal Scholar. Offcampus, he works at a horse farm in Apex and at East Wake Veterinary Hospital, and is looking into opening a fencing and farm maintenance business. He finished his “black hat” fire fighter training in 2018, and was promoted in his work with the Northern Wake Fire and EMS. He also earned his Public Safety Diver certification last summer. David is on track to graduate in May 2020.

OUR RURAL FUTURE NEWS FROM NC STATE’S COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND LIFE SCIENCES

Transforming Tragedy into Triumph: Kelly Blanton [placeholder text} Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, at quo meis voluptua placerat. Quo aliquam ornatus laboramus te. Cum ut minim postea constituam, harum tamquam percipit vis te. Vim ea tollit indoctum complectitur. Ea ius mentitum molestiae, congue persecuti id cum.Atqui legendos definiebas cu vel, everti timeam aeterno sed no. An offendit interesset vis, sit eu libris aeterno oblique, vel vero meliore id.

BUILDING THE NEXTGENERATION STUDENT Kelly Blanton Turns Tragedy Into Triumph Inventing The Perfect Pork Sausage Bob Patterson’s 50 Years at CALS

NEWS FROM NC STATE’S COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND LIFE SCIENCES

From Factory Floor to First-Generation College Student: Selena Ibarra In December 2018, Selena Ibarra was the first in her family to earn a bachelor’s degree, graduating from CALS’ Department of Animal Science.

She’s using her animal handling know-how as a technician at Charles River Laboratories.

www.cals.ncsu.edu 5

Plant Science Innovation Has A New Name: Yours!

Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: You can add your name to a space in the one-of-a-kind NC Plant Sciences Building – home to the NC Plant Sciences Initiative (PSI) and to the future of Plant Sciences research.

The PSI will bring together world-class researchers from across disciplines and industries to collaborate in interdisciplinary teams to address the grand challenges of agriculture and provide solutions for a growing world. This initiative represents an unprecedented opportunity to establish our state as the global leader in plant sciences – generating the science and innovation that will spur new opportunities for North Carolina agriculture.

The 185,000 square-foot NC Plant Sciences Building, to be Llocated on NC State’s Centennial Campus, features more than 72,000 square feet of cutting edge research space and over 16,000 square feet of greenhouse space. It will be CALS’ first new academic building in over 60 years.

Today you can join forces with the people of North Carolina, the Golden LEAF Foundation,NC Farm Bureau and over 40 agricultural commodity groups throughout our state to shape the future of Plant Sciences.

You now have the opportunity to support this groundbreaking initiative with your naming gift of a space. Donors will be permanently recognized in this state -of -the -art building, which will be unlike any building NC State has ever constructed.

Make your commitment prior to the September 2019 groundbreaking and you will be honored at the ceremony.

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CALSNEWS

Agriculture built North Carolina. The NC PSI will keep it growing.

Join us on this exciting venture!

For information on becoming a donor to the NC Plant Sciences Building, please visit go.ncsu.edu/JoinPSI and contact Sonia Murphy at 919.515.9262 or sonia_murphy@ncsu.edu.

www.cals.ncsu.edu 7

Barrangou Elected to National Academies Within six months’ time, Rodolphe Barrangou, the Todd R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Scholar in Probiotics Research and professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, has been elected into not one, but two of the world’s most important and influential scientific societies: the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Academy of Engineers (NAE).

Barrangou is the ninth current NC State faculty member to be elected to NAS, and the 18th elected to NAE. NC State celebrated his NAS induction in fall 2018 by lighting the Bell Tower red.

Barrangou focuses on understanding the genetic basis for health-promoting and fermentative

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properties of beneficial bacteria used in foods. A pioneer in the discovery of the adaptive bacterial immune system known as CRISPR, Barrangou has shown that CRISPR systems defend bacteria against unwanted invaders such as phages.

Barrangou is mostly concerned with CRISPR-Cas systems that use Cas proteins as scalpels to cleave away foreign DNA. Possible applications include genome editing, antibacterial and antimicrobial production, food safety, food fermentation and plant breeding.

Barrangou will be formally inducted into NAE during a ceremony at the august group’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 6, 2019.

CALSNEWS Rural Report: Admissions Numbers Show Growth After the recent rollout of alternative pathway programs focused on rural opportunity, CALS admitted a greater percentage of rural applicants in 2018 than their peers from urban areas.

For years, rural applicants lagged behind – but in 2018, CALS accepted about 68 percent of applicants from rural counties, compared to 56 and 61 percent of applicants from counties with higher population densities. These students are more likely than their urban peers to return to rural areas and provide muchneeded skilled labor and economic stability.

“Our programs are providing more students with an opportunity to attend NC State, and therefore growing

more highly skilled and qualified job seekers for rural economies,” CALS associate dean John Dole said.

Students in rural counties often lack the access to college prep and advanced placement courses available to their urban peers.

In cooperation with the university, CALS’ new programs range from Nominate a Student and the ACT-boosting ASPIRE programs, to expanded degree pathways: the invitation-based spring admissions powerhouse STEAM Connections, the two-year Agricultural Institute and the CALS PackTrac program for community college transfer students.

Find details at go.ncsu.edu/MyPathsToCals.

Fellows Expect To Go “FFAR” A new CALS program equips an elite cadre of Ph.D. students from across the country with the tools they need to become leaders in food and agriculture: interdisciplinary experience, deep scientific knowledge and “soft skills” like communication and teamwork.

The students work with industry mentors, take part in monthly online meetings and attend three weeklong residential programs, said Rebecca Dunning, the program director. The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, a nonprofit corporation established by the 2014 Farm Bill, awarded CALS Academic Programs $2.7 million to set up the program.

Industry members match that amount.

“They will make a big impact on food and ag,” said John Dole, CALS associate dean and the program’s principal investigator. “We are happy to be able to get them started.”

The 2018 class kicked off the first of the residential programs at NC State in August. CALS’ Biological and Agricultural Engineering Ph.D. student Alison Deviney said the program exceeded her expectations as she works to improve waste management in livestock operations.

“The professional development and mentoring are already having an impact on how I think and work,” Deviney said.

To learn more, go online to ffarfellows.org.

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CALS Magazine Spring 2019 A Publication of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Editor Design/Layout Writers

Photographers

Videographers

Chelsea Kellner Patty Mercer Chelsea Kellner Dee Shore Kevin Moye Marc Hall Becky Kirkland Roger Winstead Ken Ellzey Chris Liotta

Dean and Executive Director for Agricultural Programs Richard Linton Senior Associate Dean for Administration Harry Daniels Associate Dean and Director, NC State Extension Richard Bonanno Associate Dean and Director, N.C. Agricultural Research Service Steve Lommel Associate Dean and Director, Academic Programs John Dole Assistant Dean and Director, CALS Advancement Sonia Murphy Assistant Director, CALS Alumni and Friends Society Lindsay Skinner Chief Communications Officer Richard Campbell

NC State University promotes equal opportunity and prohibits discrimination and harassment based upon one’s age, color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation and veteran status.

Send correspondence and requests for change of address to CALS Magazine Editor, Campus Box 7603, NC State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 -7603.

25,000 copies of this public document were printed at

a cost of 48¢ per copy. Printed on recycled paper.

Successful STEAM Program Broadens As First Students Graduate CALS’ invitation-only program is integrating with a broader university initiative – and celebrating its first two cohorts of graduates.

The STEAM (Student Transition Enrollment and Mentoring) is now in alignment with the university’s newly launched Spring Connection student population. Though the name has changed to STEAM Spring Connection, the intent and purpose behind the program has not.

Founded in 2014 via the Gordon Farm to Philanthropy Endowment, STEAM Spring Connection provides personalized advising and mentoring to students invited based on their academic profile and interest in agriculture.

Is the program successful? Just look at the numbers. Since STEAM’s launch, over 100 students completed or were currently enrolled in the program as of January 2019, with a cohort of 106 students expected in the spring semester. STEAM Spring Connection students earned average GPAs in line with the rest of the student body, and its first graduates finished in an average of 4.02 years.

“A Million Decisions A Week” 5 Questions With Bill Aimutis The director of the new North Carolina Food Innovation Laboratory dishes on his big dream for the facility, its potential economic impact and more.

CALSNEWS be able to keep our products home in our state and process them either for consumption within the state or to be shipped out of the state – that’s a big goal.

I want to create a world-class facility, then encourage entrepreneurs to build their businesses in our state and create jobs for our citizens – and also attract multinational companies to come work with us. CALS and NC State already have a tremendous positive impact on the North Carolina economy, and I want to help that grow.

Why come out of retirement to work with CALS on this initiative?

CALS is a rapidly growing college within the university and also within the national scene. CALS is going to leave a mark on the world. This position within CALS looked like an opportunity to leave a legacy with something worthwhile that I’m proud of at the end of my career.

Speaking of initiatives: Will NC FIL partner with the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative?

Just reading Bill Aimutis’ resume will wear you out.

The research and development expert has led international efforts in food chemistry, applied biotechnology and basic research for giants like Land O’Lakes and, most recently, Cargill.

He’s done business in 42 countries on six continents, traveling more than 200,000 miles annually for work – the equivalent of circling the Earth eight times a year.

Last year, Aimutis landed at NC State to help CALS and our partners launch the new North Carolina Food Innovation Laboratory in Kannapolis. Under his direction, the lab will provide unique food processing opportunities for both entrepreneurs and established industries, helping build the state’s tax base and revive county economies in the process.

A partnership with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and the North Carolina Research Campus, the lab is expected to open in July 2019. Here’s your peek into the future.

What’s your big dream for the NC Food Innovation Lab? Right now, North Carolina is leaving money and opportunity on the table. We produce over 90 agricultural commodities here, and most of them leave the state for processing. To

One of the challenges with processing is accidentally destroying nutritional value. Working with NC PSI and the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, we will be able to try new processes and examine what we’ve done to the nutrient value of that food. NC PSI will allow us to breed plants that give maximum nutritional yield on a commodity product.

What does a day in the life of a director look like?

You want to make sure that the environment in which your employees are working is conducive to maximize their full potential. So, the day of the life of a director starts with having a smile on your face when you walk in the door first thing in the morning, because that’s going to set the tone for everybody.

After that, every day is different. Working for the state, first and foremost on my mind is: what are we doing for the taxpayers? And developing my people, making sure they’re going home safe every day. And somewhere in between, you’re making probably a million decisions a week.

What are you most looking forward to with NC FIL? What day are you most excited for?

The day we have an announcement by a company – whether it’s an entrepreneur or a multinational corporation – that they’re going to build a plant in the state of North Carolina and employ a couple hundred people.

www.cals.ncsu.edu 11

A Howling Good Time CALS Tailgate 2018

Sonny Perdue U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

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CALS Book Club

CALSNEWS

Applied Ecology’s Rob Dunn Rob Dunn knows what lurks in the depths of your basement.

And along your baseboards. And inside your dishwasher.

Just don’t ask about your pillowcase. He knows that too; but you might not want to.

Partnering with numerous scientists from NC State and across the country – and a global coterie of citizen scientist volunteers – Dunn’s fifth book is a tour of the microscopic world inside the place we think we know best: home sweet home.

Never Home Alone made a splash when it debuted in fall 2018, drawing attention from national media like the New York Times and NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Dunn is also the author of top science sellers The Man Who Touched His Own Heart and Never Out Of Season.

And for those who may think of our microscopic roommates as creepy-crawlies, Dunn’s book offers a new perspective.

“This context lets us contemplate the beauty and grandeur of the life around us every day,” Dunn says.

Why Inside?

Starting in the 19th century, Dunn writes, humans began to spend more time indoors than outdoors. Now, most people in the United States and Europe average about 90 percent of their time indoors, according to a 2001 study by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“In terms of the biology that influences daily lives, the indoors is very relevant,” Dunn says.

When Dunn, his team of scientists and their citizen scientist volunteers dove in, they were amazed at what they found. In one striking example, the Japanese camel cricket, once thought rare, is actually a common resident of North American basements.

Dunn’s past citizen science projects have covered subjects from sourdough bread to armpits. The book’s title comes from one of these projects: Volunteers around

the world are invited to submit photos of arthropods spotted indoors. So far, the results have been varied and sometimes spectacular; students at an Islamic girls’ school in Malaysia sent in a photo of a spider the size of a human head.

Scrub Everything Or Give Up? One of the most common questions Dunn hears: Can’t I just kill it all?

Short answer: Don’t.

“The more avidly we try to kill everything, the more we end up with species we don’t want around us,” Dunn says, citing growing numbers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and a species of cockroach that developed resistance to poisons.

Instead, Dunn is developing a vision for better indoor living based on a common cooking concept: fermentation.

Fermented foods create a community that “weeds” itself – the acidity kills harmful species with zero human intervention.

“A kind of microscopic indoor garden that weeds itself,” Dunn says, “that’s what we want in years to come.” www.cals.ncsu.edu 13

The New Face of Biochemistry at CALS

By Chelsea Kellner

At first, it sounds like wizardry.

Crystal growth chambers.

Smoke billowing from cauldrons where there is no fire. Students in training to reveal secrets of the physical world by influencing the invisible.

CALS’ own Hogwarts, housed in Polk Hall?

Nope. CALS’ own Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry – undergoing a transformation of its own.

Under the direction of new department head Melanie Simpson, the halls of the Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry are buzzing with excitement – and the occasional whine of an electric drill.

Simpson is overseeing the department’s most comprehensive expansion in recent history: Its four newly hired faculty members create a vital new research cluster in metabolism and mechanisms within whole organism systems, filling what was formerly a critical gap at NC State.

A large collaboration space, previously slated to be Simpson’s office, has instead been renovated into a high-tech den for student brainstorming and study.

And the Molecular Education, Technology, and Research Innovation Center (METRIC) launched in May 2018. It’s co-run and co-housed with NC State’s Department of Chemistry, and inspired the university to invest several million dollars into equipment upgrades.

All this points to one thing: Biochemistry at CALS is on an upswing.

As fourth-year Ph.D. student Gabriela Schroder puts it: “When you’re trying to understand something that’s alive, it’s quite an adventure.”

>

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“When you’re trying to understand something that’s alive, it’s quite an adventure.” www.cals.ncsu.edu 15

Making the world a healthier place Simply stated, biochemistry seeks to understand the chemistry that defines biology. It allows us to travel into life’s tiniest building blocks and – hopefully – help fix some of humanity’s largest problems. Researchers at CALS are on the hunt for more effective treatments for everything from obesity to cancer (turn to page [XYZ] to read more). In daily life, biochemistry research can impact everything from your blood pressure medication to your garden fertilizer to your hydrating shampoo.

Only about 100 years old, biochemistry launched as a discipline when scientists discovered that the same chemical compounds and metabolic processes can be found in organisms as diverse as plants and humans.

Most biochemists concentrate their research on particular organisms, but findings can often be applied across species. Mapping the structure of just one protein out of the millions that compose the human body can have wide-ranging impact.

“There’s never really an end point,” first-year graduate student Grace Scheidemantle says. “Every answer you find opens up more questions.”

The biochemistry of food With metabolism researchers flocking to the Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry comes a common question: what’s the difference between a food scientist and a biochemist studying nutrient metabolism?

Metabolism can be approached in two ways. A food scientist is more likely to look at the composition of a diet or of a category of food like fruits or vegetables. A biochemist looks at mechanisms. How does nutritional composition affect human health? Plant health? Cell-tocell communication in an organism?

Read more about the nutrition-oriented research of new assistant professors Abdulkerim Eroglu, Arion Kennedy and Xiaojing Liu in the following pages, and of Ruben Rellan-Alvarez online at [golink] (he’s so new, we couldn’t get him into this issue!).

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Biochemists must be rigorous thinkers, constantly curious, combining meticulous attention to detail with the bigpicture knowledge to piece together information for maximum impact.

They also tend to share a deep concern for improving human life. Fifth-year Ph.D. student Sayan Chakraborty is wrapping up his final year of research, mapping protein structures that could help develop drugs to target rogue proteins that destroy human health. He’s driven by memories of his experience as an undergraduate in India, working in an HIV research institute.

“I hope I can help people through my work,” Chakraborty says, “because I have seen the suffering of those patients.”

Transformational faculty (and students) CALS’ biochemistry department has three key training strengths: molecular and systems biology, structural and analytic biochemistry, and metabolism and disease.

Faculty are tackling problems from biofuels to zika virus.

The joint work of husband-wife research team Dennis Brown and Raquel Hernandez in virus structure and assembly has made strides in treating viruses like zika, malaria and dengue fever. There’s Trino Ascencio-Ibanez, who seeks to understand how plants respond to viral infection, and Colleen Doherty, who investigates the connections between time and stress in plants.

That’s just a few, and that’s just in Polk Hall. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, on one of the most intense beams of neutrons on the planet, associate professor Flora Meilleur is using X-ray and neutron diffraction and scattering to probe enzyme structure, dynamics and function, with future potential for helping develop biofuels, among other uses. She flies to Raleigh for the biochemistry faculty meeting once a month.

“What we work on is very small,” she says, “but its impact is big.”

The chance to work with this stellar faculty draws students from as far away as India and, in Gabriela Schroder’s case, South Africa. She chose CALS because she wanted to study with Meilleur. Continued on page 18

>

From Bank Teller To Head Of Biochemistry Before she became a top researcher on prostate cancer progression, before she earned a named professorship and a cascade of awards, before Dean Richard Linton hired her as one of CALS’ newest visionary department heads, Melanie Simpson felt trapped.

In her mid-20s, she was a bank teller. She lacked a college degree. And she had never heard of biochemistry.

“I was a mom with three kids and I needed to help support my family, but I knew I was stagnating,” Simpson says. “I needed to be a happy person so I could teach my children how to be happy.”

But how to get there? Simpson found a few clues: She’d been gifted in math and science since grade school. The skills that made her an excellent (though bored) bank teller pointed to a detail-oriented profession. And she longed for a field that provided lifelong intellectual stimulation.

That’s when she found biochemistry.

“It was like solving a series of puzzles,” Simpson recalls. “The fascinating questions never stopped coming. How could I not fall in love with it?”

So Simpson enrolled in the University of Minnesota. Between classes, she’d dash across campus to where her youngest was in day care, nurse her baby, then sprint to her next class.

“Focusing on the end goal got me through,” Simpson says.

“If I got overwhelmed, I called my mom and had a meltdown until it was out of my system, then got back to work.”

Simpson earned her bachelor’s in biochemistry, then her doctorate in biochemistry, molecular biology and biophysics.

After that, her list of achievements fills dozens of resume pages.

As a leader, she’s known for building interdisciplinary teams – like the time she spearheaded a complex biosystems Ph.D. program at the University of Nebraska, or when she led that school’s participation in a multi-institution NIH grant to establish a clinical/translational research network mentoring early career researchers.

In her own research, Simpson discovered a new biomarker for identifying cancer patients who are less likely to respond to hormone deprivation treatments and thus might benefit from altered treatment decisions.

“Biochemistry made me realize that I didn’t have to pigeonhole myself into a particular discipline,” Simpson says. “There’s a place for someone who thinks like me.”

www.cals.ncsu.edu 17

“So many things are interlinked – if we can understand more, that will allow us to solve biological and chemical problems,” Schroder says.

“Collaboration here has shown me how development in one area can improve another.”

METRICs of Success On the ground floor of Polk Hall, X-ray crystallography laboratory manager Paul Swartz works with machines so powerful that their use requires two separate classes of safety training.

They’re part of the Molecular Education, Technology, and Research Innovation Center (METRIC), a partnership with the Department of Chemistry. With

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rare cutting-edge facilities for X-ray crystallography, mass spectrometry and magnetic resonance spectroscopy, METRIC is positioned to become one of the leading analytical facilities in the Southeast.

Adjacent to the X-ray crystallography machine is the crystal growth chamber, a walk-in facility with vibrationdamping cradles for crystal tray storage. A crystal screening robot is around the corner, and there are half a dozen new mass spectrometers down the hall. METRIC streamlines processes to make these tools more accessible to scientists.

“What’s exciting ... is that we get to integrate into the existing strengths of the university and add a new dimension by bringing these molecular tools to

understand life at the atomic level,” METRIC assistant director Joe Barycki says.

Paying it forward As new faculty and students are drawn to Polk Hall, many cite Simpson’s leadership style – what they describe as an inspiring combination of expertise, passion, focus and warmth – as a key factor in choosing CALS as their research home.

One of Simpson’s passion projects: developing a formal mentoring program for early-career faculty, inspired by those who fostered Simpson through her own early career challenges.

“It might sound cheesy when I say it,” Simpson says, “but there’s a lot to be excited about in biochemistry.”

Do Your Research … On Our Research To read more about biochemistry students like Gabriela Schruder and Sayan Chakraborty – as well as faculty members like Joe Barycki and Flora Meilleur – go online to [golink placeholder]

www.cals.ncsu.edu 19

Nourishing Developing Nations: Abdulkerim Eroglu Malnutrition isn’t always a lack of certain vitamins and minerals.

Sometimes, the problem is too much of a good thing – even if it’s a Mom-approved veggie like carrots.

In his laboratory in the Plants for Human Health Institute in Kannapolis, new assistant professor of biochemistry Abdulkerim Eroglu is zeroing in on one very important nutrient as a case study: Vitamin A-producing carotenoids, found in vegetables like carrots. Eroglu is exploring how carotenoids affect gene expression and maintenance of genome integrity – and what the optimal amounts are for good health.

“I am looking for molecular understanding, then hope to translate that into public health to impact our daily lives,” Eroglu says.

Carotenoids contain important antioxidants for metabolic functions, Eroglu explains, and may serve as indicators of general population health.

“I want to figure out how we can understand the chemo-preventative effects of carotenoids in lung cancer and other cancers,” Eroglu says.

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The subject is especially interesting, he says, because of the research history. A study in the 1990s had to be shut down when dosing cancer patients with high amounts of Vitamin A supplements was found to be correlating with worsening patient condition. That rattled the scientific community, but was helpful in flagging overconsumption as a potential health hazard.

On the other hand, the conditions caused by a lack of Vitamin A are a major public health concern, particularly in developing nations.

As he works to develop biomarkers to identify health, Eroglu hopes his work can also identify ways to improve nutrition through the fruits and vegetables themselves, rather than use of supplements or synthetics. He plans to collaborate with institute colleagues who will provide extracts from plants like tomatoes, carrots and watermelons for Eroglu to test the effect on telomere length and other DNA damage biomarkers.

“We can show scientific health benefits, and the correct amount needed to experience a benefit,” Eroglu says.

He chose CALS as his research home for the chance to develop experimental techniques at the molecular level.

“Every day, I’m motivated by seeing what I can discover,” Eroglu says.

“That feeling, that today perhaps I can make an impact, is hard to describe – it’s exciting.” www.cals.ncsu.edu 21

“Over time, depending on the conditions, certain foods can be a life-or-death choice.�

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Understanding Obesity and Boosting The Immune System: Arion Kennedy Treating obesity is difficult. Arion Kennedy’s angle: figure out how the immune system can help.

One of CALS’ newest assistant professors of biochemistry, Kennedy hopes to figure out how to target metabolic complications and determine the impact of the immune system on obesity-linked metabolic diseases, especially nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Her two research projects at NC State examine T-cell activation and the condition of overnutrition, and the ways in which the food we eat impacts our immune systems.

Dubbed “common, serious and costly” by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity affected about 93.3 million people in the U.S. in 2016, with an estimated annual medical cost of $147 billion. The condition is a major risk factor for metabolic diseases like fatty liver disease and type two diabetes.

The National Institutes of Health awarded Kennedy a K01 research grant to focus on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which has become a bigger problem in recent years – especially in children. Her goal is to understand

how T-cells – which play a key role in triggering immune system response – get recruited to our fat and liver and contribute to the inflammatory response, altering the ability of these organs to function. Kennedy is trying to discover which proteins trigger T-cell activation. That would allow scientists to figure out ways to treat obesity associated metabolic diseases when people try to make dietary changes.

Her second project examines the impact of nutrients on immune cell function and impact on obesity associated metabolic disorders. Given the controversy regarding dietary fructose consumption, Kennedy is investigating the role of fructose on immune cell inflammation and fibrosis.

Over time, she also hopes to partner with the Plants for Human Health Institute in Kannapolis to look at dietary supplements or other food components and how they might be enlisted in the fight against obesity associated inflammation and metabolic diseases.

“I’m fascinated by how what we eat affects our body in positive and negative ways,” Kennedy says.

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Precision Nutrition To Fight Cancer: Xiaojing Liu Currently, most anti-cancer therapies target particular cell mutations that drive cancer development. The idea: zap known mutations and allow healthy cells to flourish.

But it doesn’t always work. That means there are other factors to tumor proliferation than just genetic mutation.

That’s where new Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Xiaojing Liu comes in. Her lab at NC State is examining nutritional factors that support and improve cancer treatment.

Like all living things, cancer cells need food to survive. They crave sugars like glucose, and they use those sugars differently than normal cells do.

The altered glucose metabolism in cancer cells not only provides them with essential building materials to generate new cancer cells, but also release carcinogens, which further promote tumorigenesis.

Healthy cells use products of glucose the way a car uses gasoline. But when the cell’s metaphorical gas tank is full, the extra glucose is turned into a carcinogen. And in the cells of ovarian cancer patients, for example, it appears that high glucose levels allow tumor to adapt well in the presence of metformin treatments and thus cause resistance to treatments.

Liu is working to flag telltale biomarkers that could tell doctors sooner whether the patient needs to switch treatments for the best odds of survival. Her work uses cutting-edge technology called “metabolomics.”

This involves generating metabolic profiles by using analytical instruments to measure nutrients and metabolites – the products and substrates of metabolic reactions within biological systems.

She also hopes to develop guidelines for the most supportive diet for each type of cancer treatment to maximize its chance of success.

It’s not the controversial practice of seeking to cure cancer through diet alone; rather, it’s figuring out how to combine the two approaches to save precious time.

Liu is experienced in monitoring metabolic profiles using advanced mass spectrometers. Thanks to METRIC, Liu will be able to use one of the department’s new mass spectrometers to continue this key type of research.

“My mom sometimes worries that I spend too much time at work, but I tell her, ‘it’s like wanting to know what happens to an actress in a TV show,’” Liu says. “I want to know what happens if I change the diet – whether that will slow the tumor growth.”

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“I can’t wait to find out each day whether we’ve made progress in someday helping save a life.”

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Meet Our New Hires!

The College of Agriculture and Life Science is in our final year of the most aggressive hiring phase in our history. It’s been a three-year push to bring in 90 new faculty members – almost a third of our faculty total. So far, we’ve hired 74 of the top talent in our state, nation and world.

Led by Dean Richard Linton, catalyzed by CALS Human Resources and strengthened by faculty and staff engagement in the recruitment process, this round of hiring has resulted in an extraordinary group of new talent in the college.

We want to hire the very best people, and doing that requires exceptional applicant pools for our positions.

We thank the many people in the College who have invested time and energy to help us achieve our ambitious hiring goal. [go link placeholder]

“These individuals are extraordinary and will “These individuals are lead us in exciting extraordinary and will lead us in ways as we continue exciting ways as we continue to to fulfill our land-grant fulfill our land-grant mission.” mission,” Linton said.

- Dean Richard Linton

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www.cals.ncsu.edu 27

Stream Of (Eco) Consciousness Applied Ecology’s Alonso Ramirez Droughts are on the rise around the world. CALS’ new Professor of Applied Ecology Alonso Ramirez studies their impact on Puerto Rican streams.

“Droughts are not the norm,” Ramirez says. “It’s having as large an impact as the huge hurricanes.”

Ramirez specializes in urban stream ecology and rainforest ecology. He chose NC State as his new research home for its strong applied ecology department and robust water research. Currently, he’s studying the long-term effects that climate change and El Niño have on stream ecosystems.

When streams are impacted by droughts, exotic species appear in the ecosystem, which slows the stream’s recovery.

Ramirez believes that it is simple for the public to contribute to the maintenance of streams: “Look at them.”

“There are many opportunities for monitoring your neighborhood stream, seeing how water quality changes and perhaps trying to get things improved.”

– Kevin Moye

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“Very often, people just ignore urban streams, and realizing that they are there is so important.”

As our climate continues to change, so does the ecology of our planet.

Two of CALS’ newest faculty observ these impacts through an oftenoverlooked indicator: our creeks and streams.

Biological and Agricultural Engineering’s Natalie Nelson Hurricane Florence had barely passed when new CALS faculty member Natalie Nelson joined a team of scientists and engineers from NC State and UNC Chapel Hill searching for answers.

“We don’t know a lot about the effects of extreme events like Florence on water quality, particularly in rural and agricultural areas,” Nelson says. “Are pollutants being diluted, or are they spiking? How does that change over time? Are there any lingering effects?”

The researchers sampled stream channels, flood plains and other bodies of water in four watersheds for an array of contaminants ranging from infectious bacteria to heavy metals. Led by NC State professor of engineering Angela Harris, the researchers went back twice to capture data.

“I like working in an institution full of people who are interested in using findings from multiple scientific disciplines to solve problems.”

In her work, Nelson analyzes data to address multifaceted issues, especially in aquatic systems.

With another new BAE faculty member, animal waste specialist Mahmoud Sharara, Nelson will be looking for patterns and trends in the collected data that shed light on what happens to chemical and microbiological pollutants in the aftermath of major flooding.

The project is the type of challenge Nelson is drawn to: a complex issue that could inform policies and practices in agricultural production, stormwater management and other areas.

– Dee Shore

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Go With Your Gut Marissa Herchler Uses Algorithms To Study Turkey Diets – And She Might Just Solve Your Stomach Ache NC State Extension agent and Ph.D. student Marissa Herchler writes about her research into the gut health of turkeys – and how it could affect your future health.

“You are what you eat.” Ever hear that saying? We’re beginning to figure out just how true it is: scientists are constantly discovering new ways we’re affected by our guts and our diets.

I study the gut health of adult turkeys because they closely represent what we see in humans.

My current research focuses on enzymes: natural biological substances that kick off and help along the process of turning food into energy. We have internal enzymes that help us digest our food, but sometimes adding supplemental enzymes will increase digestibility. Feeding our turkeys antibiotic-free diets with supplemental enzymes, my research team hopes to learn how to predict digestive problems.

How does this affect you if you’re not a turkey farmer? Humans can be difficult to study — we typically don’t eat the same food every day, and it takes a lotlonger for us to reach maturity. Turkeys grow quickly,

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How To Talk Like A Poultry Researcher Enzymes: Molecules in cells that, among other things, accelerate the process of turning food into energy

Gene expression: The process that each gene’s genetic code uses when it directs cell construction, and the outcome of that process

Gut: Portions of the alimentary canal, especially the stomach and intestines

Neural network deep learning algorithm analysis: Used to identify patterns or connections between data points or sets; helps scientists make predictions that might be overlooked using other methods

so we can see changes faster than we would in humans.

One of the most interesting parts of my research is the fact that “gut health” itself isn’t well-defined, because it impacts so many systems in the body. How do you measure something that expansive?

Solving The Puzzle As a scientist, I love these kinds of big problems – and I love helping solve them. With funding from CALS’ new Animal Food and Nutrition Consortium, my latest research will use neural networking deep learning algorithms.

Translated, that means we’ll upload our data to a database that uses software to cross-reference correlations among multiple data sets instead of just one at a time. Those cognitive learning techniques will allow us to zero in on patterns or associations in the digestive system that might otherwise be overlooked.

We’ll start by measuring different genes in the gut based on varying

Science, Translated

levels of enzymes in the turkeys’ feed, examining the genes’ characteristics when we “read” each turkey’s DNA. Then we’ll compare that data with our growth measurements. Is there a link between the characteristics of certain genes and how well birds grow? In addition to human health implications, this is a big question for the turkey industry. If birds have to fight off pathogens, they can’t put as much of their energy toward muscle growth.

Research In Action This type of research wouldn’t be possible without a great deal of teamwork: in this case, farm managers, CALS employees, undergraduate and graduate students, advisors, technicians and anybody else who is willing to pitch in. My research takes place at the Wendell and Judy Talley Turkey Education Unit in the Lake Wheeler Road Field Laboratory, in a house that mimics production on an actual farm. Our birds are separated using pens based on which feed they are receiving.

We weigh the birds and their feed every other week. This helps us track their growth, and means all hands on deck! We also do daily checks for animal welfare.

Our goal is always to increase the flocks’ health in ways that don’t compromise their immune systems in the long run. In learning how to use algorithms to predict animals’ health, we can use more natural and holistic additives rather than antibiotics or traditional disease management.

The Big Picture More and more, we are learning that our guts are connected to our physiological characteristics; this type of research allows us to use algorithms to predict those connections. As we increase the amount of data available to study, we can also increase the accuracy of our predictions. And that’s how it works: one data point at a time, building a more complete understanding of the healthiest way to live.

In our new series, CALS Magazine brings you scientists in their own words. If you’d like to request a topic or researcher for our next issue, please email the editor at chelsea_kellner@ncsu.edu.

How A Widow Saved A Family Farm (With A Little Help From Extension)

By Chelsea Kellner

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High school sweethearts David and Lisa Glosson were partners in everything from 4-H leadership to dancing the two-step. Then he passed away, leaving her heartbroken – and worried she’d lose the 35-acre cattle farm that had been in his family for generations.

In spring 2018, Lisa Glosson thought she’d failed.

When her husband, David, passed away from liver disease in 2015, Lisa had been determined to keep their cattle farm afloat. But as a packaging designer by trade and a horsewoman by experience, she had to rely on help from neighbors to manage the herd. There was too much to learn, and not enough time. On March 12, 2018, Lisa braced herself for a brutal decision: She was going to have to sell.

Until she checked her email.

In a small box at the bottom of the N.C. Cooperative Extension newsletter: “NC Leadership and Cattle Handling for Women Producers, May 5-7.”

“If I can learn enough in three days to manage this place and be comfortable working around the cows,” Lisa thought, “then I’ll keep the farm.”

“If.” Observance, Empathy, Innovation Back in 2009, NC State Extension employee April Shaeffer noticed something that struck her as odd.

In cattle handling workshops, couples often attended together – but the men asked most of the questions. Women also tended to hang back during practice sessions, watching while their husbands got the hands-on experience.

“I knew that at home on the farm, these women were pitching in alongside their husbands to help, and they needed to learn just as much,” Shaeffer says.

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www.cals.ncsu.edu 33

So in March 2010, Shaeffer partnered with the NC Cattlemen’s Association to launch a new kind of cattlehandling workshop. The idea: give women a supportive, peer-based atmosphere for learning and networking.

The tone of the workshops is encouraging but practical. If Shaeffer wants to prepare these women to run farms of their own, she has to pack a lot into a few days. By the final day, participants can drive a truck and trailer through an obstacle course, back up both gooseneck and bumper pull trailers, correctly manage birthing problems and administer vaccines.

They’re versed in the essentials of beef quality assurance and low-stress animal handling.

Participants call the experience “life-altering.”

Shaeffer does too.

“Sometimes I leave after the workshop in tears or with a heavy heart, hearing some of the struggles these ladies have gone through,” Shaeffer says. “I just hope I can make a difference.”

A Match Made In 4-H Lisa Smith met David Glosson in 1983. He was a senior in the 4-H cow program at Southern Alamance High School; she was a sophomore in the 4-H horse program nine miles down the road at Walter M. Williams High. They started dating during her senior year – but when he proposed marriage, she said no. He wanted her to stay home on the farm; she had her heart set on NC State’s College of Textiles.

So Lisa left to focus on her career; but she never forgot about David.

“I just hope I can make a difference.”

– April Shaeffer, Research Specialist

“He’s the only person I ever wanted to marry,” Lisa says. “It just took us a while to get to the same place at the same time.”

Fast forward to the big ice storm of December 2002.

Now a full-time packaging designer, Lisa was also leading Extension’s 4-H horse program in Alamance County. David was running his family’s farm, plus a landscape business in southern Alamance. He called to check up on her during the storm.

“We talked every day after that,” she says.

Less than a year later, after a George Strait concert, David proposed to Lisa again.

“I said, ‘Well, I waited for you for 18 years – of course yes, absolutely yes!’” she recalls.

He renamed the cattle operation in honor of their partnership: D&L Glosson Farms. Lisa helped with produce and haying. David handled the beef cattle. In the evenings, they liked to put on George Strait and dance the two-step around the house.

“We were just always together,” she says. “We were best friends.”

From Ages 18 to 78 It’s unusual for an Extension technician to head a workshop, let alone a grant. For Shaeffer, it’s been a passion project. She prefers to keep the focus on the women who have completed the program – she is fiercely proud of their commitment and their accomplishments – but certain facts must be mentioned.

In 2016, Shaeffer won Extension’s Outstanding Subject Matter Program by an Individual Award. In 2017, she won NC State’s Equity for Women award.

She’s been featured on the national television program FarmHer. By 2018, the workshops had to be capped at 20 participants, who often range in age from 18 to their mid-70s. There is always a waiting list.

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“April is a stellar example of how Extension employees keep their eyes open for new ways to serve North Carolina citizens right where they are,” says Richard Bonanno, Director of NC State Extension.

For Lisa Glosson, that service came just in time.

In Sickness And In Health In 2008, doctors diagnosed David with cirrhosis of the liver and gave him six months to live. He and Lisa started to downsize the farm and shift the operation from meat to breeding. The 35 acres are the remains of a 300-acre dairy farm, in the Glosson family since the 1880s.

“It was important to him,” Lisa says, “and so I made it important to me.”

Lisa learned what she could about cattle handling and farm management, but David needed her as his nurse.

He was too weak to do much teaching.

They got more time together than the doctors predicted, but David passed away on May 25, 2015. He was 50. On the day he died, D&L Glosson Farms’ first calf was born.

There are about 400 livestock farms like the Glossons’ in Alamance County, often run by families like David’s who have been there for generations. The county’s 28,000 acres of pastureland support livestock, dairy and poultry farms that are worth about $20 million to the local economy, says Mark Danieley, director of Extension’s Alamance County Center.

It’s not just Lisa who is concerned about keeping these farms in the family. The first pillar of the Alamance County Board of Commissioners’ five-year plan is preserving agriculture – especially the locally owned and operated farms that provide “economic stability, increased employment and environmental benefits” to the rural county.

“Keeping farms profitable reduces development and preserves that open space and community feel that draw people here,” Danieley explains.

Want to attend a workshop?

For information on the next NC Leadership and Women’s Cattle Workshop, go online to

go.ncsu.edu/[link]

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But by spring 2018, despite Lisa’s best efforts, time was running out for D&L Glosson Farms. Proper cattle care required an overwhelming amount of specialized knowledge.

That’s when Lisa changed her life by checking her email.

She had been worried she’d be laughed at in a traditional education setting for how little she knew, but she felt safe around other female farmers.

“The ease of that is why I went,” she says. “I knew the cows needed things that weren’t getting done, and I needed to go find out how to do them.

“I said, ‘Well, this is going to make me or break me.’”

Enter Shaeffer and her inter-organizational posse of agricultural experts. You know what happens next.

One Year Later Spring 2019. Lisa is welcoming her fourth round of calves at D&L Glosson Farm, a small herd for now but growing. Neighbors and friends still pitch in to help, but the threat of having to sell has lifted.

“I feel like I’m helping carry on a family tradition, and that’s a good feeling,” Lisa says. “I now have the knowledge to keep the herd growing, thanks to April.”

As for the workshop, its future is bright. Now funded by a Southern Risk Management Education Center Grant, the annual event has grown to become a collaborative Extension effort across state lines.

NC State is the grant leader, with sub-contracts to Clemson University, the University of Georgia, Auburn University and Mississippi State University.

Shaeffer earned her master’s degree in agriculture and extension education while working full time as a research specialist for CALS’ Department of Animal Science.

One of the most important indicators of the workshop’s success? Lisa.

“She is still in the cattle business,” Shaeffer says, “and it makes my heart smile.”

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4-H’ers Help Rebuild After Hurricane Florence

By Dee Shore On a Harnett County cattle rescue mission after Hurricane Florence, farmer Stephen Broadwell noticed a little white muzzle poking up from the floodwaters – a newborn calf reaching for air. He had to act fast.

Stephen pulled the calf from the flooded ditch and carried it on horseback to higher ground. His wife, Heather, and 10-year-old daughter, Sadie, took over the calf’s care.

Sadie’s 4-H training – both in livestock care and in community focus – were about to come in handy.

The rescue was one of countless acts of service by North Carolina 4-H’ers and their families.

Moral Support – And More: Luke Barber, 13 After Hurricane Florence forced a Bladen County woman to leave 40 chickens behind in her backyard coop, County Cooperative Extension Director Becky Spearman turned to someone she knew would have answers: 13-year-old Luke Barber.

Luke not only loves chickens, he also knows a lot about their care.

As a 4-H’er, he’s focused his project work on poultry, particularly chickens – and this was a chance to put what he’d learned into action.

Luke set to work, cleaning up the coop and securing and delivering feed the poultry needed to survive. It was one of his first times volunteering directly with someone in need, and he was grateful for the chance to provide moral support.

“When it’s one-on-one, you get a better connection with the people that you’re helping. You get to know their story,” Luke says. “It meant something, being able to talk to her, get to know her and help her out.”

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They cooked and delivered meals for hurricane victims. They collected and distributed donations of household essentials and food for displaced pets. They visited children staying in hurricane shelters, playing games and bringing much-needed laughter.

“Our 4-H’ers stepped up for their neighbors and communities in ways big and small,” says Mike Yoder, state 4-H leader with NC State Extension.

“They went above and beyond, and some of them continue to help with what will be a long period of recovery.”

Here, we feature just a few of the 4-H’ers who made good on their 4-H pledge to put their hands to larger service in their communities and beyond. www.cals.ncsu.edu 39

Bridging the Distance: Caleb Street, 13 Caleb Street’s home in Gaston County is nearly a five-hour drive from New Bern, but that distance didn’t deter the 13-year-old from reaching out when the city was hit hard

by Florence. He learned that school library books in the coastal city had been ruined by the flood, and he felt called to help. So he posted flyers at his church, Antioch Lutheran Church, in Dallas.

The church’s response surprised even Caleb.

Within 5 weeks, he’d amassed enough books – 396 – to fill four large plastic bins.

He was, as his mother put it, “overwhelmed.”

“He’s never done anything on this scale,” says Brenda Street, support specialist with N.C. Cooperative Extension’s Lincoln County Center. “The experience was a rewarding one for him.”

Caleb, who has been a 4-H’er since he was five, concurred.

“I thought it was important to help out this way because for me, when I read, it’s like I’m in my own little world,” he says. “If something bad happened that day, it takes my brain off of it for a little bit. And I’ve learned a lot from books.”

What’s 4-H? In North Carolina, 4-H is coordinated by Extension programs at NC State and N.C. A&T State universities. The program, which focuses on handson learning, reaches more than 250,000 children and teens each year. It gets its name from the four words in its pledge that start with H: “I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country and my world.”

Learn more at go.ncsu.edu/NC4-H.

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Nurturing Pirate: Sadie Broadwell, 10 Orphaned by its storm-stressed mother, the bull calf that Stephen Broadwell rescued would need close attention over the weeks and months to follow.

Ten-year-old Sadie volunteered.

Her mom and dad lead Harnett County’s 4-H Livestock Club. Sadie knew that caring for the calf – which she named Pirate – would mean commitment. More than two months after the September storm, Sadie still patiently bottle-fed the calf twice a day.

The farmer who owned the calf, so appreciative of what Sadie and her family had done to help, ended up giving it to Sadie to keep.

Nurturing Pirate was just one of the ways Sadie chose to help her community: She also put a box at The Double L tack shop in Coats to collect donated supplies, such as halters, shavings and antifungal soaps, to help area horse owners.

Through the hurricane devastated families and communities, Heather Broadwell said she saw a silver lining.

“Sadie got to see that in these situations, you just go to work,” she says. “You don’t have time to stop and panic or to worry just about yourself. You take care of what needs to be taken care of.”

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COASTAL ENTREPRENEUR – AND CALS SENIOR Charles Eason was one of the first students to sign up for the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics’ pilot program in entrepreneurship.

When he graduates in April 2019, Eason will be one of the program’s first success stories.

Eason’s big idea: an integrated mobile shellfish hatchery for oysters and clams. He workshopped it in his ARE classes, cultivated investors through personal and program contacts, then collaborated with Biological and Agricultural Engineering senior design team in order to design a prototype. The name of his new business will ring true for anyone who’s heard a Downeast accent: Hoi Toiders Mariculture.

What does the mobile hatchery do?

We’re trying to lower the barriers to entry for oyster growers. The mobile hatchery takes oysters and clams from the larval stage and creates them into seed. Our idea is to sell the seed to growers at first, then our long-term goal is to contract seed and implement some risk-sharing.

What do you tell potential investors?

It’s totally different from anything anyone else has done in this business, and we’ve got the right team to do it. I think it is going to be good for North Carolina. It’s long-term, it’s sustainable, it’s good for the environment. It’s profitable, when done correctly. And it’s something that’s going to strengthen our coastal communities by bringing more viable jobs there, which is important to me.

How did you come up with the name “Hoi Toiders”?

I wanted a name that is unique to North Carolina – and anybody who is familiar with our coastal communities knows that in certain parts of Ocracoke or Hyde County, the accents change. I tried to spell it the way they speak there.

What got you interested in entrepreneurship?

My dad owned his own business as a small tobacco wholesaler and my mom started a hand-woven belt business. It always appealed to me that they were their own bosses.

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What would you say is the key to an entrepreneurial mindset?

Being able to recognize an opportunity. You find gaps in the marketplace and you figure out ways to fill those gaps.

Was there anything you learned in ARE’s entrepreneurship program that surprised you?

I thought that once you had a good idea, everything would fall into place. Well, as I found out: no, that’s not at all how it works. You need to learn how to do pitches and value propositions. You need to know how to do cash flow statements and profit/loss statements. You have to figure out what type of company you’re starting, what makes the most sense for tax purposes, how LLCs work, how operating agreements work – all sorts of stuff like that.

There was a lot I didn’t know.

What’s your big dream for Hoi Toiders?

The biggest picture would be to move beyond shellfish and get into other forms of seafood using multiple facilities ... and basically become a large, vertically integrated seafood company, similar to what you see in hogs or chickens, where you have these large integrators. I would like to be an integrator, but for seafood production.

I AM CALS continued from page 1 advertising company, then for an online cell phone supplier.

It was an exciting time to be in the business.

Then he met his wife, Denise – sort of. She was working with one of their data entry partners in Maryland.

“Sometimes connecting over the phone is better than in person,” Jimenez says. “It’s more from the heart.”

And that’s how Jimenez got to the East Coast. His move to Maryland was followed by a series of jobs, proposing to and marrying Denise, then a fateful road trip to Raleigh when a hurricane knocked out power in the Washington, D.C., area.

The Jimenez’s moved to North Carolina, started working at NC State, then CALS and have been here ever since.

“A Fantastic Asset To Our Department” Stroll the campus with Jimenez and you’ll see why he has a reputation for not just knowing everybody, but being on teasing terms. Try taking his picture outside Schaub Hall and you’ll draw a crowd of jokesters. “Oh, look at this troublemaker,” was the most common comment, accompanied with a head shake, a grin and a friendly wave when they caught his eye. Wherever Jimenez goes, there will be banter.

Ever since his first CALS job as graduation coordinator in Patterson Hall, Jimenez’s dedication to morale is grounded in his appreciation for his co-workers – from faculty to administration to staff.

The Silicon Valley Connection Ask Jimenez about himself and he’ll start by telling you about his family. His wife, Denise, is a former CALS employee who now works in human resources at NC State.

Their daughters, Gracie and Samantha, are 12 and 7. What does he like about his job in the department? First thing that comes to mind: the family-oriented policies that let him pick up his kids from school early if they get sick or allow them to visit the office during snow delays.

“That’s the most important thing, and it’s a big part of why I’ve stayed at CALS as long as I have,” he says. “The department feels like a family.”

Jimenez grew up in San Jose, California, just as Silicon Valley began to boom. He jumped right into working at a startup. He started as an account manager, first for an online

“What I’ve learned working here is that I can’t do my job without everybody else on campus,” Jimenez says. “I can only take like five percent of the credit for what I do.”

In Sandeep’s opinion, that estimate is too modest.

“People who know only the fun side of Fred may think it’s all about fun, but he’s super-efficient,” Sandeep says.

“Answers are quick. Solutions are quick. He’s a fantastic asset to our department.”

That said, after a decade as mastermind of department hijinks, there’s little danger the fun side will fade anytime soon. When Jimenez left for vacation, unidentified members of the department corralled a posse to load up his small office with 40 folding chairs.

“That was a pretty good one. Pretty good,” Jimenez says with a smile. “It goes both ways – that’s what the fun is all about.”

— Chelsea Kellner

www.cals.ncsu.edu 43

EXTENSION ARCHIVES < North Carolina State 4-H Council officers, 1941 Credit: 4-H Youth Development (UA023.008), Special Collections Research Center at NCSU Libraries

“Milk is fine after a hard ball > game,” USDA advertisment, 1920’s Credit: 4-H Youth Development (UA023.008), Special Collections Research Center at NCSU Libraries

< President Eisenhower

receiving a copy of the 4-H Report to the Nation, April 17, 1953

Credit: 4-H Youth Development (UA023.008), Special Collections Research Center at NCSU Libraries

“A fine crop of barley and vetch” Credit: Crop and soil science. Grain and legume crops (UA023.007.083), Special Collections Research Center at NCSU Libraries

>

4-H teenager with calfused in News & Observer, bottom left:

Credit: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Department of Communication Services Records (UA100.099), Special Collections Research Center at NCSU Libraries

Bottom Right: Governor Terry Sanford and horticulture specialist Mel Kolbe promoting “Apple Week” Credit: Agricultural Extension and Research services (UA023.007), Special Collections Research Center at NCSU Libraries

44 CALS Magazine

We Grow NC

At NC State, we partner with North Carolina business, industry and community leaders in all 100 counties to create economic and intellectual prosperity in every corner of the state. We Think and Do to grow NC.

We Grow Economies

We Grow Opportunities

Vibrant main streets depend on a thriving agricultural economy. Research and innovation at NC State help farmers increase productivity and profits that yield economic opportunities for rural North Carolina.

Roughly 80% of our state’s harvest is shipped elsewhere for food production. NC State food scientists are partnering with industry and government to grow our food economy from seed to supermarket in our own backyard.

We Grow Solutions

We Grow Talent

North Carolina’s challenges are as unique as its 532 cities and towns. That’s why NC State Extension partners with community leaders in all 100 counties to identify and develop local solutions for local challenges.

Access to college for students from rural communities is harder than ever. At NC State, we’re opening more paths for students to enter, succeed and graduate to meet local employers’ needs for a well-prepared workforce.

Learn more: WeGrowNC.ncsu.edu

NC State University

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College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

PAID RALEIGH, NC PERMIT No. 2353

Campus Box 7508 Raleigh, NC 27695

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