Ingenuity, Spring 2019

The Magazine of the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences

Spring 2019

Ingenuity Extension

Research Innovation Teaching Nurturing Great Minds: Creating and Applying Knowledge.

A Carnegie 2 Research Institution

About the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences

The School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences (SANS) has three academic departments (Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences; Human Ecology; and Natural Sciences), an Experiment Station, and an Extension Program.

Academics Undergraduate programs in pre-veterinary medicine, plant and soil science, animal and poultry science, agribusiness, agricultural studies, nutrition, dietetics, fashion merchandising, early child development, family and consumer sciences, biology, biochemistry, chemistry, and environmental science are representative of the School’s varied curricula. Graduate programs, at both the masters and doctoral levels, are offered in marine estuarine and environmental sciences (M.S., Ph.D.), food and agricultural sciences (M.S.), chemistry (M.S.), food science and technology (Ph.D.), and toxicology (Ph.D.). Strong research and extension programs are integrated with the school’s academic programming.

Research

UMES is one of two land-grant institutions in the state of Maryland that provides leadership for research in agriculture, food, biomedical science, and natural resource conservation and use. The School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences is unique among the academic schools at UMES in that it underpins the institution’s land-grant status. Over the years, the SANS research program has established and maintained strong collaborative partnerships with state and federal agencies as well as other academic institutions.

These linkages allow the program to be highly responsive to priorities in Maryland and the nation. Support for research comes from several sources: the State of Maryland; the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and a number of federal agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health; the U.S. Department of Education; and the private sector.

Extension

The University of Maryland Extension is a cooperative partnership between the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and the University of Maryland College Park.

A statewide educational organization funded by federal, state, and local governments, Extension provides practical education to help people, businesses, and communities solve problems, develop skills, and build better futures. University of Maryland Extension is in the business of extending research-based knowledge and changing lives.

Table of Contents

2 | A Message from President Heidi M. Anderson

4 | A Message from Dean Moses T. Kairo

7 | Editor’s Note

Features

4 | First Ever Bridge to Doctorate Program

6 | Women in Science: Developing Specialty Crop Alternatives

9 | Researchers Discover New Type of Memristor

15 | El Naiem Trusts Novel Approaches for Vector and Disease Control 18 | More Than a Fishing Expedition for this UMES Researcher

Ingenuity is the Research and Extension Magazine of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. It is published yearly for alumni, students, stakeholders, clients, and friends of the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences.

Administration Heidi M. Anderson, Ph.D. President Moses T. Kairo, Ph.D., DIC Dean and Director of 1890 Land-Grant Programs School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences Jurgen Schwarz, Ph.D. Associate Research Director and Chair, Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences Grace Namwanba, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Human Ecology Deborah Sauder, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Natural Sciences

30 | Chigbu Named Among White House Honorees

Paulinus Chigbu, Ph.D. Director, Living Marine Resource Cooperative Science Center

33 | Status of Soil Health Activities at 1890 and 1994 Land-Grant Universities

Laura Duck Assistant to the 1890 Research Director

20 | Research Team to Aid the Learning Process

33 | Nanotechnology for Sustainable Soybean Production in Maryland

Tracie Bishop REEport Administrator

Departments

Earle Canter Farm Manager

Ingenuity Magazine

2 | Research Briefs

10 | Extension 16 | International Reach

Editor-in-Chief: Suzanne Waters Street, M.B.A. Designer: Debi Rus, Rus Design Inc. Photographers: Myles Banks, Jim Glovier,

21 | Undergraduate Research & Scholarship

Muhammad Khan, and Suzanne Street.

24 | Alumni Corner

Opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by the University, School, or editor.

26 | Graduate Research & Scholarship

This publication is available in alternative media upon request.

29 | Faculty and Staff Focus 34 | Select Publications 36 | New Initiatives 37 | Welcome Aboard The background cover photo, by Dr. Moses T. Kairo, is of the Manokin River, which runs through the UMES Agricultural Experiment Station.

Photo on this page, UMES Student Services Center, by Moses T. Kairo

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, age, national origin, political affiliation, physical or mental disability, religion, protected veteran status, genetic information, personal appearance, or any other legally protected status. For inquiries, please contact the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance by telephone at (410) 651-7848 or e-mail at TitleIX@umes.edu.

This publication has been funded in part with Evans-Allen Program, Extension, and other state appropriated funds at a unit cost of $2.31.

Ingenuity is printed on recycled paper.

Dear Stakeholders

As I welcome you to another edition of Ingenuity, I’d like to take a moment to focus on the land-grant portion of the tripartite mission UMES has upheld for many of its 132 years in existence. It is the part of the mission that fosters research, discovery and engagement among faculty and students who are primarily situated within the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences.

You will find within the pages of this magazine a reckoning of the work that has gone on with the goal of Nurturing Great Minds: Creating and Applying Knowledge. Along with journal articles that have been published in premier scientific journals, researchers have a lot they can be proud of accomplishing. As you know, much of their work is aimed at solving challenges that adversely affect our quality of life, such as: food safety, food security, nutrient management, poultry science, health and wellness, toxicology, natural resources and environmental sustainability and the like. I will be the first to say it’s a great time to be here . . . to continue this important work and to find more work to do as our world groans for want of new discoveries that address rising concerns.

As I embark upon this journey as the 16th president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, I graciously commit to upholding the tripartite mission of this fine institution. I can proudly say that as a historically black 1890 institution, UMES has provided access to students from every racial, economic and social status. As an institution of higher learning, UMES will continue to offer dynamic educational opportunities to diverse individuals destined to be the next generation of scientists, doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, pilots, veterinarians, biologists, 21st century farmers, pharmacists, physical therapists, and etcetera. Many of those students are first-generation and otherwise non-traditional students. I am delighted to join our distinguished, talented and outstanding faculty and staff as we work to produce the future group of graduate leaders.

I am Dr. Heidi M. Anderson, and I am eager to build on the rich history of UMES as we move forward in educating our students, expanding our research and extension capacities, and strengthening our footprint in the community. As a team . . . together in excellence we will affirm our mission!

Heidi M. Anderson

, Ph.D.

President

Research Briefs Developing and Implementing of Integrated Insect Pest Management and Food Safety Practices for Cucurbit Production in the U.S.Delmarva Peninsula 2

UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

This multi-institutional project integrates research, education, and extension to develop and implement organic pest management and food safety practices for cucurbits (cucumbers, squash, pumpkins etc.).

Demand for organic fruits and vegetables in the Delmarva region is increasing; however, the lack of effective organicallybased insect pest management (IPM) is a challenge limiting production. Moreover, using manure-based soil amendments in organic systems present a risk of fecal pathogens.

Because the vectoring of fecal microbes onto cucurbits by insects is not currently quantified or estimable in the region, Dr. Simon Zebelo the project’s long-term goal is to expand safe organic cucurbit production in the Delmarva region by providing science-based organic IPM practices. Graduate (n=2), undergraduate (n=9) and intern (n=6) students will be trained in pest management, food safety, data and eXtension communications. In addition, 30 farmers and Ag-Extension agents are expected to participate in workshops/ webinars/e-Organics. The major expected outcome of the project includes an increase in the acreage of certified organic produce on Delmarva.

NIFA Award No. 2018-38821-27749

Research Briefs

Dr. Benham Khatabi

Identification of New Sources of Resistance/Tolerance to Important Soybean Diseases in the Delmarva Regions

The United States is the No. 1 producer of soybeans (Glycine max L.) in the world, and soybeans are a key crop in the Delmarva region. Several fungal, bacterial and viral diseases cause losses pertaining to soybean yield and quality annually.

Planting disease-resistant cultivars is the most effective and economical way to combat plant diseases. Therefore, the screening of soybean germplasm is of great importance in the search for disease resistance genes.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) maintains exclusive collections of soybean germplasm that have been widely evaluated for different soybean traits such as

yield and productivity.

The collaborative project is being conducted by Drs. Behnam Khatabi, assistant professor in the UMES departments of

Shewanella Species as Potential Emerging Pathogens in Oysters and Seawater From Apalachicola, Chesapeake and Maryland Coastal Bays

Natural Science and Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences, and Kathryne Everts, professor and extension specialist in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at the University of Maryland College Park and located at the Lower Eastern Shore Research and Education Center. The aim is to evaluate USDA soybean lines against another important and destructive soybean disease, which reduces soybean yield worldwide. The resultant genetic materials from the study will be useful in developing soybean cultivars with durable resistance to both pathogens.

The research goal is to develop efficient and environmentally sound disease management strategies for controlling soybean diseases in the Delmarva region, which will ultimately improve the agricultural economy in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The project is funded by Maryland Soybean Board.

Recently, cases of Shewanella infections were reported around the Chesapeake Bay (CB). No adequate information is available, however, on the levels of pathogenic Shewanella species in oysters and seawater from the Apalachicola Bay (AB), the CB and the Maryland Coastal Bays (MCBs).

Dr. Salina Parveen Shewanella species are major flesh-eating bacteria that are transmitted through contaminated seawater and seafood.

Shewanella may, therefore, emerge as deadly pathogens to immunocompromised individuals who consume raw or lightly cooked oysters or who are exposed through cuts in the skin while in contaminated marine environments.

This new research project will provide, for the first time, a simple, rapid and reliable tool for monitoring Shewanella concentrations in shellfish that can be employed by commercial growers, state resource managers, and educational institutions.

The unique combination of multi-institutional research and outreach activities will enhance the research capacity of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Florida A & M University in environmental, food and agricultural sciences.

NIFA Award No. 2018-38821-27759 INGENUITY WINTER 2018 | SPRING 2019 3

Dear SANS Stakeholders, Partners and Friends; It is always with much joy that I take the opportunity to pen this dean’s letter for our magazine. This particular edition highlights a few examples of our research, extension, and academic endeavors. As I read through the articles in the magazine, it struck me how privileged we are to have the opportunity to nurture the next generation of leaders and to contribute to solving many of challenges that are of immense importance to our state and nation.

One of the significant highlights over the past year was the commitment of our Governor and the Maryland Legislature to investing in our extension program. The investment of $1.4 million new dollars has not only allowed us to invest in additional extension programs, but they also enabled UMES to begin managing all the resources for extension directly. We are delighted that both UMES and University of Maryland College Park have made a firm commitment to continue working in close partnership to deliver seamless services and programs to our constituents. Over the coming year, UMES will continue to strategically fill the new positions that will allow increased extension service and program delivery.

Our faculty and students have continued to excel in research and there are several examples highlighted in this magazine. More importantly, faculty and students continued to publish their work in high impact journals. For instance, I was delighted to see an undergraduate being a lead author for a paper published in Nature Scientific Reports, but his is just one example.

Let me take this opportunity to thank our many partners including those who provide funding support for our work such as the State of Maryland, USDA, NOAA, DoE, NSF, and Commodity Groups among others. I would also like to thank the many partners who work with us and of course our stakeholders. Finally, let me give a big shout to our hardworking faculty, staff, and students!

It is an exciting time at UMES with our new president on board. We are looking forward to continue to focus steadfastly on mission delivery during 2019 and beyond.

Moses T. Kairo,

Ph.D., DIC

Dean, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences

Research Briefs

UMES Lands First Ever Bridge to the Doctorate Program UMES has recently been awarded a Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Fellows program, under the auspices of the University System of Maryland Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program. The current award, through the National Science Foundation (NSF), represents the 10th cohort in the partnership, which includes University of Maryland College Park and the lead institution, University of Maryland Baltimore County. It is the first BD program at UMES, and the award seeks to strengthen both undergraduate and graduate education pipelines as well as create an expanded community of scholars within these disciplines.

Each of the graduate programs have, at their core, an emphasis on the 1890 land-grant mission. The Marine-Estuarine Environmental Sciences (MEES) program at UMES is supported by two research centers dedicated to enhancing American fisheries and sustainable agricultural practices: 1) the NSF CREST Center for the Integrated Study of Coastal Ecosystem Processes

4

UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

Research Briefs

2nd Food Safety Consortium Symposium For the expressed purpose of creating a forum for highlighting 1890 research, education, and extension efforts in Maryland, UMES, the 1890 Association of Research Directors, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service formed a partnership in 2013.

By 2015, the consortium successfully planned and carried out its inaugural food safety symposium, which was held at the Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland.

By all accounts, it was a decided success, with more than 100 faculty, researchers, staff, and students in attendance.

The 2nd annual Food Safety Consortium Symposium was held early in 2018. Holding to its overall purpose, the symposium served to bring to light scientific inquiry as well as scientific discovery among the research institutions as they relate to food safety and agricultural water quality. Event highlights included discussions centered on expanding successful research and funding opportunities through

Left to right: Annette Kenney, UMES M.S. student and 2nd place award recipient of student poster competition; Dr. Fawzy Hashem, UMES Research Associate Professor and symposium co-organizer; Dr. Charles Onwulata, USDA-ARS, Northeast Associate Area Director; Ms. Ayriana Taylor, Lincoln University Ph.D. student and 1st place award recipient of student poster competition; Dr. Majed El-Dweik, Lincoln University Associate Professor; Dr. Patricia Millner, USDA-ARS Senior Research Microbiologist and symposium co-organizer; and Dr. Moses Kairo, UMES Dean and Research Director.

Dr. Ellen Bornhorst, USDA-ARS-BARC, speaking during a tour of the ARD New Produce Washing Pilot Plant Research facilities and “Grocery Store� display case.

transdisciplinary cooperative projects; smart growth among 1890 extension programs; potential collaborative projects involving research, education, and extension; and panel discussions about research grant opportunities.

Especially important to the success of the event were the many networking opportunities.

Along with faculty and student researchers and administrators from Maryland agencies and universities were participants from Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Concerning the 1890 institutions, 14 of the 19 were represented. Also represented were five 1862 land-grant institutions and four government agencies, namely, the United States Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Science Foundation.

and Dynamics (CISCEP), and 2) the NOAA Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center (LMRCSC). The UMES Toxicology program conducts research in the evaluation and testing of harmful effects from chemical and biological agents on mammalian and marine organisms.

Finally, the Food, Science and Technology (FDST) programs prepare students for careers within the food industry, academia, and government. Its goals are to enhance the safety and quality of foods, with an emphasis on agricultural and marine commodities of importance to Maryland, including fresh produce, poultry and other small farm animals, and shellfish.

BD Fellows at UMES will follow a rigorous professional development program, under the direction of co-PIs Dr. Joseph Pitula, director of the MEES program from Natural Sciences; and Dr. Moses Kairo, dean of the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences. This mentoring will include bi-weekly meetings, seminars, and workshops. Workshops will include topics such as public speaking, applying for NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, academic writing, and navigating the doctoral thesis pathway. The first cohort will be recruited with the expectation that they will develop a reputation as top students in their programs as they continue to build upon the success UMES has achieved through attaining classification as a Carnegie Doctoral Research University.

Dr. Pitula with Toxicology Ph.D. student Kristin Noell, former LSAMP student from Fayetteville State University, and winner of best poster presentation at the 2018 UMES Graduate Research Day. INGENUITY WINTER 2018 | SPRING 2019 5

Women in Science:

Developing Specialty Crop Alternatives for the Eastern Shore Corrie Cotton, assistant research professor and horticulturalist, is a graduate of UMES, where she has worked for the last 13 years. She and Dr. Nadine Burton, who is newly graduated from UMES with a doctorate in food science and technology, are researching the feasibility of growing amaranth, which is also known as callaloo (Amaranthus viridis L.), and hibiscus, also known as roselle or sorrel (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) in the soils of the lower Eastern Shore.

Amaranth belongs to the Amaranthacae family, and is of the genus Amaranth. It is an annual plant that is used as vegetable, cereal and ornamental by different ethnic groups. It is a fast-growing herb that is known to be drought tolerant and does not require a lot of inputs to produce a quality crop. Amaranth is also rich in nutrients and has many health benefits.

Hibiscus, a member of the Malvaceae family, is easy to grow, has multifunctional properties, is able to tolerate poor soils, is rich in nutritive value and has been shown to possess phytochemical and

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UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

pharmacological properties. All parts of the hibiscus plant (stems/ leaves, calyces, seeds, and roots) can be used for food.

Dr. Victoria Volkis is a chemist and serves as associate professor in the Department of Natural Sciences. She was born in Russia, but spent half of her life in Isreal. Her specialty crop is Aronia (Aronia mitchurinii), which is also known as the black chokeberry.

The crop is native to Maryland and its wild breed, Aronia Melanocarpa, was known to Native American tribes. At the end of the 19th century, Russian scientist Ivan Mitchurin, after communication with Native Americans, took samples of the crop to Russia. He bred it with Mountain Ash (25%) to obtain what is known today as Aronia Mitchurinii.

Aronia berries contain 15 times more antioxidants than acai berries and about 40 times more than tomatoes. In addition, it contains a unique cocktail of essential oils, tannin and other nutrients in extremely high concentrations. It has been used to cure inflammation, high blood sugar, and digestive tract problems. A quarter pound of freeze-dried aronia berries is now selling on Amazon for $20, an example of the high profitability of the crop. The Mid-Atlantic Aronia Growers Association has about 20 farms on Delmarva growing aronia and producing products from it.

The research at UMES will continue and involves an interdisciplinary team that includes a chemist, a horticulturist, a physiologist, a nutrition specialist, a genetic specialist, an economist, a pest specialist, a pathologist, two Cooperative Extension offices with experimental plots, a phytochemistry lab and a material lab at UMES, and more than 350 participating farms all over the U.S. Along with studying cultural management topics, the team is looking at the best processing modes, new product ideas, non-edible applications, the chemical extraction of nutrients and more.

Women scientists at UMES are exploring alternative crops in hopes that they will be extremely beneficial to farmers on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland. Should everything go as planned, farmers may have at least five alternative crops to choose from in the near future while considering how they can best increase their bottom line.

The team is now expanding the scope of specialty crops and starting to apply the research model developed for Aronia to other crops like Holy Basil and Goldenberries, with a long list of additional crops in mind for the future.

Dr. Lurline Marsh is a professor of agriculture as well as a horticulturalist who specializes in organic farming. She is researching the feasibility of growing ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) and lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) on Delmarva.

Ginger is grown for its spicy rhizomes that are used as flavoring agents and for its raw materials that are used in a variety of foods and beverages (Min, Byungrok et al., 2017). It is a medicinal spice as well as an antimicrobial agent. Lemongrass is an herb that has many medicinal, antibacterial, antifungal and insect repellant

characteristics. Since the consumer demand for organic foods continue to rise, both crops are being researched under organic growing conditions.

For ginger, more research needs to be done to determine optimum nutrient conditions and propagation material for best economic returns. For lemongrass, more work needs to be done on current overwintering, protected structures for producing plants.

Byungrok Min, Lurline E. Marsh, Keegan Brathwaite, and Adebola S. Daramola. 2017. Effects of Tissue Culture and Mycorrhiza Applications in Organic Framing on Concentrations of Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Capacities in Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) Rhizomes and Leaves. Journal of Food Science/ Food chemistry. 82(4):873-881.

Editor’s Note It is truly a privilege to have this forum from which to showcase a bit of the scientific discovery that happens at UMES. With this being the eighth edition of our magazine, I am more convinced than ever that we will always have stories to tell.

In this edition of Ingenuity, you will find stories about key linkages we hold with our community. It means we care about what’s important to you.

From one story, you will learn about a major restructuring as it pertains to Extension at UMES. And as usual, we like to tell you about outcomes concerning some of the events we offered over the last year.

Along with a good number of feature stories, we’ve included sketches that tell about the research and accomplishments of faculty, staff, and students within the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences (SANS).

After all, we are about Nurturing Great Minds: Creating and Applying Knowledge. Also, with SANS alumni in mind, we’ve added a new section. It is so good to hear from and about our alumni that we’ve decided to continue to capture and publish their information. In addition to what it says about our programs and faculty mentoring, we hope someone will find joy in hearing about classmates they haven’t seen since graduation.

One last note! UMES is all about Pushing the Boundaries. It describes the sentiment that undergirds every article, every story. In fact, with the maroon and gray that courses through our veins is the insatiable desire to push or even eliminate those boundaries that are the source of the wicked problems that plague the world today and threaten its future.

UMES is all about Pushing the Boundaries.

INGENUITY WINTER 2018 | SPRING 2019 7

Assistant Professor takes first chair on Delmarva Poultry Industry board

Following a six-year stint as an active member of the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc. (DPI) Board of Directors, Dr. Jennifer Timmons was elected vice president. She completed a one-year term and now serves as DPI President. It is a position for which her extensive industry and academic experience has prepared her.

Timmons joined the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) in 2012 after working 5 years as a poultry specialist with the University of Maryland Extension (UME).

There she supported the state’s poultry industry through research and educational

programs that promoted sustainable practices, minimized environmental impacts, and improved biosecurity awareness and education. Prior to joining UME, she worked as a Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points (HACCP) coordinator and a broiler flock supervisor.

As assistant professor in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences at UMES, she teaches poultry production and animal nutrition to students who she sees as future leaders of the chicken industry. Her research involves poultry litter management and animal nutrition. She has a specific interest in controlling ammonia in chicken litter, which is one of the industry’s key environmental stewardship measures.

In studies funded by Micronutrients, Inc., Timmons and her team recently evaluated a

Zn supplement used in broiler diets and are now evaluating a mineral premix inclusion.

They are also assessing an alternative litter amendment for ammonia control as part of a grant funded by the Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program (Dr. Arthur Allen, principal investigator).

“DPI plays a key role in connecting growers to research and helping them connect with each other to share best practices,” said Timmons. “I’m eager to make DPI an even better resource for growers and to help strengthen an already-robust part of Delmarva’s economy.”

Timmons, who is also a member of the Poultry Science Association, and her husband Tim own and operate a two-house broiler farm in Delmar.

UMES Partners with National 4-H Council and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Empower Youth in Creating Healthier Communities

project team Well Connected leaders: Dr. Virginie Communities (WCC) Zoumenou (PI), is an organization Dr. Naveen Kumar working to (Co-PI), and Dr. cultivate wellness Marie Therese across the country.

Oyalowo (CoUMES Extension, PI). The coalition in partnership building is in with America’s progress.

Cooperative In each Extension System community, a and the National 4-H health assessment Council, is equipping survey has been volunteer leaders in conducted and a Fruitland, Pocomoke, selected activity and Princess was initiated as Anne-Eden to help a platform to their neighbors be From left to right: Dr. Naveen Kumar, Emily Hitchcock, Mia Carlotta, Dr. Virginie Zoumenou, JoAnne Leaderman, Dr. Michelle Rodgers, McCoy Curtis, Susan Jayne, strengthen the healthier at every partnership among stage of life. With the Dr. Maifan Silitonga, Theresa Melton, Tysha Staten, Sarah Johnson, Patricia Sampson, the coalition support of the Robert and Dr. Marie Therese Oyalowo.

Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the nation’s largest philanthropy members and to recruit more members. In Fruitland, a State Night Out and community gardening served as their activity. Unified dedicated solely to health, these communities are cultivating Sports was the activity for the Princess Anne-Eden community. wellness and fostering a Culture of Health in America.

In part, UMES was chosen for the initiative because of its Early 2018, the leadership of the National WCC visited the Fruitland, Pocomoke and Princess Anne communities on Maryland’s preparedness to drive innovation for other communities and to implement the pilot projects at scale.

Eastern Shore to strengthen their connection with the community leaders, their core teams, the community members, and the UMES

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UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

Dr. Kausik S. Das

Two UMES researchers have taken on a pressing problem in the semiconductor industry.

In doing so, they discovered a new type of memristor or ‘memory-resistor.’

Lead author Benjamin Kerr Barnes graduated from the university last spring. His research acumen as an undergraduate under the supervision of Dr. Kausik S. Das, assistant professor of physics in the Department of Natural Sciences, is unsurpassed. Together they discovered “an electronic device capable of resistance switching and made from non-toxic, earthabundant and environmentally friendly zinc oxide particles using a simple method that is conducive to mass production through roll printing.”

Barnes, right, pours over research data with fellow research student, Uche Onuchukwu.

researchers, may very well be the “holy grail” of the semiconductor industry, which is searching for new non-volatile memory technologies to mimic the human brain.

Supported by the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Education, the research was recently published in the Nature Scientific Reports.

Said Dr. Moses Kairo, dean of the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, “Nature is arguably the most prestigious scientific journals in the world. Therefore, it is truly phenomenal

Researchers Discover New Type of Memristor

Specifically, Barnes and Das have demonstrated a simple arrangement wherein ethanol-adsorbed ZnO thin film exhibits orders of magnitude change in resistance when activated by visible light. They have shown that there exists two stable resistive states, one in the dark and the other in the illuminated regime, as well as a significant delay in the transition between the saturated states. They have also demonstrated that visible light acts as a non-invasive tuning parameter for the bi-stable resistive states.

Their discovery of a new type of memristor, according to the

to have a paper with an undergraduate student as the lead author accepted for publication.”

It speaks volumes about the quality of research, the commitment to excellence and the support for students shown

by Dr. Das and other UMES faculty. It also speaks to the fact that great ideas are just unstoppable. Clearly Ben Barnes is a very talented and intelligent student. I expect that he will change the world.”

INGENUITY WINTER 2018 | SPRING 2019 9

Extension

A New Dawn on Extension Programs and Services at UMES

During the 2018-2019 Legislative Session,

the

Maryland

Legislature

appropriated $1.4 million dollars as the state match for the federal appropriation for

1890

extension

under

Section

1444. This new investment facilitated the reorganization of University of Maryland Extension, allowing UMES to directly manage extension funding. The reorganization became effective on July 1, 2018. Previously, the federal funds to support 1890 extension under Section 1444 were appropriated though the University of Maryland College Park, which also provided the required match. This new

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UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

The planned programs and services from UMES will focus on four key areas: Agriculture and natural resources

investment of state funds will allow for greater efficiencies and the provision of increased extension programs and services to the citizens of Maryland.

The two land-grant universities are also strongly committed to continue providing an

integrated

and

comprehensive

Families and health

extension program that will maximize on

Youth development 4H-STEM

no duplication of effort. We at UMES are

Community and economic development

unique strengths and ensure that there is excited for this opportunity to continue serving the citizens of Maryland. WE are also deeply grateful to Governor Larry Hogan and the Maryland Legislature for making this strategic investment.

Extension

SARE-Apple Team Established on Lower Eastern Shore A $15,000/year SARE grant and the expertise and leadership of Dr. Fnu Naveen Kumar is sure to increase apple cultivation on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

A group, dubbed the “Apple Team,” was organized following the establishment of an apple orchard on the UMES campus. The 4.5-acre plot serves as the most diverse (apples: 40 varieties, pears (16 varieties), peaches: 15 varieties, plums: 10 varieties, nectarines: 10 varieties, and grapes: 10 varieties) orchard on the Eastern Shore. Still in its infancy, it provides hands-on, research based activity and instruction opportunity for a number of people groups.

Kumar, who offers four workshops on apple cultivation a year and other train-the-trainer events, has engaged female, beginning, veteran and socially disadvantaged farmers as well as extension agents, 4-H agents, and school teachers, all of whom are a part of 24-member SARE-Apple Team. The grant covers a three-year period that will conclude in 2020. Said Kumar, “We expect the program will enhance the knowledge of extension service providers and participating farmers in establishing a small scale commercial apple orchard.”

The learning objectives include, but are not limited to, understanding of climatic and soil factors essential for orchard establishment; selection of rootstocks and scions; land preparation and planting; fertigation, irrigation and pest management; pruning and tree canopy maintenance; harvesting and marketing approaches; and developing enterprise budget for orchard establishment and production.

Mobile Solar Trailer set to change the game

For many small farmers on the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland, a solar panel trailer prototype sits just a few miles away on Steward Neck Road in Princess Anne. It may very well be a means to changing their productivity game for the better.

Extension’s Small Farm Program at UMES partnered with the School and Engineering and Aviation Sciences to develop, test and refine the mobile solar trailer they conceptualized Summer 2017. To be specific, two students, Abdelrahim Hajabdall and Ryan Valente, accepted the challenge and worked under the leadership of Dr. Abhijit Nagchaudhuri to bring the project to fruition.

With a few short months between conceptualization and realization, Engineering and Extension secured their bond with a trailer that was featured at the 14th annual Small Farm Conference that November, where over 100 producers and agricultural professionals toured the unit.

“Last summer, I contacted Dr. Nagchaudhuri to see if there were any students interested in designing and building a solar mobile trailer,” said Berran Rogers, Small Farm Program coordinator. “That’s how the Mobile Solar Trailer project was born.”

In addition to the project being used for educational purposes, it has real world applications. Since the Small Farm Conference, several farmers have expressed their desire to use the technology on their respective farms. They will have at their disposal a practical, efficient, and eco-friendly solution to their need for mobile, renewable energy. More importantly, in remote areas, the trailer will provide connectivity during a disaster or other emergency situation.

Another benefit is that the system is silent and can operate without any audible interruption or distraction. Generators are typically noisy, distracting, and can emit unhealthy fumes for workers in semi-closed areas. “Because the system is solar powered,” said Rogers, “it has the capacity to provide safe, reliable, easy to use power with minimal out of pocket costs.”

Plans are being made to test the unit on area farms to evaluate its practicality and economic benefits.

INGENUITY WINTER 2018 | SPRING 2019 11

Extension

Palmer Self-Publishes Anatomy of a Bee Hive Colony

Tim and Mickey Palmer can be seen carrying what she calls her “Anatomy of a Bee Hive Colony” book. It chronicles how the couple moved a queen from her original hive to a new one and how the hive grew. Their story – Tim, Mickey, and the queen – began with the purchase of two bee hives, which have now grown to a colony of five.

The Palmers have been keeping bees for about 1 year now. Their newfound hobby was sparked by a class they took that was held by the BeeGees Club in Virginia. As subsequent members of the Club, they sometimes visit Maryland clubs, such as the UMES Bee Club led by Dr. E. Nelson Escobar.

Said Tim, “The club gave us members we could call and ask questions.

Those same members also warned us about problems before they even occurred.”

Anyone considering beekeeping, he said, should first take a class so they can know all it entails. In addition, they can look to spend at least $1,000 to get going.

For the Palmers, their initial goal in beekeeping was pollination, in that they own over 100 fruit trees. The honey and wax would serve as nice bonuses.

In terms of it being a full-time venture, Tim says it takes more time than you would think.

Today, their initial goals – pollination, honey, wax – have all been met.

Those things are part of the joy that comes from beekeeping. For Mickey, she loves to sit in her chair by the hives and watch them. She also enjoys journaling for her book.

The couple anticipates selling honey and wax in the coming years after naming their hives and complying with labeling requirements.

UMES Demonstration Farm

Visitors to the UMES Education and Demonstration Farm were quickly immersed in the various field demonstration projects there. Outside of taste testing several of the featured crops, Extension educators presented the results of their research and experience with crops like amaranth, hops, and aronia and herbs like ginger, peppermint, lavender, spearmint and lemongrass. The two-acre education and dzemonstration site is dedicated to showcasing alternative crop production and sustainable farming practices.

In addition to crop demonstrations, Dean Burroughs did a showand-tell for the UMES Honey Bee Club. Burroughs is a certified master beekeeper and president of the Maryland State Beekeepers Association, Inc. Visitors to the UMES Education and Demonstration Farm were

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UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

quickly immersed in the various field demonstration projects there. Outside of taste testing several of the featured crops, Extension educators presented the results of their research and experience with crops like amaranth, hops, and aronia and herbs like ginger, peppermint, lavender, spearmint and lemongrass. The two-acre education and demonstration site is dedicated to showcasing alternative crop production and sustainable farming practices.

In addition to crop demonstrations, Dean Burroughs did a show-and-tell for the UMES Honey Bee Club. Burroughs is a certified master beekeeper and president of the Maryland State Beekeepers Association, Inc. Visitors to the UMES Education and Demonstration Farm were quickly immersed in the various field demonstration projects there.

Outside of taste testing several of the featured crops, Extension educators presented the results of their research and experience with crops like amaranth, hops, and aronia and herbs like ginger, peppermint, lavender, spearmint and lemongrass.

The two-acre education and demonstration site is dedicated to showcasing alternative crop production and sustainable farming practices.

Extension

Zero Robotics at Home in Maryland

2018 was year five for Maryland Zero Robotics, an outgrowth of a 10-year partnership between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), NorthropGrumman, and Aurora Flight Sciences. In 2014, MIT contacted the Maryland Out of School Time organization about a Maryland initiative, and they contacted Mark DeMorra, who now serves dual roles as a 4-H STEM Agent Associate and physics professor at UMES. DeMorra was a Maryland STEMbassador employed by Wicomico County Libraries when first contacted. In response to the call, he started and coached several Zero Robotics teams, including the 2014 international championship team. Once on board with UMES Extension in 2017, his Zero Robotics role changed from coach to state coordinator.

DeMorra’s teams participated in the 2017 and the 2018 Zero Robotics Middle School Finals Day, which were held in conjunction with MIT and the International Space Station (ISS). During the finals, standout teams from around the world see their code run live on the SPHERES robots aboard the ISS in zero gravity. The competition involves 13 teams representing 12 different states and Russia; that is, 13 out of 100-plus teams worldwide!

As the robots float around in space following

student-written codes, they are scored and winners are identified.

A small group from Maryland and Delaware gathered in the state-of-theart Engineering and Aviation Science Complex to view, via satellite, the final competitions in tandem with the rest of the teams as matches played out in space, . . . and to say hi to astronaut Jack Fischer. He conducted the finals while communicating with the middleschoolers by live feed. In 2017, two teams, Idaho and West Virginia, were named winners as the result of a tied score. In 2018, Florida was declared the winner.

For more information or to start a Zero Robotics team in Maryland, send a request to DeMorra at mwdemorra@ umes.edu.

Photos top left, clockwise: DeMorra (fourth from right) demonstrates takeoff.

Astronaut Jack Fischer interacts with middleschoolers via a live feed as he runs different codes.

A SPHERES robot like the one aboard the ISS. Students at UMES views the rebuilt sounding rocket on Finals Day.

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Extension

Cook, Face of ALEI at UMES The Agriculture Law Education Initiative is a collaboration under University of Maryland: MPowering the State and combines the expertise and efforts of three distinguished Maryland institutions: the Francis King Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD), and the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES).

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Here’s what she shared in a recent interview . . .

What excites you most about the mission of ALEI? ALEI’s

mission, in a nutshell, is to keep Maryland’s farmers farming. A few years ago, I set out to change the focus of my career to help farmers, which is what I get to do every day now. Working with farmers and with students who are pursuing careers in agriculture is my favorite part of my job.

What types of services are you able to provide and to whom?

ALEI’s Legal Specialists provide a variety of services. We provide in-person presentations and workshops for farmers about the laws that impact their farm operations. We also publish a ton of information on our website, www. umaglaw.org, and on our blog, www.agrisk.umd.edu, as well as in Extension publications, and we contribute articles to regional newspapers. We also answer questions from individual farmers who call or email us.

In addition, we teach about agricultural and food law and about risk management in agriculture in undergraduate and graduate courses, we offer work study and internship opportunities for students who are interested in learning more about agricultural law, and we serve on a variety of committees and working groups across the state that support the our agricultural producers.

ALEI also hosts an annual conference to educate stakeholders about developments in environmental and agricultural laws that affect Maryland’s producers. Our conference this year is on November 8th in Annapolis.

Information about our conference is on our website at http://umaglaw.org/ alei-ag-and-environmental-law-conference/.

What are some of the short-term goals of the Initiative?

ALEI was created after the Maryland General Assembly gave the University System of Maryland a direct assignment in 2011: preserve Maryland’s family farms by helping their owners address the complicated legal issues associated with agricultural estates and trusts, regulatory compliance, and other agricultural law issues.

One of the most immediate needs is educating our growers about the Food Safety Modernization Act and making sure that everyone knows whether and how they need to comply with the new regulations so they are ready for inspections. ALEI has been partnering with the Maryland Department of Agriculture and our Extension partners to help prepare Maryland’s farmers, and we will continue to offer various in-person trainings around food safety as well as providing information on our website and our blog.

We also continue to focus on providing farmers with information about how to successfully plan for passing their farms on to the next generation.

We offer several succession planning workshops in the fall and winter across the state as well as providing lots of information about estate planning on our website.

What is the best way for our clients to contact you? People can contact me by calling me at 410-651-6182 or emailing me at nlcook@umes.edu.

At UMES, Nicole Cook serves as environmental and agricultural faculty legal specialist with the Agriculture Law Education Initiative. In fact, she is the face of ALEI at UMES, a position for which she says her legal education, practice experience and time as a public educator prepared her.

Is there anything else you would like to tell us? I hope that more people learn about ALEI and take advantage of the resources and services that we offer. ALEI is a truly unique initiative, and the funding we receive from MPowering the State as well as the support from the University System of Maryland and our Extension programs demonstrates Maryland’s commitment to preserving Maryland’s family farms and helping their owners address the complicated legal issues associated with agricultural estates and trusts, regulatory compliance, and other public policies comprising what is known as agriculture law.

UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

El Naiem Trusts Novel Approaches for Vector and Disease Control

Dr. Dia-Eldin Elnaiem continues a herculean fight against Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL), which affects some 500,000 people across the world. The disease is caused by a parasitic protozoan called Leishmaniasis donovani, found mainly in the Indian subcontinent, East Africa, South America, and Central America. Another version of the disease exists in the Mediterranean region.

Elnaiem began his work in 2013, having been sought out by the Department for International Development in the UK. As a professor of applied zoology who specializes in entomology, his expertise, research and publications fit him for the work the organization committed some 27 million pounds to combatting.

One of the greatest challenges is that in East Africa the disease vector is found in sylvatic sites, or the woodlands. And of all the countries affected, Sudan has the highest number of occurrences of the disease. Due to government sanctions, however, scientific study in the African nation was halted in the 90’s. Nevertheless, January 2017 marked a new era when those sanctions were lifted. Elnaiem, who previously worked in Sudan through the unsanctioned office in Khartoum, will therefore be able to continue his research through direct collaboration between the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and universities in the Sudan.

Ethiopia was chosen as another site for the study because of the number of seasonal workers that work in the cotton, sesame and sorghum fields of Humera and Metema on the Sudan border.

Hundreds of thousands of the laborers work the farms during June, July, and August. About 3,000 of them return to the highlands after contracting the disease.

“The good thing about our work,” said Elnaiem, “is that we’ve managed to really understand the ecology and biology of the vector that transmits the disease. In addition, we’ve managed to come up with a new tool for community-wide intervention that we believe is going to knock out the high incidences of the disease.”

There is one state in the Sudan that has about 4,000 cases, with a few hundred children dying every year. For them, the only option available is a difficult treatment. And even with treatment, about 10% of the patients die. Those odds inspired Elnaiem and his team to develop a tool for controlling the sand fly that involves an insecticide and that was based on their findings concerning the ecology and the microhabitats of the vector from the previous three years of study. “It

International Reach

was big,” said Elnaiem, “in terms of vector control; and the World Health Organization (WHO) has become very interested.” With their understanding of the role of pheromones in trapping the parasite, they’ve managed to improve the yield of the CDC’s light trap as well.

In a recent meeting, Elnaiem sat with representatives from the WHO to discuss the control of Leishmaniasis in East Africa. Mid-May, he spoke with a vector control group in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was invited to defend the idea of proceeding with communitywide intervention while looking at the impact of the disease overall.

Having made significant progress in their understanding of the disease, Elnaiem is confident that the team has drawn enough attention while publishing their work to be in a position to apply for major grants to continue the work through the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. For example, Elnaiem’s research was a major part of the article, “Sudan Seeks a Science Revival,” by journalist Linda Nordling. It was published in the journal Science (DOI: 10.1126/ science.358.6369.1369) December 2017.

“With new findings came new questions,” explained Elnaiem, “and the hope for grant monies from the National Institutes of Health.” The next challenge will be understanding the transmission dynamics of the parasite. One popular belief is that Lieshamaniasis in East Africa is anthroponotic, or the result of one sand fly getting the disease from one person and transmitting it to another. There is also evidence, however, that it is a zoonotic disease wherein the parasite is actually harbored by small mammals and taken by the sand fly to humans. The team will dig deeper and are hoping to see the actual transmission occurring through the anthroponotic route versus transmission through the zoonotic route.

The landmarks achieved over the last 5 years are already making life easier in the southern hemisphere. According to Elnaiem, it’s not enough . . . “We are proud that we came up with something that can stop the transmission to the children right now. In fact, according to our results, we can reduce the transmission of the parasite by 60%.

That will make a huge contribution in terms of disease control and will reduce the burden on the health facilities if we are reducing the 4,000 cases to 1,500 cases. That will be manageable, but we are not satisfied with that. We know our research will progress and move forward with our understanding of the transmission.”

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International Reach

Cochran Fellowship Program Brings

Three Delegations to UMES

Eight delegates from Ghana and Kenya made up the first Cochran Fellowship Program delegation to UMES. Sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture – Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS), it was organized by Dr. Sivramiah “Shanthu” Shantharam.

The two-week program involved workshops supporting the theme “Strategies for Biotechnology Communications.” Such topics as Introduction to Genetically Modified Organisms, Communicating Biosafety and Environmental Analysis of GMOs, Food Safety Issues of Africa, and Food Safety Analysis and Formulating Biotech Regulatory Policies were covered during the training. A trip to Washington D.C. to meet with federal agencies and other biotech organizations was a part of the training as well.

Two more delegations followed the initial one. One delegation was from the Philippines. Six scientists made up that delegation.

The training was titled “Risk Management and Communication for Biotechnology in Asia.” The third delegation, hosted by Dr. Caleb Nindo, came from Ghana, and there were six members in that delegation as well.

Shantharam is an adjunct professor within the UMES Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences. In addition, he serves as a graduate faculty member with teaching

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UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

responsibilities in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at the Iowa State University as well as an international agriculture and agricultural biotechnology consultant.

Nindo is an associate professor who is currently serving as director of the Food Science and Technology Ph.D Program. He has taught and conducted research in the field of agricultural and food engineering for many years.

The program will be ongoing in various aspects and supports the UMES School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences’ goal of supporting sustainable agriculture and providing for nutritional security and food safety.

Members of the Ghana and Kenya Delegation pictured left to right are: David Appiah-Kubi; Dr. Jurgen Schwarz, UMES associate research director and chair of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Resources Sciences; Theophilus Mwendwa Mutui; Simon Ngare Mwangi; Ruth Naa Ashiokai Prempeh; Eyerusalem Fitta, UMES graduate assistant; Albert Ankomah; Edem Denutsui Ameflu; Marian Dorcas Quain; Dr. Moses Kairo, dean of the UMES School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences; and Dr. Sivramiah “Shanthu” Shantharam.

International Reach

Soybean: The Next New Cash Crop for Mozambique!

By Dr. Stephan Tubene Joined in Angonia (Tete Province, Mozambique) by Maria Adelina Castigo, a researcher with the Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique (IIAM), Drs. Stephan Tubene (UMES professor) and Eduardo Joaquim (IIAM researcher) visited soybean smallholder farmers, medium and large-scale farmers, traders, processors, and communitybased seed growers in their effort to document the soybean value chain in Mozambique. Here’s the account in Tubene’s words.

In 2017, during our interview with medium and large-scale soybean farmers in Angonia, we learned that even though the district is known for its high soybean production, the demand for soybeans (mostly in the Central region of Mozambique and mainly by the poultry industry) has considerably increased. Such increase in demand must be matched by a consistent soybean supply.

While medium and large-sized farmers sometimes purchase soybeans from smallholder farmers to increase the volume of sale, they have lately found it difficult to do so due to cross-border trade largely to the Malawi borders located within minutes (driving) of Angonia. This cross-border soybean trade model has become more lucrative than selling locally as the price of soybean in Biri Biri, Malawi, is higher than the price in Angonia.

Nevertheless, such a trade scheme is only feasible for smallholders and/or small-scale aggregators who handle small volumes of soybeans.

Our interview with soybean traders in Angonia revealed that they travel from village to village buying soybean and selling it to medium and large-scale farmers who happened to have already secured markets involving mostly soybean feed processors in the area and the poultry industry as far as Manica Province.

It can also be said that national NGOs play a major role in the soybean value chain. A local NGO we visited in Angonia shared with us the significance of community-based seed production. The NGO receives foundation soybean seeds from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), IIAM, and other input suppliers.

The seeds are given to small-scale farmers who sow them and after harvest return twofold what they received from the NGO. This model especially works in remote areas where access to and affordability of soybean seeds is still a nightmare for smallholder farmers.

Finally, we conducted a focus group discussion with 27 farmers (12 women and 15 men) in Nhamani Village. It was not surprising to learn that that some villages, even in that part of Mozambique where soybean is largely grown, were not familiar with the crop. It is only recently that IIAM researchers introduced Nhamani to soybeans. Production constraints for Nhamani include difficult access to the village due to poor roads, imperfect information, and lack of technical assistance.

Ms. Adelina, who works in the village, has taken responsibility for linking the smallholder farmers to the NGO for technical assistance and the benefits of community-based seed production.

A July 2018 trip to Manica Province (Central Mozambique) led us to other provinces, including Zambézia, Nampula, and back to Tete, where we met key soybean value chain actors who shared their concerns. For all soybean value chain participants to take advantage of the new cash crop, constraints along the value chain (i.e., input supply, production practices, primary aggregation/trading, processing, and marketing) must be addressed. Our response involves specific actions: ensuring improved seeds availability and accessibility, improving soybean value chain enabling environment, providing adequate training at all levels of the value chain, and improving regional and international soybean markets.

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More Than a Fishing Expedition for this UMES Researcher Dr. Tracy Bell is focused on finding new ways to treat diabetes

By William Robinson, Director UMES Public Relations

Next time you gaze into an aquarium to watch zebrafish zip to and fro, you might just be looking at a 2-inch long vertebrate capable of pointing the way to treating high blood pressure and diabetes. That’s because the small fish with black and white horizontal stripes share 60-to-70 percent of the same genetic characteristics as humans. Who knew? Plenty of health researchers, it turns out.

The fish, which resemble minnows,

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have been helping scientists get a better understanding of the biological processes of muscular dystrophy and cancer. Now, UMES biology/physiology professor Tracy Bell wants to try her hand at studying zebrafish to see if they might unlock the mysteries of a common blood disorder that affects millions of people.

This past spring, Bell was awarded a $299,996 National Science Foundation grant to support research focusing exclusively on the kidney functions of the prolific tropical fish from Southeast Asia. In collaboration with UMES colleague Dr. Linda Johnson,

UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

she used external funding to build a threedimensional wall of 10-gallon aquariums in a first-floor lab in George Washington Carver Science Hall that can house upwards of a thousand zebrafish.

In her grant application, Bell described her research project thusly: “The goal … is to investigate the role of insulin in regulating sodium and water transport in the kidney.”

She writes that she hopes to “develop a novel methodology to assess the water and sodium regulation in vertebrates and … advance our knowledge of basic mechanisms of vertebrate kidney transport and fluid balance.’

While her NSF grant supports basic science research, the broader impacts of her project might provide a better understanding of how the kidneys regulate sodium and water balance and in turn maintain good blood pressure. It is well known retention of too much salt (sodium chloride) can contribute to high blood pressure, but the mechanisms have yet to be fully delineated, she said. Those are the building blocks around which Bell will structure her research.

It turns out the miniscule (and flat) kidneys of a zebrafish share enough of the same “homology” traits as the bean-shaped organs in human. Bell said using zebrafish as a model organism to explore blood pressure regulation “is a new frontier.” During most of her graduate and postdoctoral training, rodents were the organism of choice.

The National Science Foundation

program that awarded Bell the grant is designed to support young faculty members just starting their teaching and research careers. Bell joined the UMES faculty in 2014 in her first full-time teaching position. She is hopeful the NSF grant will enable her to gather enough data to establish a foundation so she can compete successfully for additional external support and continue the research long-term. Most researchers will tell you that discoveries emerge after years of tedious, methodical study and analysis.

Bell has one graduate student and four undergraduate students actively involved in the research project. “The idea is to get them in the lab and give them the tools to get to the next level” of academic achievement, Bell said.

Sherene Black, the doctoral candidate in toxicology, said working alongside Bell

has been an eye-opening experience. “It’s exciting to know the work we’re doing might someday be able to help people stay healthy,” Black said. “It’s been a blessing to have this opportunity.”

The windows of Bell’s lab are covered so she and her student mentees can control feeding and breeding cycles, aided by a timer that ensures the room is dark a consistent number of hours daily. Of course, water temperature and its chemical composition are closely monitored as well. And it’s no small task doing necropsies on organisms as small as a Danio rerio, the Latin name for zebrafish.

“It requires a lot of patience and concentration,” Bell said. “Hopefully, by studying the zebrafish as a model, we’ll be able to get a better understanding of vertebrate kidney function.”

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Research Team to Aid the Learning Process A $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to improve student engagement and retention and to invigorate innovation through physics instruction and undergraduate capstone research projects.

A team of UMES researchers intend to improve the success rate of students who take physics courses. Led by Dr. Kausik S. Das, the team has been awarded a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to improve student engagement and retention and to invigorate innovation through physics instruction and undergraduate capstone research projects. They suggest that science and engineering students will collaborate effectively in a group environment, grow intellectually and make original discoveries.

A major part of the process involves the team of five creating a pool of culturally and scientifically relevant clicker questions that will enhance both engagement and critical thinking during regular lectures.

Capstone research projects will also work to enhance critical thinking as well as creativity, innovation, communication and collaboration with inter- and intra-discipline students.

“College students across the country will benefit from the outcomes of this research,” said Das, principle investigator and assistant professor of physics at UMES. “The skills a student learns in a physics classroom and a physics laboratory will take him or her far in life.”

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In collaboration with an award winning science cartoonist, who taught mathematics at Harvard and cartooning at MIT, Das and his team have proposed to create a pool of more than 350 humanized clicker questions spanning the whole undergraduate physics curriculum to engage students with conceptually challenging questions with a touch of humor. In laboratories, instead of traditional “cookbook” activities, students will be guided through stages of critical thinking and through interdisciplinary research projects that will move them toward authentic discovery.

Das says that he got the inspiration to try this undergraduate authentic discovery model at UMES from his UC Berkeley visit last summer. Since then he has scaled down several cutting edge research projects to table-top projects and made them suitable for undergraduate students to explore a multitude of interdisciplinary research topics. His mini projects involve synthesizing Nano-particles using plant extracts, synthesis of graphene from a pencil lead and using them for energy harvesting and storage, Nano-particle mediated heat transfer in

UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

fluids, paper-microfluidics and paperelectrophoresis, low Reynolds number turbulence, thermo-photovoltaics and Nanosensors, to name a few.

These pilot projects have produced a start-up company by a UMES alumnus, a patent filing on a new metal oxide based memory device and several peer reviewed papers by undergraduate researchers. In addition, two of Das’ research group students have received full scholarships from the University of Maryland and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. They will join their Ph.D. programs right after earning their undergraduate degrees. Another student was accepted by the University of California, Berkeley, as a summer research intern this year.

The balance of the team of researchers includes: Dr. Moses T. Kairo, co-principle investigator and dean of the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences; Dr. Charles Baldwin, assistant professor in the Department of Education; Dr. Joseph Dodoo, physics lecturer; and Robin Hoffman, former director of instructional technologies at UMES.

Under g r aduate Resear ch & Scholar ship

Junior MANRRS, World Food Prize Youth Institute Provide Pipeline into STEAM Areas The 5th annual Jr. MANRRS Leadership Institute, Left to right: Karl Binns, Beattra Wilson, Letitia Nichols, and Lisa a professional and career development summit, featured Purnell at the 2018 Jr. MANRRS Leadership Conference. some of the top agricultural Photos by D. M. Productions and natural resource units from academia, industry, and government. The event hosted over 190 high school students eager to learn about careers and opportunities in agriculture and other STEM disciplines.

Themed “The Element of Success,” the 2018 leadership institute connected students with transformational opportunities.

Over several days of intense leadership immersion, the students participated in college and career readiness workshops led by industry leaders, lab and field demonstrations, and competitions such as the impromptu speaking and elevator speech contests.

The 2nd annual World Food Prize Maryland Youth Institute brought another group to campus consisting of 50 high school students from 6 different counties. Prior to the event, each student submitted a research paper that described pressing issues they care about and how they proposed to solve the issues. Their entries put them in the running to be chosen as Borlaug Scholars and to compete for a chance to move on to the next round at the Global Youth Institute.

Throughout the day, the students interacted with local leaders and experts on critical global challenges, participated in handson activities, and explored exciting ways to make a difference in Maryland and around the world.

Both programs, Junior MANRRS and the World Food Prize Institute, serve as sustainable pipelines, ushering young people into STEAM program areas as well as to UMES. “Without these top-notch programs; our industry, state and federal partners; and our alumni, we could not do what we do,” said Dr. Moses Kairo, dean of the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences. “Our industry, state, and federal partners serve as sponsors who provide monetary support as well as professionals and practitioners who inspire the youth with engaging talks, presentations, and one-on-one interactions. Our alumni, which is especially rewarding, are among those professionals and practitioners who give of their time, talent, and treasure.”

Beattra Wilson, acting assistant director of cooperative forestry at the U.S. Forest Service in Washington D.C., is a glowing example of the professionals who give of themselves to support the youth.

She is often in attendance and has worked tirelessly to provide TM

support for the institute. Our deep and enduring gratitude goes to our Left to right: Alisa Evans, many industry partners including: Tyler Reid, and Taylor USDA Rural Development, Precision Thomas at the 25th annual Hawk, University of Maryland College Global Youth Institute in Des Moines, Iowa.

Park, Maryland FFA Association, Merck Animal Health, Def Jam, Bayer Crop Science, Maryland Food Bank, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Perdue Farms, Mars, Inc., Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit, Bunge, Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation, World Food Prize Foundation, Johns Hopkins University, John Deere, Land O’Lakes, U.S. Forest Service, Walmart, Jr. MANRRS, and the MANRRS Alums John Plummer, left, and Kevin Dennis sits National Office Alumni who have been invaluable on the panel during the Leadership Conference. to the process include Karl Binns, Jr. (Class of 2012), who is lead development officer for the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences and responsible for starting and successfully maintaining both UMES programs; Lisa Purnell (Class of 2012), USDA/1890 program liaison; Kevin Dennis (Class of 1987), director of operations at Perdue; Letitia Nichols (Class of 2000), USDA business & cooperative program director; and John Plummer (Class of 2001), Land O’Lakes director of strategic operations.

For all of their efforts, students like Alisa Evans and Tyler Reid from Gwynn Park High School and University of Maryland Eastern Shore, respectively, have had privileges that they may not have had otherwise. Evans and Reid have completed the last component of the Borlaug-Ruan International Interns program. Reid and Evans worked this summer in renowned international research centers and NGOs, delving into issues related to global hunger and poverty during eight-week internships.

Reid researched the germination rates of legumes in Tainan, Taiwan at The World Vegetable Center. Evans researched health parameters of cattle at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya. Both students presented their findings as a poster presentation at the Global Youth Institute in Des Moines, Iowa.

As aspiring scientist, Reid and Evans are the first Borlaug-Ruan International Interns from the state of Maryland. By all indications, there will be more to follow.

INGENUITY WINTER 2018 | SPRING 2019 21

Under g r aduate Resear ch & Scholar ship

Onuchukwu Wins Two Poster Awards During the Same Competition

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UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

During the 20th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in the Chemical and Biological Sciences, Uche Onuchukwu managed to win two poster awards for an event that features exactly two poster sessions. Held at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, the symposium attracts hundreds of undergraduate students who perform research in all areas of chemistry, biology, and biochemistry each year. The students are trained and encouraged to communicate to the best of their ability “their novel results and concepts.”

Under the supervision of Dr. Victoria Volkis, Onuchukwu researched viable solutions for carbon dioxide sequestration. He presented the results of using chitin and chitosan, extracted through controlled chemical reactions form the exoskeletal waste products of the Delmarva seafood industry, as reversible CO2 capture materials.

His poster won 1st place in the chemical sciences section of the competition.

The second poster he presented had to do with the work he performed at the University of California, Davis, over the summer. His poster, entitled “Activation of Paternal UBE3A Gene with Artificial Transcription Factors for Angelman Syndrome,” won 2nd place in the biochemical and molecular biology section of the competition.

The event is sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health and hosted by the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences at UMBC.

Under g r aduate Resear ch & Scholar ship ABIGAIL CHAMBERS selected one of 12 undergraduates by the National Teach Ag Campaign to serve as a 2018-2019 National Teach Ag Ambassador.

A candidate to graduate in the spring of 2019, Chambers is an agriculture education major - the lone student at UMES currently pursuing that degree path.

Chambers initially was unsure what she wanted to study when she enrolled at UMES. It wasn’t long, however, before she reflected on her experience on her family’s pepper farm in Jamaica’s Clarendon parish as well as drawing inspiration from her parents, both of whom were educators.

She is the youngest of five siblings; older sister Shelly Ann earned a general agriculture degree from UMES this year and her mother, Nadine, completed her doctoral studies in food science and technology in 2017.

TARYN JONES, a junior biochemistry major from Willingboro, N.J., was named the UMES Newman Civic Fellow for the 2018-19 academic year. She is among 268 college students selected for the honor

by Campus Compact, a Bostonbased non-profit organization “working to advance the public purposes of higher education.”

The Newman Civic Fellowship, named for

Campus Compact co-founder Frank Newman, is a oneyear experience emphasizing personal, professional, and civic growth. Jones will participate in a variety of learning and networking opportunities, including a national conference of all Newman Civic Fellows in partnership with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.

VASAVI VEERAPANENI, B.S. Biology who graduated May 2018, was awarded the University’s Richard Bernstein Achievement Award for Excellence for her substantial research accomplishments, volunteer work and ability to overcome adversity.

Vasavi graduated a year early from high school, and at age 19, as a member of the Richard A. Henson Honors Program, she completed her studies at UMES in three years with a 4.0 grade point average. She was also a member of the Richard A. Henson Honors Program.

Her professors attribute her success to her good-natured personality, sense of humor and humility. Last fall, the success rate of students increased 10 percent in Biochemistry I due to Veerapaneni’s tutoring.

See their full stories at www.umes.edu/pr INGENUITY WINTER 2018 | SPRING 2019 23

Where Are

Alumni Corner CHEMISTRY Blessing Aroh earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 2013 and was the first Master of Science degree graduate in chemistry in 2014. She is currently a third year student in the Howard University College of Medicine. She has been the recipient of enough scholarships to fund her graduate education.

Benjamin Barnes graduated from the university in 2017 with a degree in chemistry.

His research acumen as an undergraduate is unsurpassed. Working under the supervision of Dr. Kausik S. Das, assistant professor of physics in the Department of Natural Sciences, he took part in their discovery of “an electronic device capable of resistance switching and made from non-toxic, earthabundant and environmentally friendly zinc oxide particles using a simple method which is conducive to mass production through roll printing.” Following graduation, he was accepted by University of Maryland College Park as a doctoral student in the Wang Research Group. His supervisor, Dr. YuHuang Wang, earned his Ph.D. under Nobel Laureate Dr. Richard E Smalley.

His group is involved in the fundamental studies of energy, biomedical, and quantum information sciences and especially in the study of carbon nanomaterials.

Heather Goldsborough earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 2014. During her college career, she was an American Chemical Society scholar. Today she is a local business owner, in partnership with her

24

father. They own Shipwrecked Seafood, an approved shellfish shipper with a presence in Ocean Pines, Salisbury, and Olney, Va.

So-Jin Park earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 2015. She spent two years in the National Institutes of Health-funded Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program. Today she is a first-year medical student at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Duane Simpson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 2013. He has now been admitted to candidacy as a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

FOOD SCIENCE Dr. Sara Osman Elmahdi is a 2015 UMES graduate. Her program of study was Food Science and Technology.

Today, she serves as assistant professor and head of the Clinical Nutrition Department in the College of Applied Medical Science at the University of Hail, KSA. Dr. Leonard Kibet is a three-time graduate of UMES, having earned a Bachelor of Science degree in plant and soil science, a Master of Science in food and agricultural science, and a Doctor of Philosophy in food science and technology. He authored two refereed articles from his masters’ thesis that were published in the Journal of Environmental Quality (JEQ) and the Journal of Soil & Water Conservation. From his Ph.D.

UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

dissertation, Kibet developed two additional refereed articles, one for JEQ and one for the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE).

In 2013, he accepted a post-doc research associate position at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Today, Dr. Kibet serves as assistant professor of soil and environmental science at Alcorn State University. In addition to teaching, he conducts research on soil health, nutrient recycling, water quality, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse gas emissions. His current project involves assessing the effects of mixed land use on environmental quality.

HUMAN ECOLOGY – DIETETICS

Megan Buja graduated with her B.S. in human ecology – dietetics in 2014. She completed her Dietetic Internship at UMES the following year. As a decorated member of the UMES bowling team, she decided to compete on the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour in the summer of 2015 while studying for her board exam. She passed her boards to become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist in the fall of 2015 and began working. She knew she also wanted to return to school in order to become a physician assistant. In 2016, Megan was accepted to the Physician Assistant Program at the University of Iowa, which is currently ranked the #2 program in the country. She completed her year of clinical rotations and graduated November 2018.

Laurel Huffman graduated from UMES in 2014, after which she earned a master’s in public health from the University of Minnesota in 2016. After graduating from UMES, she worked as the full-time clinical dietitian at Charlotte Hall Veterans Home, which is a 400+ bed assisted living and skilled nursing home located in Charlotte

They Now? Hall, Md. Currently, she works for the State of Maryland-Wicomico County Health Department as the program director for the Lower Eastern Shore Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program, which has 7 clinics throughout Wicomico, Somerset, and Worcester counties. She also works part-time for the Nutrition Coordinating Center at the University of Minnesota as a researcher conducting dietary recalls for research studies across the USA. She is certified in public health and serves as a registered and licensed dietitian nutritionist.

Brittany Johnson is a 2014 Human Ecology graduate.

She earned a masters in interdisciplinary studies in 2018 from Liberty University, with several areas of focus: community and public health and crisis counseling. Fulfilling a strong desire to work in the community, she has been working in the field of mental health for the last 2 1/2 years. With the Developmental Disabilities Administration, she is a full-time mentor and caretaker for two adults with mental disabilities. In addition, she holds a parttime position with Dove Pointe, where she serves as a senior support staff for children with mental and physical disabilities. At Go-Getters, Inc., she is a part-time intensive residential counselor for severely mentally ill adults.

Mike Kirtsos is a registered dietitian nutritionist and a board certified specialist in sports dietetics. He is also certified in adult weight management and is a published author. He completed both his undergraduate nutrition education and post-graduate dietetic internship at UMES in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Following his education and dietetic internship, he went on to earn a master’s degree in applied health physiology/exercise physiology, with a concentration

in strength and conditioning, at Salisbury University and served as an adjunct instructor in that department. Currently, he is the dietetic internship director and an assistant professor at UMES. Additionally, in 2015 he co-authored, “Feed Your Athlete,” published through DK Publishing. The cookbook applies evidence-based sports nutrition guidelines for strength and endurance athletes, with 150 natural, easy-to-make recipes for on-the-go athletes. The book also includes chapters on special needs for vegan athletes, gluten free athletes, and strength and endurance athletes as well as how to eat for various stages of training and quick cooking and meal assembly tips.

GENERAL AGRICULTURE Caitlin LaComb is a 2014 graduate of UMES, having earned a Bachelor of Science degree in general agriculture. A former U.S. Army Reservist who served 8 years as an Airborne Civil Affairs Specialist in the military is now a mother and a pie baking business owner.

As written by Bill Robinson, UMES director of public relations, “Her focus now, with an expanding baking business, in on improving her community’s agriculture system by sourcing ingredients locally to use in each pie. See the full article at www.umes.edu/pr MARINE, ESTAURINE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE Dr. Eric Evans earned his Ph.D. degree in marine, estuarine and environmental science in spring 2018. He was a NOAA EPP Fellow at the Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center, UMES. His research on population ecology and reproductive biology of bay anchovy, an important forage fish species in the

Maryland Coastal Bays, was supervised by Dr. Paulinus Chigbu. Prior to enrolling at UMES, he received M.S. and B.S. degrees in environmental science at Jackson State University.

Dr. Efeturi U. Oghenekaro received her Ph.D. degree in marine, estuarine and environmental science in 2015. Thereafter, she completed a NOAA Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship at NOAA Headquarters in Silver Spring, Md. Her dissertation research on mesozooplankton dynamics in Maryland Coastal Bays was supervised by Dr. Paulinus Chigbu and funded by the National Science Foundation CREST Program. She is currently working as an Environmental Protection Specialist within the Department of Energy and Environment in Washington, D.C. TOXICOLOGY Rev. Sister Dr. Mary Flora Bernadette Ezeabikwa is a May 2017 graduate. Under the mentorship of Dr. Anthony K. Nyame, she earned a doctoral degree in toxicology.

She received BS and MS degrees from the University of Nigeria Nsukka in zoology and parasitology, respectively. During her doctoral program, Dr. Ezeabikwa won two highly competitive awards from the Society of Toxicology; namely, the 2017 Bern Schwetz Graduate Student Travel Award and the National Capital Area Chapter 2017 Spring Symposium Poster Competition Award. Currently, she is a post doctoral scholar at North Carolina Central University.

In addition, she is a Roman Catholic nun from the Congregation of Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy, which is of Nigerian origin. She was professed in 1992 and has served the order in several apostolates related to teaching, catechesis, and health care systems.

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Graduate Research and Scholarship

During her matriculation as a Ph.D. toxicology student, Dr. Mary Flora Bernadette Ezeabikwa conducted research under the supervision of Dr. Anthony Nyame. It involved the study of bladder cells in connection with bladder cancer as the sixth most common cancer in the United States, with approximately 75,000 new cases and 16,000 deaths occurring each year.

Worldwide, bladder cancer incidence ranks ninth among all cancers. The most common type of bladder cancers are transitional cell carcinomas that originate from the bladder urothelium. Transitional cell carcinomas are classified into stages and grades according to the degree of tumor penetration in the bladder wall and invasiveness of the tumor respectively. The two classifications are used for diagnosis and determination of treatment options for bladder cancer.

Currently, cystoscopy and cytology are the standard methods for the diagnosis of bladder cancer, but these methods are invasive and not suitable for routine screening needed for early detection of the disease. Several noninvasive methods for bladder cancer diagnosis that rely on biomarker molecules, such as DNA, proteins,

Analysis of Glycosylation Changes Associated with the Oncogenic Transformation of Urinary Bladder Cells and glycoproteins, have been developed.

However, these noninvasive methods have low sensitivity and specificity, resulting in unreliable diagnosis, uncertainty in the choice of treatment options, and poor prognosis. Thus, the current state of bladder cancer diagnosis presents a growing need for the development of reliable biomarkers for

Linkage Between Algal Blooms and Disease the Subject of Graduate Study

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routine, noninvasive diagnosis of the disease.

Oncogenic transformation of cells, including bladder cells, is reported to be associated with altered glycosylation of cellular proteins. These protein glycosylation changes could potentially be exploited to define and diagnose cancer malignancy and disease progression. Bladder cell carcinomas, but not normal bladder cells, are reported to express Lewis x glycans. In her study, she used immunoprecipitation, immunohistochemistry, lectin blots, gene expression, and glycomic analyses to study changes in the expression pattern of Lewis x and other fucosylated glycans among selected low and high grade bladder cancer cell lines.

In summary, Dr. Ezeabikwa’s study showed that low grade and high grade bladder cancer cells synthesize structurally distinct N- and O-glycan and also differ in their expression of FUT9, FUT10, and FUT11 genes. Such differences can be exploited to develop diagnostics for determination of oncogenic status of exfoliated cells recovered from voided urine and from human bladder tissues.

For more information, visit www.umes. edu/sans.

Detbra Rosales is a Ph.D. candidate at UMES. She is currently completing her NERTO (NOAA Experiential Research & Training Opportunities) internship at the NOAA Cooperative Oxford Laboratory under the guidance of Dr. John Jacobs and Ava Ellett. At UMES, Rosales works with Dr. Joseph Pitula on a project focused on addressing the impacts of harmful algal species (HABs) and pathogenic Vibrio spp. on aquaculture in the Delaware Inland Bays. In addition, she and Pitula are assessing to what extent dinoflagellate biotoxins affect oyster susceptibility to Vibrio spp.

Delaware Inland Bays are subject to anthropogenic inputs, which may stimulate harmful algae blooms and other pathogenic stressors that may impact oyster aquaculture.

Oysters are harvested for human consumption and studies have shown that HABs can increase bacterial loads in oysters.

Therefore, understanding the relationship between the factors that promote both HAB development and bacterial proliferation is imperative.

With their findings, Rosales and Pitula will be able to better inform the local government, stakeholders, and scientists about the linkage between harmful algal blooms and disease that impacts human health through seafood consumption.

The study is funded by the NOAA Educational Partnership Program grant.

Graduate Research and Scholarship

Grad Student Studies Surface Flows

Katie Fitzenreiter is earning a master’s degree at UMES. She and her advisor, Dr. Meng Xia, hope to characterize the movement of materials through the Maryland Coastal Bays.

The research explores surface currents that contribute to many oceanic processes such as the distribution of heat and the transport of sediment, nutrients, passively-moving organisms, and potential pollutants.

According to Fitzenreiter, “By studying surface flows in our oceans and estuaries, we can gain a better understanding of the movement and distribution of passive materials that are carried by currents.”

One way of observing flows at the surface is to employ GPS-equipped instruments known as “drifters.” In her study, she is releasing drifters in Maryland’s Coastal Bays to observe circulation patterns within the Bays and the neighboring ocean. In conjunction with drifter data, she is collecting wind velocity and tidal height data to investigate the roles of wind and tides on the behavior of surface currents in the region.

“Based on the data collected thus far, it appears that surface currents follow the direction of tidal flow under winds weaker than 6.0 m/s in magnitude,” said Fitzenreiter.

The work is being funded under the CREST Center for the Integrated Study of Coastal Ecosystem Processes.

Rodriguez Studies Host-Pathogen Interactions in Blue Mussel Jorge J. Rodriguez is a Ph.D. student at UMES in the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences (MEES) program specializing in environmental molecular biology/biotechnology. His research focuses on host-pathogen interactions in the blue mussel. Under the advisement of Dr. Anthony K. Nyame and Dr. April Croxton, he is investigating the potential role of glycans in host-pathogen interactions.

Blue mussels, Mitylus edulis, have been consumed by humans for many generations and are an intensively aquacultured species around the world. In the U.S., they are cultivated from wild and farmed sources along the northeast and northwest coast. And according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), blue mussel aquaculture is expected to increase in the U.S. Blue mussels also play an important role in maintaining ecological habitats due to the water filtering nature of bivalves.

Blue mussels can be infected by trematode parasites that can cause significant economic losses to growers. However, it has been observed that some mussels are able to withstand or clear these infections while others are not. Understanding the mechanism by which blue mussel hemocytes are able to organize immune responses to these parasites is crucial to better understanding the varying infection rates observed.

We have successfully used plant-derived lectins, proteins that can recognize and bind to carbohydrates, to demonstrate that blue

mussel hemocytes as well as blue mussel trematode parasites express glycoconjugates on their cellular surfaces. We have also been able to observe different immune responses by the mussel’s hemocytes to parasite life cycles that present different carbohydrate structures. The expression and/or recognition of these sugars by the parasites as well as the hemocytes may play a significant role in the ability of the mussel’s immune system to successfully target and contain infections by these trematode parasites.

The ultimate goal of their work is to establish molecular markers that can be used to assess the blue mussel’s susceptibility to infectivity by pathogens and how these markers may be affected by environmental stressors.

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Graduate Research and Scholarship

Johnson named among the HBCU All-Stars Zoe Johnson is a Ph.D. candidate in toxically at UMES. He also serves as president of the UMES Graduate Student Association. He is further distinguished as one of the 62 students from 59 HBCUs who were named HBCU All-Stars last year. He was selected from among 453 students on the strength of his application, which included a transcript, resume, essay, and recommendation. As a result, over the course of the year he served as an HBCU ambassador at UMES and participated in the White House HBCU Week Conference. Other opportunities included his participation in various national events and web chats with the initiative staff and professionals from different disciplines.

The experience was particularly beneficial to Johnson, who as a researcher focusing on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of environmental toxicants that play a role in the etiology of neurodegenerative disorders and neuroprotective strategies for neurodegeneration. The overarching goal of the research is to test promising approaches to modifying Parkinson’s disease (PD) processes in the laboratory by relying on endogenous brain

Local Student Receives Local Support 28

UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

chemicals known as “growth factors.”

According to Johnson, several growth factors have demonstrated the ability to reverse the disease process in the animal model of PD. Working with his research advisor, he aims at investigating such growth factor neuroprotection against the pesticideinduced loss of dopaminergic neurons in the human neuronal cell model of PD. The most promising compounds of the growth factors in the human neuroblastoma model of PD are tested for neuroprotective activity after exposure to pesticides.

The results of Johnson’s research will provide valuable information regarding the potential mechanisms involved in the progression of neurodegeneration associated with environmental toxicity and will produce one or more promising drug candidates for further development and use in the treatment of PD. Said Acting Executive Director Arthur McMahan, “Our All-Stars represent the best and the brightest that HBCUs have to offer. We pledge to provide a rich and nurturing environment that will help propel them to the highest heights.”

Annette Kenney of Marion, Md., is a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree at UMES. She is concentrating on plant and soil science. Her master’s thesis explores whether fresh produce can be safely grown with poultry litter, or other animal manures, applied as a fertilizer source. Wherever her career takes her, she says, she will focus on food safety and education.

“DPI’s college scholarship program aims to support the next generation of leaders in Delmarva’s chicken industry,” said Bill Satterfield, DPI’s executive director. “We were impressed by the caliber of this year’s applicants, and we’re awarding more scholarships than we did last year to encourage young people to consider all the interesting and rewarding ways they can be a part of Delmarva’s $3.4 billion chicken economy.”

As an undergraduate at UMES, Kenney worked with Somerset County chicken growers to implement environmentally responsible practices. As a graduate student, Kenney will receive a $4,000 scholarship from DPI.

FACULTY AND STAFF FOCUS

Dr. Madhumi Mitra

Professional Development Gracilaria (Red Macroalga) Biorefinery System:An Integrated Approach for Bioethanol Production

The professional development project will provide essential support for the investigator to conduct sabbatical research on the efficient methodologies in integrated aquaculture and for the generation of sustainable bioethanol from a red macroalgal feedstock, Gracilaria, at a pioneer institute of science, engineering, and technology in the USA. The overall goal of the professional development project is to address some of the critical needs of sustainable, renewable energy generation and to mitigate the harmful effects of the environment through the implementation of a seaweed/ macroalgal biorefinery with co-cultures of fish-plant species.

The bioethanol production project will increase UMES’ capacity for implementing bioenergy research in education (courses and experiential learning activities), student and faculty training (workshops), and outreach activities in the community in the areas of sustainable aquaculture, bioenergy, and bioremediation. In addition,

research collaborations with another minority institution, California State University at Fresno, CA, will be expanded and strengthened, establishing a platform for future student exchange and faculty visits.

NIFA Award No. 2018-38821-27742

Min Weighs in on Quality Deterioration in Broiler Breast Meat Dr. Byungrok Min, associate professor in the Center for Food Science & Technology, has dedicated several years to addressing what causes an estimated loss of $52 million to the poultry industry annually.

Heat stress, caused by enduring temperatures over 30°c during the finishing period in chickens, is one of the major causes of quality defects in breast meat. Those quality defects include discoloration and a low water holding capacity.

“With modern chicken strains, a fast growth rate and large breasts make the bird more susceptible to heat stress,” said Min. “Therefore, early heat conditioning is one of the most promising technologies.”

Early heat conditioning (EHC) causes the chickens to develop a

tolerance for heat at market ages. The technology utilizes a chicks’ perinatal epigenetic temperature adaptation process while exposing them to temperatures between 36-38°C for a prescribed period of time (e.g., 24 hours).

According to Min, EHC mitigates the effects of heat stress by alleviating protein and lipid oxidation as well as any negative effects on the antioxidant capacity in chicken breast meat.

In summary, Min’s research results indicate that EHC can reduce, but not prevent, heat stress impacts against the growth performance of chickens and the oxidative stability of chicken breast meat.

Min’s research was funded by the USDA/NIFA/AFRI Competitive Grants Program.

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FACULTY AND

CHIGBU NAMED AMONG WHITE HOUSE HONOREES

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), with the National Science Foundation (NSF), honored more than 140 individuals and organizations with presidential awards for their excellence in teaching or mentoring in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Dr. Paulinus Chigbu, UMES professor and director of the UMES NOAA Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science and CREST centers, has been named among the recipients of the 2018 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM).

“On behalf of the White House I am honored to express the Nation’s gratitude for the tireless dedication that these men and women bring to educating the next generation of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians,” said Michael Kratsios, Deputy Assistant to the President for Technology Policy. “Each day more and more jobs require a strong foundation in STEM education, so the work that you do as teachers and mentors helps ensure that all students can have access to limitless opportunities and the brightest of futures.”

During a visit to the nation’s capital, Chigbu received a presidential citation at an awards ceremony and participated in discussions on

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Dr. Paulinus Chigbu is flanked by Michael Kratsios, deputy assistant to the President for technology policy (left) and Dr. France A. Córdova, director, National Science Foundation.

Image courtesy of Dakota Consulting, Inc.

STEM and STEM education priorities led by OSTP and NSF. Photo credit: Teddy Yoshida Recipients also received $10,000 from NSF, which manages the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) and PAESMEM programs on behalf of the White House.

Presidential award for STEM mentors PAESMEM recognizes the critical roles mentors play outside the traditional classroom in the academic and professional development of the future STEM workforce.

For more than 17 years, Dr. Paulinus Chigbu has operated with the firm belief that academic instruction should not begin, and end, in the classroom. From that principled conviction, he has immersed his mentees in STEM research experiences and encouraged their participation in tutorial sessions, peer mentoring, summer internships, and scientific conferences and meetings. Of course, Chigbu’s background as a marine scientist provides the perfect platform to

D STAFF FOCUS excite his students.

The programs he has established and coordinated have influenced in a positive way more than 800 students (overwhelmingly from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in STEM) in the middle and high school grades through undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels. More than 30 undergraduate and graduate students have benefitted from his personal supervision in research activities (all of them earning undergraduate or graduate degrees in their respective STEM fields). His major program developments include: Interns in Biomolecular Sciences at Jackson State University (2000 - 2005). This multi-institutional project, funded by the Office of Naval Research to train undergraduates in the biomolecular sciences, includes Texas A&M International University, Saint Mary’s University, Jackson State University and Texas A&M University.

NOAA Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center (2006 - present). At this multi-institutional Center under the directorship of Chigbu, eight institutions are focus sites for exemplary academic and research collaborations to engage students (particularly those belonging to underrepresented minority groups) and prepare them for careers in marine and fisheries sciences. Since 2006, more than 500 students have benefited from rigorous programs offered through the Center. In 2010, the Center established a unique professional science master’s degree program, Quantitative Fisheries and Resource Economics.

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) in marine and estuarine science (2009 - present.) Chigbu established the first 10-week NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site Program at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in order to train students in marine and environmental science. He has served as its Director since its inception. Sixty-three students have participated in the program since it began; 39 are still enrolled as undergraduates; 24 have completed B.S. degrees of whom 12 have subsequently completed or are currently enrolled in graduate school.

Chigbu is a member of the National Sea Grant Advisory Board and is a Distinguished Scholar at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He received a Fulbright Scholarship in 1987.

Colleagues, administrators, and students nominate individuals and organizations for exemplary mentoring sustained over a minimum of 5 years. Since 1995, PAESMEM has honored the hard work and dedication mentors exhibit in broadening participation in the STEM pipeline. Mentors support learners from the kindergarten through collegiate levels, as well as those who recently have started their careers in STEM. They share their expertise and guidance with learners, sometimes through formal mentoring programs. Learners are often from traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM.

Parveen and Schwarz Contribute to Nationwide Award-Winning Research Twenty-five million dollars in grant funds were reserved for an awardwinning study trained on food safety and led by the University of NebraskaLincoln’s Dr. Rodney Moxley. The nationwide research project was funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP) program and involved 51 collaborators from 18 institutions. For their work, NIFA bestowed its coveted Partnership Award for integrating research, education and extension for the benefit of agriculture, the environment, and communities or people.

Two UMES researchers, Drs. Salina Parveen and Jurgen Schwarz, worked in collaboration with Dr. John B. Luchansky and Anna C. S. PortoFett of the USDA ARS to investigate the prevalence and pathogenic potential of Shigatoxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) isolated from retail ground veal and beef in four states of the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States as a part of the research project.

STEC, especially E. coli O157:H7, is a significant public health concern in many countries and is associated with a broad spectrum of infections that range from mild diarrhea to hemorrhagic colitis and kidney failure (hemolytic uremic syndrome). Over 1,000 samples of ground veal and beef were randomly collected in Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and Pennsylvania over a period of 2 years and analyzed for the presence of STECs. Positive samples were further scrutinized to characterize the bacteria found. The data generated are crucial to enhancing the safety of our food supply, since food borne outbreaks caused by STEC are persisting. Recent recalls of several thousand pounds of E. coli O157:H7 contaminated retail veal and beef from multiple states have resulted in an increased interest in the pathogen.

In addition to her research concerning veal and beef, Parveen and her collaborators are currently working on projects related to food safety of seafood and poultry, as well as water quality. In addition to his research efforts, Schwarz heads the Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences and serves as associate research director for the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences.

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FACULTY AND STAFF FOCUS

The sky is not the limit Students design for UMES researchers 3D zero-gravity payloads UMES physics professor Dr. Kausik Das spent a week with the National Research Council of Canada in mid-October participating in suborbital flights to conduct experiments under zero-gravity conditions, including one developed by four University of Maryland Eastern Shore students.

Das worked alongside and observed astronauts and scientists who were testing potential modifications to body-sensors in space suits for the International Space Station. To simulate outer space, Das flew aboard a custom-built Falcon 20 aircraft for a roller coaster-like ride - known as a “parabolic” flight, which he described as “an ‘outof-the-world’ experience literally!”

Das has been collaborating with space agencies since 2001, when he was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of California Santa Barbara and participated in a NASA-funded project on the behavior of fluids in reduced gravity.

Read the full story at www.umes.edu/pr

Computer Aided Design Lab Increases Departmental Capabilities

The Department of Human Ecology boasts a brand new stateof-the-art computer-aided design lab. The new lab has enabled the department to expand the Fashion Merchandising curriculum by adding two new courses: Computer Applications in Fashion Merchandising and Design and Advanced Computer Applications in Fashion Merchandising and Design.

Students will learn to fully computerize the apparel design process by using cutting edge technologies such as the TC2 3-D scanning system, digital textile printing, and to create designs using industry standard software (Lectra Systeme). Students will be able to create designs from concept to final product by sketching designs, creating fabric print designs, creating patterns, printing fabrics digitally, making garments/textile products, and doing virtual modeling and merchandising. In addition, faculty will conduct research in mass customization of garments, garment fit analysis, and rapid 3D prototyping of apparel.

The Human Ecology Computer Aided Design Lab was funded by the USDA 1890 Capacity Building Grants Program.

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Xia invited to serve as Associate Editor Dr. Meng Xia is associate editor for Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, a leading journal in estuarine coastal sciences with an impact factor of 2.4.

The invitation came as the result of a discussion between the journal’s publisher and its editors. The title carries with it responsibilities that include “inviting reviewers, monitoring the progress of the reviews, reading the reviews, and making suggested decisions on 5 to 10 papers per year. The appointment carries a 3-year term.

Xia is associate professor in the Department of Natural Sciences.

In addition to teaching, his research involves river plume and estuary dynamics; the ecological, biogeochemistry, and larval transport process (TMDL modeling); the nearshore wave-current dynamics and sediment transport process; and river watershed modeling.

Over the course of Xia’s career, he has served in various teaching roles and has published his research in prominent journals.

Furthermore, he has served as a manuscript reviewer for the Geophysical Research Letter, the Journal of Geophysical ResearchOcean, Estuaries and Coasts, Water Resources Research, Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Sciences, Coastal Lagoon (book), Estuarine and Coastal Modeling, Environmental Management, Marine Geodesy, the International Journal of Geosciences, Monitoring and Modeling the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (book), Environmental Modeling and Software, the Journal of Coastal Research, Environmental Sciences, and Technology. In addition, Xia served as a proposal reviewer for the Louisiana Board of Regents, in the NOAA Great Lakes Observing System.

FACULTY AND STAFF FOCUS Status of Soil Health Activities at 1890 and 1994 Land-Grant Universities:

Research, Curriculum Reconstruction, and Student-Faculty-Producer Training Feeding a global population projected to reach 9 billion by 2030

By Dr. Arthur Allen, professor, presents challenges and opportunities UMES Department of Agriculture, to regenerate and conserve soil health, Food and Resource Sciences which is foundational to life, civilization, and agricultural sustainability. A wide range of soil, crop, and fertilizer management practices along with environmental factors have contributed to substantial soil health decline in major regions of the North American Continent, particularly in soil biology, structure, organic matter content, and the many related soil functions. Recently, 20 top farm groups and organizations across the nation signed a letter supporting NRCS’ Soil Health effort, citing soil health as “part of a systems approach to agriculture production that benefits the landscape, reduces nutrient loading and sediment runoff, increases efficiencies, and sustains wildlife habitat, while providing the potential for cost savings to producers.” According to a report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Purdue University (Purdue, 2015), there is a high demand, at least for the foreseeable future, for college graduates with a degree in agricultural related programs. This report emphasized that an average of nearly 60,000 high-skilled agriculture and related job openings are expected annually in the United States over the next five years. Some of these jobs will more than likely be related to soil health.

Among the 1890 and 1994 land-grant universities, soil health education and training lacks desirable strengths. A number of soil-

related courses are offered, yet soil health has not been a focus area, training of producers on soil health management has not been highly emphasized, and no professional development opportunities on the science of soil health exist for 1890 or 1994 faculty. Recently, a team of 1890 Land-Grant Universities (UMES as lead, DSU, and Alabama A&M), with the assistance of USDA-ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) scientists and practitioners, were awarded a 5-year grant from NRCS to address this issue. Our approach is to employ soil health education, research, and training programs that develop capacity; infuse existing curriculum with experiential soil health learning outcomes; add new soil health based courses where warranted; and deliver training workshops, internship projects, and training events on soil health for faculty, students, and producers.

Consequently, a special session on soil health is planned for the 2019 ARS Biennial Research Symposium to provide a forum to alert the full 1890 and 1994 community about the vitality of soil health education, opportunities for participation, and planning events for immediate elevation of soil health activities to better position abovementioned faculty, staff and students for the job market and graduate study. Urgently, there is a need to cultivate mechanisms to provide classroom and technical training for ethnic minorities to improve soil health and management schemes such that these universities can take full advantage of the vastly emerging and exciting soil health career and employment opportunities.

Dr. Naveen Kumar’s soybean research is deeply important to the state of Maryland, where in 2017, according to the USDA Natural Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Maryland soybean acreage amounted to 500,000 acres, contributing some $200 million to the state’s economy.

While so much acreage is allotted to the crop, a 2012 USDA/ NASS report showed estimated yield losses of about 43.8mbu due to pest infestation across major soybean growing states, including Maryland, in the USA. For the study, Naveen Kumar and his colleague, Dr. Sudipta Seal of the University of Central Florida, conducted six experiments. They were successful in evaluating the effects of nanoclay, nano-zinc oxide and nano-sulfur on the beet armyworm and the soybean looper at critical stages of soybean growth and development under greenhouse conditions. In addition, they were successful in evaluating the effects of nano-clay, nano-zinc oxide and nano-sulfur

on endemic soybean pathogens under field conditions using potted plants.

The research was presented at the 2017 Maryland Commodity Classic and at the Worcester County Fair in Snow Hill, Maryland. Live experiments demonstrated the repellent effect of NZO on Japanese and Cucumber beetle adults.

The research was funded by the Maryland Soybean Board.

Going forward, the team will study the standardization of the size of nano-clay, nano-zinc oxide and nano-sulfur to combat the Japanese beetle, the soybean looper, and fungal diseases in laboratory and field conditions.

Three new grant awards for this year will fund research concerning phosphate uptake potential in soybean roots (Delaware Soybean Board); continued research using nanotechnology for sustainable soybean production under biotic and abiotic stress (Maryland Soybean Board); and an integrated pilot project to tackle herbicide resistance in soybean.

Nanotechnology for Sustainable Soybean Production in Maryland

INGENUITY WINTER 2018 | SPRING 2019 33

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Rheological measurements for characterizing sticky point temperature of selected fruit powders: An experimental investigation. J. Food Engineering. 195:61-72.

Caparino OA, Nindo CI, Tang J, Sablani SS, Chew BP, Mathison BD. Physical and chemical stability of refractance window-dried mango (Philippine ‘Carabao var’) powder during storage. Dry Technol. 35:25-37.

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Chi YN, Lovett MG, Chi O. 2017. Gaming motivations among American college students. Int J Bus Manag. 12(6):211-218.

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UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

Disi J, Zebelo SA, Ngumbi E, Fadamiro H. 2017. cis-Jasmone primes defense pathways in tomato via emission of volatile organic compounds and regulation of genes with consequences for Spodoptera exigua oviposition. Arthropod-Plant Inte. doi:10.1007/s11829-017-9503-y.

Disi, JO, Zebelo SA, Kloepper JW, Fadamiro HY. 2018. Seed inoculation with beneficial rhizobacteria affects European corn borer (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) oviposition on maize plants. Entomol Science. 21(1): 48-58.

Elbashir S, Parveen S, Schwarz J, Rippen T, Jahncke M, DePaola A. 2018. Seafood pathogens and information on antimicrobial resistance: A review. Food Microbiol.70:85-90.

Elmahdi S, Parveen S, Ossai S, DaSilva L, Jahncke M, Bowers J, Jacobs J. 2018. Characterization of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus recovered from oysters during an oyster relay study. Appl Environ Microb. dio:10.1128/AEM.01790-17.

Hall M, Todd B, Allen ED Jr, Nguyen N, Kwon YJ, Nguyen V, Hearne JL, Martin-Caraballo M. 2018. Androgen receptor signaling regulates T-type Ca2+ channel expression and neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate cancer cells. Am J Cancer Res. 8(4): 732-747.

Jiang L, Xia M. 2017. Wind effects on the spring phytoplankton dynamics in the middle reach of the Chesapeake Bay. Ecol Model. doi: http://10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2017.08.026.

Jiang L, Xia M. 2018. Modeling investigation of the nutrient and phytoplankton variability in the Chesapeake Bay outflow plume. Prog Oceanogr. 162: 290-302.

King MD, Bryant RB, Saporito LS, Buda AR, Allen AL, Hughes LA, Hashem FM, Kleinman PJ, May EB. 2017. Urea release by intermittently saturated sediments from a coastal agricultural landscape. Journal of Environmental Quality. 46:302-310. doi: 10.2134/jeq2016.08.0304.

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Mao M, Xia M. 2018. Wave–current dynamics and interactions near the two inlets of a shallow lagoon–inlet–coastal ocean system under hurricane conditions. Ocean Model, 129: 124-144.

Mayor ED, Chigbu P. 2018. Mysid shrimp dynamics in relation to abiotic and biotic factors in the coastal lagoons of Maryland, Mid-West Atlantic. Mar Biol Res. DOI: 10.1080/17451000.2018.1472384.

Morales-Núñez AG, Chigbu P. 2017. Abundance, distribution and species composition of amphipods associated with macroalgae from shallow waters of the Maryland Coastal Bays (MCBs). Mar Biodivers. doi:10.1007/s12526017-0779-z.

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NEW INITIATIVES

Green Entrepreneurship Program Receives Funding

SmartPath: Growerdirected Convergence of Nanotechnology and Smart Decision Analytics for Irrigation Water Quality Management Related to Pathogens Dr. Fawzy Hashem has joined a team of researchers from several universities who are set to address agricultural water shortage problems that arise from deteriorating quality, groundwater depletion, uncertainties in precipitation associated with climate change, and unsustainable freshwater usage.

The project is led by Dr. Eric McLamore of the University of Florida and focuses on reducing overall freshwater use by developing new smart irrigation systems emphasizing the quality of alternative water sources with potential pathogen contamination (SmartPath). The team will develop innovative software and hardware solutions for on farm water management. Treatment systems will be coupled with sensing systems for measuring physical, chemical and biological constituents. Economic feasibility will be evaluated across various spatial scales (from individual farms to regions) for growers in 4 key regions of the U.S. with varying drought conditions (Florida, Texas, Iowa, and Maryland) and three types of alternative water sources (treated domestic wastewater, brackish groundwater, and surface water that does not meet regulatory requirements).

Through laboratory testing and field case studies, SmartPath will develop and validate water treatment systems and increase the use of alternative water for irrigation of fresh produce, decreasing freshwater withdrawals and closing basin water gaps. SmartPath will train a transdisciplinary cohort of 12 graduate students and 20 undergraduate students. At UMES, Drs. Salina Parveen and Eric May will assist Dr. Hashem. Other members of the team hail at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Iowa State and Texas A&M universities, and the University of Illinois at Wisconsin. [Funded: USDA-NIFA Agriculture Water Program $5,900,000].

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UMES received a subcontract of $60,000 from Rutgers University to promote green entrepreneurship in bioenergy and sustainability for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as well as non-STEM majors. A Green Entrepreneurial Education Program with a focus on sustainability has been developed with research/internship experience as a key component,” said Dr. Madhumi Mitra, professor of biological and environmental sciences. “UMES participants will work in start-up companies associated with Rutgers EcoIgnite programs and companies in the region, thus gaining experience in applied research and innovation and being exposed to issues facing clean energy startups.” Drs. Abhijit Nagchaudhuri and Xavier Henry (Engineering and Aviation Sciences) and Dr. Monisha Das (Business, Marketing, and Accounting) are collaborators on the project.

An undergraduate/graduate level hybrid 4-credit course, “Bioenergy, Sustainability, and Green Entrepreneurship,” is being offered for the first time Spring 2019. Based on the coursework, student groups will develop green energy business concepts for startup companies for an end-of-the-semester capstone project. The best proposals, Mitra said, will be selected to receive start-up funds to initiate the companies in summer of 2019.

UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

Development of Nutritionally Enhanced Corn Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles as a Phytogenic Alternative to Antibiotic Growth Promoters in Broiler Production

Antimicrobial resistance is a major threat to global public health, and overuse of antibiotics in livestock production is considered one of the major contributors to this worldwide problem. Therefore, there is considerable interest to minimize or remove the need for their use in production systems.

Thus, in recent years, extensive research has been conducted to find alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs).

Phytogenics, bioactive compounds derived from plants, such as medicinal herbs and spices, have shown as promising AGP alternatives. One product of interest is corn dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), which is the major co-product of bioethanol production and is widely used in animal feed. Corn DDGS is one of the most abundant source of bioactive phytogenics, especially ferulic acid, whose health beneficial effects are well-proven. However, most of ferulic acids in corn DDGS are bound to fibers, resulting in their extremely low bioavailability/ absorbability. Recently, Dr. Byungrok Min and his collaborators developed nutritionally enhanced corn DDGS (NE-DDGS) rich in highly bioavailable/absorbable ferulic acids using alkali hydrolysis. In this newly funded USDA-NIFA CBG project, Dr. Min and collaborators from Delaware State University and the University of Georgia will verify the production of NE-DDGS in a pilot scale and determine the potential of NE-DDGS as the economically viable AGP alternative in broiler production. NE-DDGS have the potential to significantly contribute not only to global efforts against antimicrobial resistance to enhance public health and food safety, but also to enhancing efficiency, sustainability, competitiveness, and profitability of the animal and bioethanol industry. [Funded through a USDA-NIFA CBG Grant $499,999].

Welcome Aboard

The School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences welcomes its newest faculty and staff: Stephon Fitzpatrick Coordinator for Recruitment, Retention & Experiential Learning.* DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND RESOURCE SCIENCES Dr. Kimberly Braxton Campus Veterinarian/Assistant Professor* Dr. Sadanand Dhekney Associate Professor Chanda Harris Administrative Assistant I Dr. Sang Oh Associate Professor DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN ECOLOGY Michael Kirtsos Director, Dietetic Internship Program/Assistant Professor Dr. Kieu Anh Do, CFLE Assistant Professor DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL SCIENCES – LIVING MARINE RESOURCES COOPERATIVE SCIENCE CENTER Tanesha Hankerson LMRCSC Communications and Outreach Specialist Alexander Kessie LMRCSC Program Coordinator

Joint Appointment: DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND RESOURCE SCIENCES & NATURAL SCIENCES Dr. Behnam Khatabi Assistant Professor *Photos by D. M. ProductionsTM

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