After sorting through applications from across the university, the PIE Center Program Enhancement Grant winners have been chosen.
Independent reviewers selected four winners from 22 proposals to receive approximately $5,000 each. The winners, which represent departments including animal science, horticulture and agricultural and biological engineering, will enable the PIE Center to interact with new audiences.
The mini-grant program, in its first year, looks to expand PIE Center research partnerships across campus and inspire collaboration among different departments and academic disciples, according to Associate Director Alexa Lamm.
“The goal of this project was to have more people know about the PIE Center and think about how they could work with us,” she said. “We wanted to branch out to colleagues in IFAS and beyond because so much of what we do is applicable to all disciplines. We are funding four very exciting research and extension programs that apply directly to the work we do.”
One winning proposal, from Animal Sciences Associate Professor Chad Carr, looks at the disconnect between consumers and animal agriculture. The PIE Center grant will partially fund a graduate student assistant that will measure the impacts of a massive open online course designed to give students and consumers a comprehensive look into the meat industry.
Another winning proposal, from Agricultural and Biological Engineering Assistant Research Scientist Wendy-Lin Bartels, will work to encourage North Florida farmers to use cover crops through the establishment of a peer-to-peer network. Farmer peer-to-peer networks bring farmers together to exchange experiences and share knowledge current practices. The project will include regional workshops and video production, which will be partially funded by the PIE Center grant.
Researchers will be working with both urban and rural audiences, as well as with college students. Many of the grants are focused on areas where the PIE Center has not had the opportunity to be involved in before.
“This program will allow us to reach across the university and help bring our resources to other departments,” Research Coordinator Deidra Slough said.
A Hillsborough County Extension program, Friends of the Trees — Tampa, will also receive PIE Center funding. The proposal, from Agricultural Education and Communication Assistant Professor Paul Monaghan, includes workshops and the development of social marketing tools encouraging people to plant more trees in urban areas.
The final winning proposal, from Family, Youth and Community Sciences Assistant Professor Karla Shelnutt, will work with women aged 18-45 following a gluten-free diet and assessing their perceptions and attitudes toward gluten. The mini-grant will fund student workers who will analyze the people’s diets.
“The diversity of research interests and outreach tactics that projects funded by the PIE Center Program Enhancement Grant helps the center fulfill its mission to reach audiences and address topics that would generally be untapped by PIE Center faculty alone,” Slough said.
PIE Center staff and faculty are optimistic about the future of the program, and are excited to continue working across disciplines in the future.
“The scope of submissions really reflects on the scope of what people think the PIE Center can do,” Lamm said. “We are excited to see project take off and are looking forward to working with a diverse group of faculty which represent UF/IFAS broadly.”
The projects will collect data over the summer and will submit reports to the PIE Center in the fall. Recipients will share their research in a PIE Center guest blog post or webinar later this year.
