Washington, DC
January 8, 2009
USDA’s Cooperative State Research,
Education, and Extension Service (CSREES)
today awarded more than $3.4 million to train the next
generation of policy makers, researchers and educators in the
food and agricultural sciences.
“The future success of the agricultural and food industries
relies on our ability to train future leaders in these fields,”
said Gale Buchanan, USDA chief scientist and under secretary for
Research, Education and Economics. “These students will help
fill nationally identified expertise shortages and meet market
demands in the food and agricultural sciences.”
CSREES administers the funding through the Food and Agricultural
Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship
grants program. Specifically, the National Needs Fellowship
(NNF) provides funding to support graduate training through a
student stipend and a cost-of-education allowance to the
institution. In addition, fellowships and travel allowances for
special international study or thesis/dissertation research are
granted to support traineeship programs that encourage
outstanding students to pursue and complete degrees or obtain
post-doctoral training in areas identified as a national need
for the development of scientific and professional expertise.
The NNF program addressed eight targeted expertise shortage
areas: agricultural genomics and bioinformatics, forest
resources, agricultural systems engineering, agricultural
management and economics, food science, human nutrition,
sciences for agricultural biosecurity and training in
sustainable sciences.
In fiscal year 2008, the NNF program made awards to support 37
doctoral students and seven master’s students. Additionally, the
U.S. Forest Service provided funds for a special emphasis on
forest resources. This funding supports five students at the
master’s level and six students at the doctoral level. Four of
these students will participate in international travel.
Fiscal year 2008 NNF grants were awarded to:
• University of
California-Davis, $258,000
• Colorado State University, $234,000
• University of Connecticut, $229,500
• University of Illinois, $234,000
• University of Montana, $236,000
• North Carolina State University, three grants of $172,000
each
• Cornell University, two grants of $234,000 each
• Oklahoma State University, $234,000
• Oregon State University, $129,000
• Texas A&M University, $234,000
• University of Vermont, $236,000
• Washington State University, $258,000
Through federal funding and
leadership for research, education and extension programs,
CSREES focuses on investing in science and solving critical
issues impacting people’s daily lives and the nation’s future.
For more information, visit
http://www.csrees.usda.gov. |
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