Ag Science Center at Stan State Ready to Roll Again

By Kristin Platts

Every step in Emily Lawrence’s career began with one question: Where can I make the best impact? Just before the pandemic hit, she was well on her way to answering that question, through a partnership between Stanislaus State and the National Ag Science Center (NASC), which she is the executive director for.

The partnership, called Ag Science Center at Stan State, is a collaboration aimed at advancing the agricultural endeavors of both institutions and gives Stan State students a chance to experience a unique educational opportunity while working with industry professionals.

With the return to fully in-person instruction this spring, those involved in the project are ready to pick up where they left off. Lawrence, who also serves as the director for Ag Science Center at Stan State, sees the collaboration of her organization with the university as a way to put Stan State’s agricultural and science programs on the radar of industry professionals.

The partnership began with Lawrence incorporating NASC into a series of CSU science days she held on the Stan State campus and it quickly morphed once she met Dave Evans, dean of the College of Science at Stan State.

Having no background in agriculture, but a career in education herself, Lawrence said NASC’s mission to provide education is what appealed to her when she was hired on. But she saw an essential need to affiliate the organization with an educational institution, and she looked to Stan State to fulfill it.

“When I worked with Stan State, it really cemented and came together,” she said.

This really has to be an industry lead effort, so that students will be able to go out and get the job.

− EMILY LAWRENCE

Working with Evans and his department has been fundamental, according to Lawrence, who underscores the relationship between science and agriculture in everything she does with her work.

Through her connection with the science department, a new discipline is being formed at Stan State called Career Ready Ag Food Safety, or CRAFFS. They’re referring to it as a convergent discipline, since it’s going to require input from multiple departments, Lawrence explained.

“It’s more of a pathway concept to where students will take a number of courses across a number of different divisions with the same goal of coming out with the food safety concentration,” she said.

There is a huge need in the industry for skilled graduates in the food safety sector, Lawrence said, and students from a broad range of majors will find this path useful.

“When I talk to my industry partners, they say it’s hard to find people out there with the prerequisites that they need,” she said. “I feel like this is a hugely marketable concentration.”

The goal, now that more students are back on campus, is to begin to drive more attention to the Ag Science Center at Stan State. The program was recently awarded a grant from the USDA with specific parameters to include input from industry leaders. Lawrence said the grant will help propel them into the soft launch of their cohort in the fall, which they are currently recruiting for.

“The specific goal of this grant is that the advisory board is minimum 50 percent from industry, because this really has to be an industry lead effort, so that students will be able to go out and get the job,” she said.

Other plans on the immediate horizon include an Ag Tech mini-conference called “A Year in Conversations” to take place in late spring to early summer. The event will bring together college partners in the Central Valley to discuss various challenges in the technology realm.