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2015 class of William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professors honored at special celebration

The newest William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professors were welcomed at a special reception Sept. 8 at the NC State University Club. The event celebrating the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ most distinguished professorship was hosted by CALS Dean Richard Linton. Seven CALS faculty members joined the ranks of colleagues who have earned the named professorship, established 65 years ago by William Neal Reynolds, the longtime president and board chair of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Since that time, 92 outstanding CALS faculty members have been named WNR professors, and more than 30 of them were in attendance at the reception to honor the new group, as well as celebrate the program.

The new class of WNR professors includes Dr. Dennis T. Brown, Molecular and Structural Biochemistry; Dr. W. Gregory Cope, Applied Ecology; Dr. William L. Flowers, Animal Science; Dr. William F. Hunt III, Biological and Agricultural Engineering; Dr. David L. Jordan, Crop Science; Dr. Ken H. Pollock, Applied Ecology; and Dr. G. Craig Yencho, Horticultural Science.

“The William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professorship program was created to enhance recognition of the college’s leadership in the advances of agricultural sciences and technology,” Linton said. “For 65 years, this has been a wonderful legacy, as William Neal Reynolds Professors have distinguished themselves as scholars, leaders, teachers and mentors.”

Those eligible for the professorship include CALS professors in the fi elds of agricultural biochemistry, agricultural economics, animal industry, entomology, horticulture, plant pathology, poultry or rural sociology. (Reynolds

Marc Hall

From left are William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professors Ken H. Pollock, William L. Flowers, G. Craig Yencho, William F. Hunt III, David L. Jordan and W. Gregory Cope, along with CALS Dean Richard Linton. (Not pictured is WNR Professor Dennis T. Brown.)

himself suggested that the original 10 professors be distributed across various disciplines of agriculture.)

Linton noted that the WNR endowment which supports the program enables the college to retain and attract prominent scientists. It is “designed to strengthen teaching, research and extension programs in various fi elds of agriculture to improve the quality of life in rural North Carolina,” he said.

After presenting award certifi cates to each of the WNR professors in the 2015 cohort, Linton announced something new being added to the program.

“The college wants to do all that we can to accelerate the potential for this cohort to be interdisciplinary team leaders for our college,” Linton said. “Therefore, I am pleased to announce a new leadership initiative that we are designing to support the two most recent cohorts of William Neal Reynolds Professors. These individuals will be invited to participate in a yearlong program of short workshops in partnership with the General H. Hugh Shelton Leadership Center.”

Linton said that the program will enhance the group’s skills for addressing key leadership challenges for interdisciplinary work, strengthen the cohort and enhance the program’s legacy as the group “builds a pipeline for the future.”

When William Neal Reynolds established the endowment creating the distinguished professorships in 1950, it was one of the greatest gifts that had been made to a single CALS program. The gift, one of many made to NC State University by the Reynolds family in Winston-Salem, has benefi tted not only the recipients but the many others who have gained from the research, teaching and extension efforts of those who bear the title of William Neal Reynolds Professor.

Said Linton, “We have confi dence that all of our new WNR professors will continue this outstanding tradition of scholarship and service.” – Terri Leith

Extension helps spread word about avian fl u threat

With authorities on high alert for avian infl uenza this fall and winter, North Carolina Cooperative Extension reached out across the state with educational programs aimed at helping owners of backyard poultry fl ocks keep the virus at bay.

The state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services held educational meetings in each of Extension’s fi ve districts in September and October.

During those meetings, Dr. Donna Carver, a veterinarian with NC State University’s Prestage Department of Poultry Science, joined NCDA&CS veterinarian Dr. Mandy Tolson and others to get the word out about the state’s response planning and preparedness and what fl ock owners could do to reduce the risks.

The two agencies also published information online on the disease, its symptoms and how to help prevent its spread. Carver worked with others to develop a poster aimed at helping low-literacy audiences and those

The North Carolina Cooperative Extension

Service at NC State University has a new director.

Dr. A. Richard Bonanno of Methuen,

Mass., joined extension on Feb. 1. To the position of director and associate dean for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,

Bonanno brings strong experience in and commitment to agriculture, extension education and leadership, according to CALS Dean

Richard Linton.

Before coming to NC State, Bonanno owned and operated a farm just north of

Boston specializing in fresh market vegetables, bedding plants and vegetable transplants. In addition, he had been an adjunct professor and extension educator with the

University of Massachusetts since 1989.

With UMass, Bonanno’s focus was on vegetable and small fruit weed management for the six New England states. He also pro

State offi cials urged caution to poultry owners and vigilance in watching for fl u symptoms.

without the internet recognize the symptoms. And extension agents across the state wrote newspaper and newsletter articles geared for both fl ock owners and the general public.

Last year, an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian infl uenza called H5N2 devastated fl ocks in the nation’s Midwest and Northwest regions, and authorities feared that ducks, geese and shorebirds would spread the disease to North Carolina and other parts of the country when they moved through during their fall migrations.

When this issue of Perspectives was vided leadership for New England in training efforts related to fresh produce food safety.

Bonanno also has signifi cant administrative and leadership experience, having served for six years as president of the 6,000-member Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation. In that volunteer position, his work focused on local, state and national regulatory and leggoing to the press, North Carolina had not had a case of highly pathogenic avian infl uenza, but offi cials were urging caution. This strain has not infected people, and offi cials say that there’s no danger of getting the virus from eating cooked eggs or poultry meat. Still, the stakes are high, not just for the backyard fl ocks but for a commercial poultry and egg industry worth billions of dollars annually in the state.

North Carolina is considered the nation’s third-leading state when it comes to poultry and egg production, and broilers are the state’s top agricultural commodity.

Because of the threat, the state department of agriculture cancelled live bird shows and sales through Jan. 15, and Cooperative Extension’s 4-H program suspended its popular school embryology projects.

The agriculture department also urged all fl ock owners to register at http://ncagr.gov/ ncfarmid. Offi cials indicated that registration is necessary for state offi cials to communicate with poultry owners if an outbreak does occur.

Bonanno named extension directoronanno named extension director

Dr. A. Richard Bonannor. A. Richard Bonanno

– Dee Shore islative issues affecting agriculture. He has also served on the American Farm Bureau Federation board of directors.

While Bonanno has spent much of his life in Massachusetts, he is not a stranger to North Carolina. In fact, after earning his Ph.D. in plant physiology and horticultural crops from Oregon State University in 1982, he joined the faculty at NC State, serving as a Cooperative Extension weed specialist and CALS researcher for vegetable crops from 1983 to 1989.

Bonanno succeeds Dr. Travis Burke, who has held the interim position since July 2015, following the retirement of Dr. Joseph Zublena.

N.C. Cooperative Extension is the university’s largest outreach program, with centers serving every county and the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. Programs focus on agriculture, food and 4-H youth development. – Dee Shore

PowerPack is the newest Howling Cow dairy product

Sodium hexametaphosphate. Acesulfame potassium. Cellulose gel. Sucralose. These are just a few of the tongue-twisting ingredients in a bottle of chocolate-fl avored Muscle Milk.

How about, instead, another beverage made from real milk from cows grazing happily at a dairy farm just down the road? With real cocoa, pure cane sugar and 24 grams of protein? Seems like a no-brainer.

And thanks to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Dairy Enterprise System, this alternative muscle-building/exerciserecovery beverage recently became a reality.

Meet PowerPack, the newest member of the Howling Cow family of dairy products.

Produced in the Feldmeier Dairy Processing Lab in the college’s Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences (FBNS), PowerPack has quickly become a favorite on campus.

In early 2013, Carl Hollifi eld and Gary Cartwright, assistant director and director, respectively, of the NC State Dairy Enterprise System, developed the concept and created an initial formula for PowerPack.

“There are formulas for these types of beverages that involve processes that we don’t have in our dairy plant, with ingredients we don’t use,” Hollifi eld said. “So we knew it had to be a fresh milk beverage, not water based, and it had to have pure cane sugar, not high fructose corn syrup , in order for us to make it.”

Hollifi eld and Cartwright next reached out to Dr. Craig Sherwin, who conducted undergraduate research in Dr. Allen Foegeding’s lab and graduated from NC State in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in food science. Sherwin, technology director at Davisco Foods International Inc., helped Hollifi eld and Cartwright determine the best type of whey protein to use in the beverage. They settled on a product called BiPro, which is made by Sherwin’s company.

“BiPro is a whey protein isolate at the highest purity available, and it contains only the protein fractions in whey that have the most complete essential amino acid content,” Sherwin said. “This means you can use less

Marc Hall

From the Barnyard to the Brickyard comes PowerPack, a new beverage produced by the CALS Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences.

of it and still get the amino acid leucine that is recommended for muscle protein synthesis. The purity and the gentle ion exchange process also leads to an exceptionally clean fl avor, and it tastes particularly good just straight in water without any fi llers. In a fi tnessoriented chocolate milk, these nutritional and functional properties make it ideal.”

With their formula complete, Hollifi eld and Cartwright next submitted the concept for consideration as a spring 2013 FBNS senior design project. A group of four students – Audrey Caster, Katrina Connor, Merrie Levi and Erin McMurtrie – jumped at the chance to develop the beverage.

“I thought it sounded really interesting,” said McMurtrie, who earned bachelor’s degrees in food science and chemistry in 2013. “It was a great concept, and I liked that we could help create a mutually benefi cial relationship between the dairy and the athletic program. Besides, who doesn’t like chocolate milk?”

While the student team was busy working on everything from nutrition analysis to production, Hollifi eld forged agreements with University Dining and NC State Athletics.

PowerPack hit the shelves of campus dining halls and c-stores during the summer of 2013. After a tweak to the formula that made the protein-to-calorie ratio compliant with NCAA regulations, PowerPack also became a key component of the nutrition plans of NC State student-athletes.

“PowerPack is an additional recovery drink that is unique to NC State, and our studentathletes love it,” said Diana Nguyen, NC State director of sports nutrition. "What sets PowerPack apart is that it is made here on campus, and you can’t fi nd it anywhere else.”

Low-fat chocolate milk is considered to be a good base standard for a recovery beverage, Hollifi eld said, but adding protein to it also makes it a muscle-building beverage. One 14-ounce serving of PowerPack delivers about 300 calories and 24 grams of protein.

After two years in production, PowerPack sales on campus are going strong. For the students – now alumni – who helped develop it, seeing those cartons for the fi rst time was a moment they’ll not soon forget.

“It’s hard to explain how exciting it is to see your hard work pay off,” said Katrina Connor, who received bachelor’s degrees in food science and bioprocessing in 2013. “Seeing it on the shelves was cool, but seeing people enjoy it was even better. I knew we had made something awesome, and I was so proud to be part of the amazing team that had made it.”

For Sherwin, being part of the PowerPack process was a full-circle experience.

“This project started with student research using our protein in chocolate milk, which is an activity I’m really proud to support and encourage,” he said. “To think that not only are thousands of students enjoying this product on my old campus but also that some of my favorite athletes might be as well, that makes it particularly cool for me as an alumnus. Go Pack!” – Suzanne Stanard

New NC State consortium to study microbes at the root-soil interface

As North Carolina State University advances in its quest to make the Research Triangle a global hub for plant-related innovation, it recently launched a unique consortium to explore the soil microbiome – the largely unknown world of microscopic organisms living in soil along plant roots.

The new partnership, known as the Plant Soil Microbial Community Consortium (PSMCC), brings the university’s Center for Integrated Fungal Research (CIFR) together with stakeholders from industries and organizations vested in improving agricultural production.

The consortium’s goal is to identify biological indicators of soil health and to determine how to use naturally occurring benefi cial microorganisms to modify soil in ways that improve plant health and increase crop yields.

According to CIFR’s associate director and plant pathology professor Dr. Marc Cubeta, the NC State consortium brings CIFR’s broad knowledge and expertise in bioinformatics, climatology, fungal and evolutionary biology, ecology, mathematics, microbiology, and plant and soil sciences to better understand the interaction of soil microbial communities with plants.

While bacteria, fungi, insects and nematodes can cause crop damage, the majority of microbes are neutral or even benefi cial to plants. For example, mycorrhizal fungi are associated with the roots of 80 percent of all plant species and critical for providing them with nitrogen, phosphorus and water. And scientists believe these benefi cial relationships between plants and microorganisms will provide clues that can lead to agricultural innovations by reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Dr. Ignazio Carbone, CIFR’s director and a plant pathology professor, said, “The goal is to help us leverage microbes to increase plant yield, suppress disease – to essentially complement what we are doing with current agricultural practices to develop new approaches that are sustainable and environmentally friendly.”

Developing such approaches begins, he said, with a greater understanding of microbial biodiversity and how it evolves in response

As the consortium conducts groundbreaking research, it will provide educational opportunities for students. Here, Dr. Marc Cubeta, Plant Pathology professor, (center) examines fungi cultures with NC State students Martin Pettersson (left) and Megan Miller.

to farming practices and stressors such as drought and insects.

“The soil is teeming with microbial life, yet relatively few studies have mapped that diversity,” he said. “It’s estimated that there are upwards of 5 million species of fungi, but we have described less than 5 percent of them. There are fungi and other microbes in nature that have applications in agriculture, can be used as biopesticides and have yet to be discovered. And our mission is to do that – to understand how the communities of soil microbes interact and how to augment these communities to improve crop vigor and yield.”

The consortium’s work will fall into an emerging multidisciplinary fi eld coming to be known as agri-symbiotics – the study of benefi cial biological interactions between plants and other organisms. This fi eld is one ripe for industry-university collaboration, according to an economic impact study of the university’s Plant Sciences Initiative to increase agricultural yields and profi tability. Some of the world’s leading ag biosciences companies, several of which have research headquarters in the area, have expressed particular interest in the fi eld, the study says.

Dr. Deborah Thompson, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ director of research partnerships, said the consortium will focus on precompetitive research, which is initiated early enough in the research-and-development process that collaboration benefi ts companies that might otherwise compete.

Dr. Thomas Schäfer, vice president at Novozymes, one of PSMCC’s founding member companies, said, “Microbes are one of the promising new tools to boost crop health and productivity while reducing the need for pesticides and fertilizer. This is a welcome proposition at a time when the world needs to move towards improved sustainability and beyond heavy-input agriculture while feeding a growing global population with less available land.

“The scientists at PSMCC have complementary expertise to identify fungi and bacteria in the soil and to study plant-microbe interactions. Novozymes looks forward to working with NC State researchers to better understand the complex interplay between millions of microbes and their host plants,” he said. “Together with our BioAg Alliance partner Monsanto, we expect this research will inform our development of microbialbased products to help farmers grow healthier and more resilient plants capable of withstanding drought and a range of pests.”

In addition to conducting research, the consortium will provide educational opportunities for NC State students and extend knowledge gained through research to stakeholders, the public, farmers, regulatory agencies and the scientifi c community. Such “translation is an integral part of this,” Carbone said,

“because at the end of the day, our goal is to address the grand challenges of agriculture. We want to leverage new technologies such as deep genome sequencing and modeling complexity within ecosystems to make signifi cant advances in our knowledge that lead us to develop better agricultural management practices.”

The consortium actively invites membership, Thompson said. Members will benefi t from university resources and have fi rst access

Wanted: Future Farmers

NC State University student Rebecca Falkner spent the better part of summer 2015 working as an intern at White Rock Farms in Peachland. There she acquired, she said, “a well-rounded knowledge of the many types of animal agriculture,” as she learned all aspects of the farm’s business – including fi nance, daily operations, marketing, supplier partnerships, employee management and more. This fall, Falkner, a College of Agriculture and Life Sciences senior in animal science, has been equally busy preparing an in-depth report on the internship, attending biweekly workshops and creating her proposal for an agricultural business venture.

It’s all part of Developing Future NC Farmers (DFNCF), a new two-year pilot program funded by the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission to identify, support and graduate new agricultural entrepreneurs.

According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, the average ages of U.S. and North Carolina farmers were 58.3 and 58.9 years, respectively. “To meet the challenges of the future, innovative perspectives and insights must come from a new generation of agricultural leadership,” said Dr. Sam Pardue, CALS associate dean and director of Academic Programs. DFNCF aims to help answer that leadership need.

Pardue spearheaded the creation of the unique two-year pilot program, based on a concept originated by state Sen. Brent Jackson. DFNCF is intended “to identify, support and graduate a group of new agricultural entrepreneurs to sustain and enrich North Carolina agricultural industries,” Pardue said. “The program combines a rich university to consortium research, results, new initiatives and proposals, and consortium membership allows companies to leverage their research funds by pooling funds with other members to increase research productivity.

Members of the consortium will also have an opportunity to provide critical input in developing new research initiatives. When research developments are made, members benefi t from fi rst access to intellectual property. Members also can interact closely experience with robust mentoring from external businesses to nurture creative thinking in combination with an academic foundation needed for each student to succeed.”

The fi rst eight DFNCF students were selected in December 2014, and activities began this past spring. The chosen students receive many benefi ts, including scholarships, transportation and housing reimbursement, and internship wages; mentoring by an established agri-business leader; experience in the development of a business plan; and three hours of course credit.

Sara Lane, CALS Career Services coordinator and a graduate of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, is director of the program.

“Part of the objective of the program was to bring in students who are not from agricultural with the faculty, students, technicians and post-doctoral researchers, as well as identify potential new hires. Students, postdocs and other university researchers will also have opportunities for industry internships and sabbaticals with consortium industry members.

For more information or to get involved, contact Thompson at 919-515-2717 or deborah_thompson@ncsu.edu.

Courtesy DFNCF

DFNCF program participant Katelyn Thomas had the opportunity “to submerge myself in an organic and agritourism operation” at Vollmer Farm in Franklin County.

– Julie Long and Dee Shore production backgrounds in order to grow the number of new agriculture producers,” she said. “To be eligible for the program, the students’ parents had to make less than 50 percent of their income from agricultural production.”

Lane explained that the basic components of the program are a workshop series in the spring to get the students ready for the internship (workshops on topics such as farm safety, agricultural Spanish and operating farm equipment), the 12-week internship in the summer and the fall workshop series to help the students complete their business plans.

“The overall goal of the program is to give students from non-ag backgrounds the opportunity to work on a successful farming operation with a successful Ag-Mentor and the guidance to create a business plan, with the hope that the students will pursue careers

Courtesy DFNCF

in agriculture, and more specifi cally launch their own production agriculture operations,” Lane said. “We try to pair the students with successful Ag-Mentors in their production was through the N.C. Pork Council’s internship program, which funds a porCourtesy DFNCF areas of interest.” tion of the wages for

Meanwhile, to serve as Ag-Mentors, the students who intern program looked for “for both successful busion hog farms.” ness people and great communicators and The group of teachers,” she said. “This year, Dr. Bill Collins interns and their was helpful in identifying many of our mentors mentors include through their participation in the CALS AgriFalkner, the senior cultural Leadership Development program.” in animal science,

The Ag-Mentors reap benefi ts, as well, working with Roddy including the opportunities to build a legacy Purser at White Daniel Miller, a junior in agricultural business, operates a tractor under by helping a young farmer start a business; Rock Farms; David the direction of Scott Taylor at Cross Creek Dairy. build industry community by bringing in young Johnson, junior in ag farmers to take over for retiring farmers; business, with Russell Wood at Wood Angus; she is to have spent the summer on the pass on knowledge and values to the next Cory Levings, junior in ag business and ag Thurman Burleson and Sons Farm and said, generation; gain new ideas and perspectives science, with Chuck Stokes and Evan Stokes “My agriculture knowledge, experience and from a student trained in the most innovaCaudle at Little Creek Hog Farms; Selena appreciation were expanded, and I cannot tive technologies and knowledge available McKoy, junior in horticulture and poultry sciimagine a career for me in another industry.” through NC State’s academic programs; have ence, with Dana Massey at Plantworks NursThomas found “working at the Vollmer additional labor for daily operations as needed ery; Daniel Miller, junior in ag business, with Farm this summer gave me an opportunity to (the student is expected to spend about 80 Scott Clayton at Cross Creek Dairy; Katelyn learn about things I did not have much knowlpercent of time on farm labor and 20 percent Thomas, junior in ag business, with Russell edge about. I come from a small grain farm in on learning and job shadowing); and work Vollmer at Vollmer Farm; Dené Vann, junior in Lee County, and to go to Franklin County and with a program coordinator who oversees the animal science, with John Langdon at John M. submerge myself in an organic and agritourinternship experience. Langdon Farms; and Abby Whitaker, junior in ism operation was a huge step for me.”

This year Ag-Mentors contributed $2,500 ag science, with Andrew Burleson at Thurman McKoy called her time at Plantworks “a to the students’ summer wages, but next year Burleson and Sons Farm. truly incredible experience.… I was able to see this amount will be covered by the grant, Lane “Six of the eight students learned how to how an agribusiness is run, the day-to-day opsaid. “Because of this, the N.C. Pork Council drive a tractor for the fi rst time during their inerations, the teamwork needed to keep things assisted in sponsoring three of the students ternships,” Lane said. “The students have been going and how product is sold and shipped.” this year who worked with hog farmers. This overwhelmingly positive about the program.” And Falkner concluded that “working at Their rave reWhite Rock has expanded my knowledge on views can be found the subjects I have been taught in the classamong the internroom. … I am eternally grateful to be given ship reports: the opportunity to learn about industries that Said Levings, I love and to be able to participate hands-on in “My time at Little the fi eld and in the barns. I thank those menCreek Hog Farms tors for putting their faith in me and for gifting Inc. met my expectame with information that I hope to take onto tions and solidifi ed my own operation one day in the future.” my choice of agriLane recalled that Ag-Mentor Langdon culture as a career. “had some reservations about joining the I saw things I had program, especially after meeting his intern, never seen before Dené Vann, who is a very petite woman. He and performed tasks was concerned she might not be up to the I had never done challenges of working on a hog farm.” Animal science student Dené Vann (center) was undaunted by the before.” But by the end of the internship, Vann had challenges of working with the large equipment and animals at John Whitaker spoke proven her value, Lane said. “Mr. Langdon M. Langdon Farms. Vann called Langdon (shown at right) a “wonderful of how grateful called me on the penultimate day of her in

mentor.”

ternship and said that he didn’t know what he was going to do without her. ... He said that if we could fi nd another student like Dené, he would happily participate in the program again.”

And Vann is especially grateful for the opportunity. “I would like to thank Senator Jackson, the Tobacco Trust Fund and the Pork Council for creating and sponsoring my internship with Mr. Langdon and the DFNCF Program. Mr. Langdon was a wonderful mentor,” she said. “This internship has served to reinvigorate my passion for agriculture.”

Following the group’s internships, the fall series of program workshops focused on how to develop business plans, with the students presenting their plans in November.

“We’ve had loan offi cers from AgCarolina Farm Credit come in to talk with the students about the different parts of a business plan and what students should include in theirs,” Lane said. “The business plans are very basic plans for operations the students may choose to start after graduation or later on.”

Some of the presentations include Levings’ plan to take over two farrowing houses

As an entomologist working on the fringes of NC State University’s main campus, Dr. Fred Gould didn’t have cause to set foot in the 1911 Building for the fi rst three decades of his career on the NC State faculty.

Now nearly every week he fi nds himself in the iconic home of some of NC State’s social science departments and its interdisciplinary studies program. That’s because he and other faculty members come together with students from across campus for regular colloquia focusing on some of society’s most challenging issues: those that swirl at the intersection of molecular and population genetics, ecology, policy and ethics.

It’s all part of a shift in campus culture that Gould has seen evolving in recent years – a shift that has crystallized in what’s known as the Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program. The program is drawing national attention for its tradition-busting approaches to what is actually one of the university’s strongest tradithat are currently owned by her family; Whitaker’s plan to build a small beef herd that she can manage in addition to a full-time job (possibly as an extension agent); Vann’s proposal, not for a production operation but to open a mobile large animal veterinary practice Rebecca Falkner put her CALS animal science courses to good use at in northeastern N.C., White Rock Farms. school; and McKoy’s plan to create an organic create a community of Ag-Mentors who may produce farm, with a focus on pick-your-own be able to provide mentorship even outside of blackberries, plus egg production. the program,” she said. “With this being the

Lane noted that McKoy’s farm would also fi rst year, we’ve learned a lot about what the have a strong agritourism/education bent, and students need and how we can best get that that “she wants to create internships for miinformation to them. nority high school students to introduce them “If the program receives funding after next to agriculture.” year, I’d like to be able to bring more students

Looking ahead, Lane hopes to enhance into the program and grow its reputation with future workshops to provide the students the student population, so it becomes a go-to with even greater training. “I’d also love to opportunity.” – Terri Leith

Courtesy DFNCF

Program brings bright minds together to solve some of society’s most complex challenges

after completing vet

Dr. Fred Gould and Dr. Jennifer Kuzma stand near the 1911 Building, where they meet for regular colloquia as part of the Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program. The program has spurred the creation of faculty clusters in 20 multidisciplinary areas – including Gould and Kuzma’s faculty cluster on Genetic Engineering and Society.

Roger Winstead

tions – bringing bright minds together to solve big problems.

What’s different now is the university’s emphasis on bringing those bright minds together not just within their areas of expertise but across departments, disciplines and even colleges. The program has spurred the creation of faculty clusters in 20 multidisciplinary areas. It also is bringing 77 new faculty members at NC State to work in these areas.

The new faculty members, established and emerging leaders in their fi elds, all have a strong commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration. Search committees for these positions include representatives of multiple departments and colleges, and as the candidates are hired, they follow a slightly unconventional path to tenure and promotion.

Gould says that these changes should help faculty members overcome some of the key challenges that they had traditionally confronted when taking on issues requiring complex, multidisciplinary solutions.

“In the past, we thought we were interdisciplinary if we had an entomologist and a geneticist working together,” Gould has said. Today, the faculty cluster he leads, Genetic Engineering and Society, includes not just entomologists and geneticists but scholars in communication, rhetoric, public administration, history, development and environmental economics, biomathematics and molecular biology.

The work of bringing together those diverse disciplines started nearly a decade ago, Gould says, when it became clear that science, especially when it relates to a subject as controversial as genetic engineering, can’t realize its best potential if the general public is left out of the conversation.

With biological scientists and social scientists working together, Gould says, NC State was able to win a major National Science Foundation grant for training graduate students interested in genetic engineering to effectively collaborate across disciplines. That grant helped position Gould and his colleagues for success in the Faculty Excellence Program.

Furthering the cluster’s work will be a new Genetic Engineering and Society Center, coled by Gould and Dr. Jennifer Kuzma, who was hired through the Faculty Excellence Program. She’s one of the world’s experts on emerging technologies, especially genetic engineering for environment, health and industrial applications.

Also playing key roles in the cluster are two other newly hired faculty. Dr. Zachary Brown focuses on the interactions between economic and biological systems, including the implications of biotechnology innovation in economic development. And Dr. Jason Delborne explores how policymakers and members of the public interact on controversial science topics.

The Global Environmental Change and Human Well-Being cluster has also added new CALS faculty members: Drs. Becky Irwin and Craig Layman, both associate professors in the Department of Applied Ecology. It hired Scott Mills, a forestry and environmental resources professor. William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Dr. Nick Haddad, who recently joined the CALS faculty from the College of Sciences, co-leads that cluster.

Dr. Heike Sederoff, also a CALS faculty member, leads the Integrated Synethic and Systems Biology cluster. In this cluster molecular biologists, chemists and engineers collaborate closely to understand and modify living organisms to help eradicate disease and address the globally increasing demands for food and energy in a sustainable environment.

The cluster has hired the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology’s Dr. Ross Sozzani, who recently received an NSF career award; the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Dr. Belinda Akpa, who uses mathematical modeling to understand and improve the effects of pharmaceuticals on human physiology; and the College of Engineering’s Drs. Adriana San Miguel and Albert Keung, who use new synthetic approaches to understand the genetic basis of complex traits.

Cluster members also are teaching an innovative new course in systems biology for students in biology and engineering.

Three other clusters are led by CALS faculty members.

The Microbiomes and Complex Microbial Communities cluster aims to set up an internationally recognized center focused on the analysis and engineering of the microbial communities associated with crops, farm animals, insect pests and the environment. Coled by Dr. Michael Hyman of the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, this cluster’s

Dr. Jean Ristaino of Plant Pathology leads the Emerging Disease Biology and Global Food Security cluster.

research spans molecular microbial ecology; metabolic/proteomic studies of microbial communities; modeling of complex microbial systems; and microbial community engineering.

In the Emerging Disease Biology and Global Food Security cluster, led by Dr. Jean Ristaino of the Department of Plant Pathology, faculty members are working to improve both local and global efforts to manage emerging pests and pathogens that threaten crop production and lead to food insecurity. The cluster builds on the university’s strong history in international agricultural research and outreach, says Ristaino, a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor.

“Many emerging armed-and-dangerous plant diseases and pests threaten U.S. and global agriculture, and reported outbreaks have become more severe with trade and changing climate,” she says. “We are wellpositioned to tackle these challenges with NC State faculty experts, U.S. government regulatory experts and industry experts in the Triangle area.”

The cluster is bringing leading scholars from around the world to Raleigh in March to synthesize new developments in bioinformatics, geospatial modeling of disease outbreaks and disease biology, as well as the development of new tools, such as drones and cell-phone technology for pathogen detection. Ristaino says that scientifi c experts in diverse disciplines will strategize with government, industry and global development policy makers to develop the way forward in combating emerging plant diseases.

The cluster is hiring faculty members in four new positions, as will the Sustainable Energy Systems and Policy cluster. In the latter cluster, engineers, economists and policy scholars will work together to make

Giant opportunity

Glover, who is from Goldsboro, is a senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, double majoring in animal science and agriculpart in the once-in-a-lifetime internship, travNC State a hub for transdisciplinary research that informs key energy decisions at the state, federal and international levels. The goal is to link technical research with policy, economics and environmental impact assessment to deliver actionable energy solutions, says cluster co-leader Dr. Laura Taylor, of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

Each year during the Super Bowl, the comThe hitch traveled with three semi-trucks – petition on the fi eld is matched closely by one with 6 horses, one with 4 horses and porthe competition among advertisers to create table stalls, and the third with the wagon and the most original and impressive TV commerharnesses, he explains. “We also had a pascials. And usually the most heart-warming (or senger van to act as a shuttle to and from the tear-inducing) are those commercials featuring hotel where we were staying and the barn.” the Budweiser Clydesdales. Last summer, NC Altogether, he visited 10 different states,

State University student Bradley Glover esincluding Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dasentially got to inhabit that soft-glow pastoral kota, Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado and world of the gentle giants in the ads. Nebraska. tural education. And this past summer, he took That’s CALS student Bradley Glover in the driver’s seat of the famous Budweiser draft wagon. –Dee Shore eling the western part of the country caring for an eight-horse hitch because we travel with all looked the same. After a couple of weeks, I the Clydesdales. 10 horses, hitch eight and have two extras was able to distinguish between each one and

“This internship was perfect for me bethat are switched out from day to day,” Glover even tell the public about specifi c tendencies cause I was able to travel, meet new people says. “We worked six days a week, starting at of each one. It is amazing to think about how and work with draft horses,” Glover says. 6:30 a.m. and sometimes not ending until 9 or each horse has its own personality. The crew

He was one of two interns who were chosen 10 p.m., depending on whether or not we had of seven people I worked with taught me a lot, from among 300 applicants to travel with the a night show.” too, as their history with the company ranged hitches. A recent graduate from Kansas State Glover’s morning routine consisted of from fi ve months to 27 years.”

University traveled with the East Coast Hitch, and feeding breakfast to 10 horses, cleaning out His road west began in late January of

Glover traveled with the West Coast Hitch. stalls, and grooming and then exercising the 2015 with a posting he saw on BuschJobs. The term ‘hitch” refers to a whole outfi t of horses every day. com, where he had been directed by one of harnessed Clydesdale horses hooked to the “A lot of what we did after that depended the Clydesdale handlers he met when the famous draft wagon. “In this case, we have on our show schedule. We would usually set up horses were in Raleigh in the fall of 2014. camp in a different Glover says, “I fi lled the online application Courtesy Bradley Glover city every week and have three to four shows Wednesday through Sunday. A lot of washing went on as well, everything out just like any other job posting, included a resume and waited for a phone call.” In March, he was notifi ed that he had been selected as one of six applicants who would receive a Skype interview. “There were over 300 applicants altogether. I reserved a room in Hunt from the stalls, harLibrary and had my interview on a Monday. nesses, trucks, wagon, The following Friday, I got a phone call from St. horses and even the Louis offering me the opportunity of a lifetime,” dogs,” he says. Glover recalls. “I fl ew out of RDU on May 31 “It is really neat and returned home on Aug. 11.” to think about the After two days of orientation at the fi rst time I was Anheuser-Busch InBev Headquarters in St. around the 10 ‘gentle Louis, Missouri, Glover traveled to Vancouver,

Glover was one of two interns who were chosen from among 300 appligiants’ and how they Washington, for his fi rst stop.

cants to travel with the Budweiser Clydesdales.

Courtesy Bradley Glover

“My favorite stop was in Cody, Wyoming, during the week of Fourth of July,” he says. “Everywhere we went, people were generous, but in Cody, the whole town seemed to come together and be genuinely happy that the horses were there. I also loved the Western United States’ atmosphere, history and, of course, Yellowstone National Park.”

Glover says he has come to realize that “when it comes to fi nding a job and thinking about the future, we put ourselves at a disadvantage when we limit our options to just North Carolina, or even just the South. We have this whole world to explore and enjoy.”

Moreover, he says, “I believe my experiences at NC State have allowed me to arrive at this realization. I also believe that my coursework, along with other experiences outside of NCSU, enabled my passion to fl ourish.”

He lists his classes in Introduction to

North Carolina State University has won a $6.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to undertake research and grower education efforts aimed at better managing a major new pest that causes hundreds of millions of dollars in annual agricultural losses.

Under the four-year specialty crop grant from USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture, NC State University scientists will join with researchers and extension specialists from across the nation to conduct on-farm tests aimed at fi nding new ways of effectively dealing with spotted wing drosophila, a tiny fruit fl y that’s been causing big problems since it was fi rst detected in North America in 2008.

They’ll also develop tactics and tools for predicting risks from the pest, along with educational materials to help growers make the most economically and environmentally sound management decisions.

NC State’s collaborators in the effort are from Michigan State, Oregon State, Cornell and Rutgers universities, as well as the universities of Maine; Notre Dame; Georgia; California, Davis; and California, Berkeley; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. Equine Science, Equine Evaluation and Equine Farm Management as having provided a strong foundation. “Although I knew I wanted to work with animals, specifi cally horses, livestock or exotics, one day, I was able discover that draft horses interest me the most.”

Now, he says, “My career goal is to either work with Budweiser Clydesdale Operations, or draft horses in general, or even in the animal agriculture industry.”

Since returning to Raleigh he has found he is constantly refl ecting back on his internship experiences “and trying to savor each memory.” Among those memories are attending the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota and the country’s largest charity softball tournament in North Dakota; meeting people like Sen. John McCain’s wife, Cindy, and the Clydesdale trainer for the Super Bowl Commercials; and working day-in and day-out with the world’s

tally sound pest management decisions.

Guiding the initiative is Dr. Hannah Burrack, an associate professor of entomology with NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Science and specialist with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Others from NC State who are participating in the project are most famous equines – memories that “are still hard to wrap my mind around,” he says.

The internship also provided many life lessons, which he lists: “You never know how your work will end up impacting others; always appreciate the smallest aspects of life; no matter where you come from or might go, people are just people, and you can learn something from each one of them; work hard and always try to do your best; seek advice and suggestions on how to do better; never stop learning; and always follow your passion.”

And it’s an experience Glover enthusiastically recommends. “The work was constant, the hours were long and the road life isn’t for everyone, but I don’t regret a single second of it,” he says. “This internship has been a pivotal part of my undergraduate experience, and I can’t wait to see where it leads to in the

NC State wins $6.7 million grant to curb devastating fruit pest

Dr. Hannah Burrack (left) and Ph.D. student Katharine Swoboda Bhattarai are studying how to deal with the spotted wing drosophila, to help fruit growers make economically and environmen

future.” – Terri Leith Dr. Max Scott of the Entomology Department, Dr. Zack Brown of the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department, Rhonda Conlon of Extension Information Technology, and Dr. Jean-Jacques Debois of the Southern Integrated Pest Management Center.

Student’s research sheds light on monitoring for spotted wing drosophila

Monitoring for spotted wing drosophila (SWD) infestations is a key fi rst step toward economical and sustainable management of the damage that the pest does to soft-skinned fruits, and fi nding effective ways to do that monitoring is one goal of NC State University entomology student’s research.

Since 2012, Ph.D. student Katharine Swoboda Bhattarai has been working with Dr. Hannah Burrack to learn more about the highly invasive fruit fl y and where best to place traps to monitor for their presence.

Her fi rst experiments were designed to determine if rates of infestation with SWD larvae were higher in areas closer to non-crop habitats – places like wooded areas and streams – than they were in other parts of fi elds at two Western North Carolina blackberry farms.

“It’s been suggested that woods and these non-crop habitats can provide Drosophila suzukii with places to hide – a refuge from management treatments. So I really wanted to get an idea of the risk posed by these areas,” Swoboda Bhattarai said. “The idea was to give growers ideas of where they should monitor. Should you monitor close to non-crop habitat? Or should you monitor in the middle of your fi eld?”

She set up traps baited with sugar and yeast along transects that ran from wooded edges and water sources into crop fi elds, and then regularly examined those traps for adult insects and fruit in the fi elds for larvae.

While she didn’t see a correspondence among larval infestation, trap captures and

Burrack explained that spotted wing drosophila, or Drosophila suzukii, lays eggs in such valuable soft-skinned fruit as raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and cherries. The eggs develop into larvae, leaving the fruit unmarketable.

Becky Kirkland

A single berry with a drosophila larva can cause a grower’s entire fruit load to be rejected.

distance from streams or ponds, she did when it came to wooded edges. At certain times of the season, when infestation rates were high overall, berries collected closer to a wooded edge were infested at higher rates than berries collected farther away from the woods, she said.

Based on her fi ndings, Swoboda Bhattarai recommends that once growers fi nd fl ies in traps, they should pay close attention to fruit along wooded edges if they want to monitor for larval infestations. That’s because a single fruit with larvae can cause inspectors to reject a farmer’s entire shipment, she said.

In more recent experiments, Swoboda Bhattarai has noted that despite big differences in how they reproduce, SWD behave a lot like other fruit fl ies when it comes to the times of day when they are most active and are likely to move in and out of fi elds. And that, she said, could have signifi cant implications as she and other scientists continue their work to develop effective integrated pest management strategies

for SWD. – Dee Shore

Marketers who buy fruit from growers to sell to grocery stores “have zero tolerance for spotted wing drosophila infestation in fruit,” Burrack said. “If they fi nd a single larva in a fruit, the entire load from that grower will be rejected. Nationally, we estimate that these economic losses to growers on an annual basis are over $700 million a year.”

Spotted wing drosophila has been recognized as a pest in Asian fruits since the 1930s. “In just seven short years, it’s gone from initial detection in California to globalrange phenomenon,” Burrack said. “It’s found everywhere we grow the crops it feeds on in North America, it’s widely distributed in Europe, and it’s been found in South America. That’s a shocking rate of expansion for a pest organism.”

Right now, Burrack added, growers have found only two ways of dealing with the insect: They use insecticides, or they cut their growing season short.

In the United States, insecticide use has grown in host crops by at least 30 percent in response to spotted wing drosophila’s threat, she said. “Some berry crops rarely received any insecticide applications during harvest, and now they may receive at least weekly insecticide treatments,” she said.

Still, even the best insecticide treatments may be rendered ineffective under adverse environmental conditions, such as rainy periods, she added. Not only that, spotted wing drosophila is such a prolifi c reproducer that scientists are concerned that the pest may develop resistance to the currently used treatments.

These are among the reasons that Burrack and others involved in the grant-funded project want to help growers reduce their reliance on insecticides for managing spotted wing drosophila.

“The economic impact is important. Berry crops and cherries are worth more than $4.37 billion annually in the United States and are grown on close to 42,000 farms. These crops are high value per acre, and for this reason, they are particularly important components of local-food systems,” she said.

“Our biggest goal is to have things return to a management program that is sustainable both economically and environmentally for our growers, where all the tools effective against spotted wing drosophila are being utilized, and pesticide use occurs only when absolutely necessary.” – Dee Shore

CALS takes next steps in improving innovation and effi ciency

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ organizational chart will undergo major changes July 1, as the college’s departments, centers and programs align around four focus areas: Plant Systems, Animal Systems, Human and Resource Systems, and Food, Biochemical and Process Systems.

The changes are designed to allow for more strategic, interdisciplinary decisionmaking across the college, according to a memorandum Dean Richard Linton sent to college faculty, staff, alumni and other stakeholders in December.

In announcing the changes, Linton also shared news that NC State University’s provost Warwick Arden has agreed to help fund 40 new CALS faculty positions over the next four years.

“This is an unprecedented investment and is a real game changer for the work we do, with a lasting impact for decades to come,” Linton noted.

The investment, in conjunction with a new organizational framework, “will better position faculty, staff and administration to think, work and invest more strategically across all disciplines,” Linton said. “This combination will help CALS achieve our mission of interdisciplinary discovery, learning and engagement to create agricultural and life sciences opportunities that benefi t our state, the nation and the world.

“It recognizes that while our opportunities are boundless,” he said, “our resources are not.”

The reorganization will reduce the number of departments in the college from 16 to 12. The departments of Entomology and Plant Pathology will merge, as will the departments of Crop Science and Soil Science and the departments of Agricultural and Extension Education and Youth, Family and Community Sciences.

The plan also calls for CALS’ phased divestiture in the Department of Statistics, which is currently shared with the College of Sciences.

The chart below illustrates how departments, centers and programs will be organized. Each system will be guided by a CALS associate dean along with a rotating center head or department head.

Linton said that the systems “will provide the needed fl exibility for department heads, center directors and program leaders to work more closely together across disciplines.” It will also allow them to develop collective goals and make systemwide budget and hiring recommendations to CALS administration, he added.

Linton and associate deans held two forums in December to outline the changes, answer questions and hear from the college’s faculty, staff and stakeholders. A website at go.ncsu.edu/livingourvision has more information.