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<li> Train graduate students especially of minorities MS and PhD in Integrative Biosciences IB mainly in spatial dynamic and stochastic epidemiologic modeling SDSEM. This will entice to attract more students from underrepresented groups especially African Americans into the food and agricultural sciences. This objective will further strengthen the Ph.D. program in IB at Tuskegee University that brings a unique set of scientific strength and related resources from two of its leading colleges, College of Agricultural, Environmental and Natural Sciences and College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health, the only place in the country where such a unique resource exists at a historically black university. <li>Continue to develop and refine SDSEM and risk analysis education resources (qualitative and quantitative) with a focus on food animals and food safety, and public health.
<li>Make these research results accessible on the WWW and via CDROM
<li>Expand the linkages and partnerships with other colleges and universities Tennessee State University and Auburn University, two Centers for Excellence for Homeland Defense The National Center for Food Protection and Defense, A Homeland Security Center of Excellence, University of Minnesota and National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense, A Homeland Security Center of Excellence, Texas A&M University, and USDA ARS Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory </ol>
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Presently, the US food animal industry and public health are being stalked by a potentially devastating emerging and reemerging animal disease from across Southeast Asia, and parts of Eastern Europe in the form of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza HPAI strain H5N1. Prevention of HPAI is of paramount importance to both public health and animal health sectors. Partnership between the two sectors will be a critical success factor for mitigating risk and communicating prevention and control strategies particularly with respect to public health impact, on farm biosecurity, worker health protection, and food safety. The purpose is to train graduate students especially of minorities MS, PhD in Integrative Biosciences IB mainly in spatial dynamic and stochastic epidemiologic modeling SDSEM. To expand the linkages and partnerships with other colleges and univrsities. To strengthen the PhD program in IB at Tuskegee University that brings a unique set of scientific strength and related resources.
<P> APPROACH: Approach will be the use of spatial dynamic and stochastic epidemiologic modeling SDSEM, which is undergirded by the framework of the Epidemiologic Problem Oriented Approach EPOA methodology. This will be integrated with the systems analysis methodology and Geographical Information Systems GIS. The application of SDSEM, using a state transition model represented by difference and differential equations that relies on the classical mass action theory, coupled with GIS can be a useful tool to simulate and provide excellent opportunities for studying both in temporal and spatial spread of microbial organisms. the The use of GIS with the system dynamics model will result in a new methodology to predict the behavior of emerging and reemerging diseases and control their spread based on the models simulations results. This approach facilitates the development of structured and systematic models of these diseases, we will be using the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza as the example. Presently, these methodologies are of high priority in agricultural trade, food safety, human, animal and plant health, and the protection of natural ecosystems and are urgently needed knowledge. These modeling methodologies and approaches are timely and cost effective and provide answers and models to scientific questions that are not easy to determine in a physical laboratory. The students will have laboratory experiential learning experiences at the collaborating universities, Homeland Security laboratories and at the USDA/ARS Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory.