Improved Laboratory Facilities for the UPR-UP Nutrition and Dietetics Program

<p>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:<br/> The Program's obsolete facilities and inadequately functioning equipment in food laboratories that do not meet Food Code and accreditation standards led us to apply for this grant. The current equipment is estimated to be worth $18,000. The proposed project will provide students with real life, hands-on experiences in foodservice systems in order to adequately work in the nutrition and dietetics field. This project will provide state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and updated laboratory curriculum for the Program. Over the expected 10-year life span of the equipment, the project will impact at least 55 students per year in the Program. This is estimated to translate to 550 students that will be impacted by the project outcome. Through these and extracurricular experiences with state-of-the-art equipment, students will be better trained for
professional careers in nutrition and dietetics and in areas of interest to the USDA. A scholarship will also be provided to a Program graduate to pursue a MS degree in Nutrition and/or Dietetics at an institution chosen by the student. The refurbished facilities will also promote collaboration with the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in Puerto Rico by means of an annual career day to attract students into internships and careers with the USDA. The Priority Needs Areas addressed are strengthening institutional educational capacity by updating scientific instrumentation in the Program's facilities for teaching food science and institutional menu preparation laboratories.
<p>APPROACH:<br/> Project's plan of operation will be structured in trimesters. Beginning the first trimester (October - December, 2011) with the coordination of the Institution's infrastructure improvements, which will include electrical and plumbing needs in order to accommodate the equipment to be purchased. This was stated in the commitment letter included from the Campus' Chancellor, Dr. Ana Guadalupe, in the original proposal. Project PD and coPD will foresee the timely completion of these improvements that should be completed by the fourth trimester. First trimester will also include the development and launching of the project's web page by January 2012. The confirmation of the design and layout of laboratories areas phase by the previously contacted contractor will be accomplished during the second trimester. Followed by the purchase order for the new equipment.
The development of laboratory modules for the selected courses will start in the first trimester and will be finished by the end of the seventh trimester. Modules will be tested by professors and students to determine if learning activities meet students' expectation and academic needs. This is expected to be completed by June 2014. As soon as the equipment is installed, faculty and personnel training will begin. During the second and third year of the project, evaluation will take place beginning with the development of the instrument to conduct formative and summative evaluation process. Dissemination phase will be accomplished once laboratory facilities are finished. An inauguration event will be held for Program faculty, staff, students, and alumni. This inauguration and the project's web page will be part of student recruitment efforts. Project progress and accomplishments,
including modules, results, and impacts, will be posted on this page. Modules will be freely available to other institutions via the project web page. Modules available in Spanish may be of interest to institutions serving Hispanic students in the US, as well as to institutions in Latin America. Articles that describe the project's goals and outcomes will be published with before and after photos of food laboratories in the American Dietetic Association Puerto Rico Affiliate Publication Avances de Nutricion, and in the College of Nutritionists and Dietitians of Puerto Rico's Publication Equilibrium. Presentations about the project will be made at the Annual HSIs Project Directors' Conference, and at a regional or national meeting.
<p>PROGRESS: 2012/09 TO 2013/08<br/>Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The Nutrition and Dietetics Program at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus is housed in the College of Natural Sciences, Río Piedras. The program aims to provide the academic preparation needed to prepare qualified nutrition professional to provide quality services to a diverse clientele and various areas of specialty within the field of nutrition. The project titled Improved Laboratories Facilities for the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras Campus is expected to be completed in three years and achieve the following objectives: 1) two redesigned and remodeled food teaching laboratories, 2) redesigned laboratory experiences for seven courses, 3) through
multiple courses, training of at least 200 students in the three years of this grant through improved real life, hands-on experience in food science, foodservice, and food safety, 4) improvement in students retention of course information through improved laboratory modules, 5) increase in efficiency in training students in food science and menu courses, and 6) increase in number of students getting extracurricular experience in menu planning, preparation, and sale of food in order to develop skills in foodservice management and human resources. During the last year, changes from the last report in relation to the laboratory facilities include that the infrastructure needs are on their final stages for room 105 and ready to be used during the month of September 2013. Room 109 has some electrical work pending and should be completed within a month. New laboratory equipment was received
and installed, as well as new chairs to accommodate 24 students as planned in both rooms. It has been planned that both laboratories be formally inaugurated during the month of October 2013 The project webpage has been in constant update. Visits to the webpage are monitored continuously. Educational materials are currently available on the webpage. Project director, Brenda Toro, with the assistance of Co-Project, Lizette Vicens have been in charge of all aspects of project administration. One of our students participated in the MANNRS 28th Annual Career Fair and Training Conference in Sacramento, California from March 21 to 24, 2013. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results have been disseminated through the projects webpage as well as the Nutrition Program’s webpage at the College of Natural Sciences. Electronic communications have been sent out
to nutrition and dietetics professionals and program graduates, as well as presentations made at the Advisory Committee Meeting for the Didactic Program in Dietetics and Nutrition and dietetics professional meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? This coming year the plan is to inaugurate the new facilities, begin using the facilities for the courses they were intended to, implement the developed modules and proceed to evaluate and revise as needed. Continue with the project webpage as the main mean to disseminate project results. Data will be collected for evaluation and dissemination purposes.
PROGRESS: 2011/09/01 TO 2012/08/31OUTPUTS: The Nutrition and Dietetics Program at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus is housed in the College of Natural Sciences. The Program aims to provide the academic preparation needed to prepare qualified nutrition professionals to provide quality services to a diverse clientele and various areas of specialty within the field of nutrition. The project titled Improved Laboratories Facilities for the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras is expected to be completed in three years and achieve the following objectives: 1) two redesigned and remodeled food teaching laboratories, 2) redesigned laboratory experiences for seven courses, 3) through multiple courses, training of at least 200 students in the three years of this grant through improved real life, hands-on experiences in food science, food service, and food
safety, 4) improvement in student retention of course information through improved laboratory modules, 5) increase in efficiency in training students in food science and institutional menu courses, and 6) increase in number of students getting extracurricular experience in menu planning, preparation, and sale of food in order to develop skills in food service management and human resources. During the first year of the project the infrastructure remodeling was begun in room 109, however, several serious infrastructure problems were confronted because of the age of the building that houses the laboratories that go back to early 1920's. These problems have delayed the infrastructure in room 109. The Program requires that at least one lab be available for classes, so room 105 has not yet being started, until room 109 is ready. Institution engineers confirmed the design and layout of
laboratory areas that was later used and reconfirmed by equipment suppliers. The Institution requested that the purchase of new equipment for the laboratories be done through auctioning process thus; several suppliers were invited to participate. Interested suppliers visited the laboratory areas and all their inquiries were answered by our Program personnel and with the assistance of the Purchasing department at our Institution. The project webpage was developed during the Spring semester 2011-2012 and published in October 2012. The webpage serves to accomplish various objectives: 1) as a dissemination tool of the project's description and objectives; 2) depository of documents and laboratory experiences modules were developed for NUTR 4031 and NUTR 4086 and 3) recruitment of students interested in pursuing a career in nutrition and dietetics. The webpage address is:
http://nutrilabs.uprrp.edu. Visits to the webpage will be monitored as more information is published. Educational materials are currently available on the webpage that are related to the first two courses that are impacted by the project. PARTICIPANTS: Project Director, Brenda Toro, with the assistance of Co-project Director Lizette Vicens have been in charge of all aspects of project administration including: follow- up the improvements to the infrastructure, auction process for purchasing the equipment, development of criteria to select the recipient of the scholarship, subsequent completion of forms and processing of the scholarship at our Institution and the Institution selected by the student. The student selected to receive the scholarship began her studies this Fall 2012 at the Master's Program at the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, College of Applied Health Sciences at
the University of Illinois, Chicago; criteria and selection process for a student enrolled in our Program to participate in MANRRS 27th Annual Career Fair & Training Conference in Atlanta, GA, March 29 - 31, 2012, among other administrative tasks related to the project. Project Directors traveled to Washington DC, November 2011 for the New Project Directors Annual Meeting and presented a poster of the project's aims and objectives. Last May, both project directors, participated at the Project Directors' 2012 Conference in Edinburg, Texas. Both directors have alternately participated on the Project Directors' webinars offered. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target Audiences include enrolled students in the Nutrition and Dietetics Program and other similar Hispanic programs that might benefit from the project's laboratory experiences and educational modules. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant
to report during this reporting period.