Interdisciplinary Graduate Research and Education in Sustainable Food Systems

Advances in agricultural and environmental sustainability, public health and nutrition, and economic and social well-being call for systemic and interdisciplinary research, which in turn require mechanisms for developing partnerships and collaboration. In response to these needs, our goal is to launch an interdisciplinary graduate certificate program in Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) to expand partnerships and collaboration among faculty and graduate students in units across campus. The initial participation for the certificate will be the 6 graduate fellowships supported by this NNF proposal. Our objectives include recruiting exceptional students and developing a pipeline of future graduate students from underrepresented backgrounds; designing and training graduate students in systems thinking and interdisciplinary research; and expanding food systems research, education, and outreach into more non-traditional academic units through interdisciplinary team building. We will track and
monitor program progress through exit interviews, student placements, certificates awarded and research, scholarship and outreach outputs. We intend to begin to awarding certificates within three years of this program start and to double the initial number of certificates awarded over the five project years. This program will support research training and outreach in the challenge areas of Childhood Obesity Prevention, Food Safety, Food Security, Agricultural and Natural Resources Science for Climate variability and Change, and Water Resources. The program supports the strategic goals 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the USDA Strategic Goals and Objectives found in the Strategic Plan FY2014-2018.