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$1 million grant will go toward research campus program
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Published: November 20, 2009
KANNAPOLIS — Academic leaders from N.C. State University met with local and state representatives at the North Carolina Research Campus on Thursday to launch a new program designed to reshape how future scientists approach the learning process.
The Kannapolis Scholars program, funded through a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will welcome its first class of scholars next spring.
The grant, along with a $100,000 match from the UNC system, will provide approximately $38,000 to scholars over a 15-month period for tuition, housing and other expenses. Scholars will work with mentors from the eight universities that partner with the research campus to conduct transdisciplinary studies in the areas of food science and nutrition.
"To answer the big questions, we have to do things we haven't done before," said Steven Lommel, interim associate dean for research at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State. "That's what we're doing here."
The idea, he explained, is to train students to broaden their scope of thinking beyond a specific area of study, and to combine areas of expertise from multiple disciplines.
Some problems, he said, can't be solved by focusing only on one area of expertise. This transdisciplinary approach to learning will help students see problems differently and adjust possible solutions accordingly.
"What you end up with in the students is more of a mosaic," said Jack Odle, a professor in nutritional biochemistry at N.C. State. "I think it will advance the cause of understanding these complex issues."
Odle spearheaded the grant proposal and will direct the Kannapolis Scholars program.
The grant is expected to fund 20 scholars over the course of four years. Each scholar will spend 10 weeks of the 15-month program working in labs at the research campus. During that time, they will take part in weekly seminars and an annual research convention at the campus.
Adding an educational component like the Kannapolis Scholars program further advances the goals of the research campus, said David Murdock, Dole Food Company owner.
"The only power you have is the power of knowledge," he said. "One million dollars is only the beginning of what I'm going to be after (the USDA) for, because what we are doing here is exactly what I envisioned."
The next step for the program, Odle said, is to begin the recruitment process.
"We're casting a broad net," he said of the search for potential students to join the inaugural class of Kannapolis Scholars. "We're going to go after top flight students. They are the lifeblood."
• Contact Jonathan E. Coleman: 704-789-9105
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