UTIA plays a pivotal role through its recognition and integration of the One Health concept. Embracing the One Health approach, which underscores the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health, UTIA is uniquely positioned to spearhead initiatives aimed at bolstering health outcomes in Tennessee and beyond.
Empowering Food Safety and Biosecurity: UT’s National Hub
Protecting US agriculture and our food supply hinges on tackling critical challenges like food safety, public health, biosecurity, foreign animal diseases, and emergency preparedness. Leading the response to these complex issues is the UT Center for Agriculture and Food Security and Preparedness, a national hub for expertise and action.
Based at the College of Veterinary Medicine on the UT Institute of Agriculture campus, the center develops and delivers high-quality education and training programs. Inspectors, public health officials, and emergency response personnel trained through the center’s educational programs are central to state, national, and international efforts to protect agriculture and the food supply from terrorist threats and promote safe food production and processing practices.
Since its founding in 2005, the center has delivered more than 350 instructor-led courses to nearly 10,000 participants in thirty-six countries and welcomed more than 33,000 learners through its online programs.
Courses are developed by UT faculty members and subject matter experts across the US in partnership with instructional designers who specialize in adult learning techniques. The teams have developed innovative training courses using a variety of modalities, including instructor-led, online, hybrid, simulations, and video-based training.
Center experts also have developed and implemented training for just-in-time needs that address emerging issues for industry and federal agencies. For example, the center developed a virtual 360-degree training simulation for the US Food and Drug Administration to support egg farm inspections. The training simulates an inspection visit to an egg farm and includes an interactive environment for investigators to explore. The simulation was developed since avian influenza outbreaks have made farm training visits difficult. Other recent projects include online courses for animal food inspectors, a video focused on dairy farm inspections, and a series of videos supporting food safety inspections of planes, trains, buses, and passenger ships.
Center director and professor Sharon Thompson also serves as co-director of the Tennessee Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention national food safety center. As part of this initiative, the center has launched an online training series focused on the rapid detection, investigation, and control of foodborne disease outbreaks in addition to other food safety-related projects.
Visit the UT Center for Agriculture and Food Security and Preparedness website to learn more.
Herbert’s Course Offerings Reach New Heights
The Department of Plant Sciences offered a new class last spring called PLSC 493: Space Research. In this unusual course, student teams designed experiments with one selected to launch on the International Space Station through the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.
The program provides undergraduate students the opportunity to design and propose real microgravity experiments to fly in low Earth orbit with the aim of inspiring students to explore science, technology, engineering, agriculture, and mathematics fields and experience science as scientists.
According to plant sciences assistant professor Kellie Walters, the experiments program played a role in inspiring the class, but the course goes beyond to include guest lectures from NASA scientists and space biology researchers and structured lessons on topics like writing grant proposals, how to conduct research, and more.
While only one experiment was chosen to fly on the International Space Station, each team conducted its own ground-based research using 3D clinostats, which simulate microgravity by rotating the plants around two axes. Hao Gan, assistant professor in biosystems engineering, and his PhD student, McKensie Nelms, worked with Walters and plant sciences PhD student Samson Humphrey to create clinostats for the experiments.
As the selected experiment makes its way into space in spring 2026, the associated student team will commence a ground-based study to simulate the conditions on the International Space Station. Opportunities through this work include a scientific publication and presenting at a national conference, which the other groups also will take advantage of.
The other portion of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program involved a mission patch design competition. UT students, along with middle school and high school students across Tennessee, designed mission patches like the ones astronauts wear on their spacesuits. The winning patch design will fly with the chosen experiment on the International Space Station.
The partnership with the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program provides unparalleled research experience; an opportunity for middle school, high school, and college students to showcase their creative talents; and creates a truly out-of-this-world exposure for the college.
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education in the US and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with Nanoracks, LLC, which is working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a national laboratory.
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