This four-year, $1 million project grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture's Hispanic Serving Institutions Education Grants program aims to establish an interdisciplinary collaboration between the University of Puerto Rico campuses in Mayagüez and Aguadilla. The collaboration will involve over 150 undergraduate and 40 graduate students in experiential learning opportunities related to crop growth, stress, and health monitoring using near-field and far-field spectroscopic techniques as well as unmanned aerial vehicles. Students will gain skills in spectroscopy, remote sensing technologies, and data analysis that can strengthen agricultural education programs and the food and science technology graduate program at the University of Puerto Rico. Outreach activities will train local farmers and recruit high school students. If successful, this collaboration has the potential to increase recruitment and retention in STEM fields critical to Puerto Rico's agriculture industry while paving the way for a new doctoral program in food and science technology.
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