So, online school and quarantine is the “new normal?” Nothing about this situation is normal. My entire education lives inside of my laptop now. When I wake up to go to class, I have to go no further than the desk on the other side of my room. The connections and relationships I have with people have become strictly virtual. I can attend class, talk to a friend, and have office hours with a professor just by connecting through a link in Zoom. Modern technology can make this quarantine seem so simple.

Recently, Rob Chappell, assistant to the Honors Dean, presented for ACES 399 class. The focus of his presentation was “The Year 2050 and the Phoenix Generation.” Before his presentation, I had no idea what the “Phoenix Generation” was or why he decided to talk to us about it. 

Before classes wrapped up, Dawn Bohn, a food science and human nutrition teaching assistant professor had a food safety week in her FSHN 101 class. With students being at home, and for extra credit, Bohn challenged her students to submit photos of themselves engaged in good food safety behaviors.

Her students delivered on the challenge!

In the lecture, students were first introduced to the "Fight Bac" campaign, including the four main steps of practicing food safety in the kitchen.

Students in ACES 399 “Vision 2050 – Grand Challenges of the Millenium” were asked to watch three videos about a topic of their own choosing, and write a blog post reflecting on the topic. The Voices of ACES blog will feature several of those blog posts in the next weeks.

As a natural resources and environmental sciences major with a concentration in fish, wildlife, and conservation biology, I’m very interested in working with wildlife in the future. During a TED talk I watched, Jane Goodall discussed the importance of ecology in the field. However, it’s also important to look at peoples issues as well. Something that we talk about in NRES is that people don’t generally care much about the environment unless their basic needs are met.

The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) is happy to announce this year’s recipients of the Hugh Morrison Scholarship, Warren K. Wessels Achievement Award, and Robert M. Harrison Leadership Awards. These annual awards are provided by generous gifts from individuals and organizations.

Hugh Morrison Scholarship

As we head into a new school year full of change, uncertainty and new opportunity, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on a summer full of personal and professional development. A summer that has taught me to embrace all of what life has to offer: Unpredictability and Unknowns.

When I became a writer for the College of ACES, I didn’t exactly know what to expect. Being a journalism major and someone who tries to avoid any type of science classes at all costs, applying for a job in ACES was very out of my comfort zone. I didn’t really know anything about the agriculture industry or even how I would be able to write about it. I did, however, know how to interview people, listen to their stories, and then tell those stories to others.

As a product developer for Quaker Foods North America, Melissa supports innovation projects, focused on the bars category. Working on new product innovation involves creating formulas in benchtop formulation, scaling products up to full plant production, and working cross functionally to deliver the desired product in a safe and nutritious way. This requires both technical understanding to develop the product and communication skills to collaborate with the project team.