NSF awards $2.5M for FAMU, Purdue partnership on food, energy, and water

FAMU Farm at Research and Extension Center in Quincy, Fla.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $2.5M to Purdue University for a partnership research and training program with Florida A&M University.

According to the project abstract: “This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to Purdue University and Florida A&M University will form an interdisciplinary traineeship program that will train graduate students in the skills needed to produce sustainable supplies of food, energy and water (FEW) for a more heavily populated earth. The project anticipates training 48 PhD students, including 24 funded trainees, from agronomy, agricultural and biological engineering, electrical and computer engineering, chemical engineering, materials science and engineering, chemistry, and agricultural economics.”

It goes on to explain that the “project aims to meet food, energy and water management needs locally with local solar energy.”

Mitch Tuinstra, a Purdue professor of agronomy and the co-principal investigator for the grant, stated that: “As we move into a renewable-powered world, the potential competition for land between growing food and energy production is a key constraint to implementation of new technologies. This traineeship will prepare students to use multidisciplinary approaches to provide creative solutions to the challenge of sustainable food, water and energy production.”