Professional Interdisciplinary Sciences Certificate

Training in critical thinking, writing, and speaking for the food, veterinary, plant, health, and related sciences. With emphasis on writing, students prepare technical reports, news releases, abstracts, and commentaries. Students prepare meeting agendas and present seminars. Committed students will emerge with enhanced critical-thinking and written-presentation skills.

This course considers the multilateral trading system as it relates to food safety, food security, animal health, plant health, and international cooperation. The course content will be of value to students interested in food safety and security, epidemiology, public health, agriculture, food science, security studies, political science, agricultural economics, veterinary medicine, and international relations.

A review of global health problems and various strategies to manage international health concerns. The class is open to graduate students, including veterinary students, with an interest in public health that have at least 12 hours in biology or related courses.

Oral presentations on topics in epidemiology, food safety, immunology, microbiology, molecular biology, parasitology, pathology, and toxicology. Reports will include critical review of the relevant literature; experimental design and methodology; and presentation and critical evaluation of data. This course is for MS students.

A special problems course for graduate students working toward the MS degree in Pathobiology. The course is generally problems-or techniques-based in any of the disciplines in the Pathobiology program, conducted under the supervision of a graduate faculty in the Pathobiology Graduate Program.

This course will include 15 45-minute lectures and/or reading assignments. They will be assessed through online quizzes and one essay project.

A special course for graduate students working toward the MS degree. Lectures, readings, and discussion of topics of current interest in any of the disciplines of Pathobiology.

This course explores various psychological and sociological factors that impact leadership. Through examining topics like verbal and nonverbal communication, active listening, learning and presentation styles, emotional intelligence, conflict, and motivation, students gain a deeper understanding of how these factors affect their personal leadership styles and impact adults they are leading.

This course provides an introduction to the foundations of adult leadership in the context of managing a culturally diverse workforce. Concepts of globalization as well as cross-cultural and international environments as they relate to adult leadership are emphasized through theory to practice projects and research.

This course will examine how teams and leaders can be developed using theories from psychology, sociology, and learning principles. Through this course, students will be able to analyze when it is appropriate to use these tools, their strengths, weaknesses and limitations. To complement the course readings, students will be asked to share their professional experiences with team and leader development.

This course focuses on group and team behavior and processes. Various factors that impact group behavior, processes, and effectiveness will be examined and participants will learn skills needed to more effectively manage and facilitate groups and teams of adults to achieve organizational objectives, accomplish tasks, and fulfill individual members' needs.

These seminars will consider research and professional development on the special interests of the students in the several fields of education represented.

This course deals with the isolation, identification, enumeration, and characterization of bacteria, yeasts, molds, and other microbes associated with foods and food processing. Effects of physical and chemical agents on microorganisms will be studied. Microbiological problems in food spoilage, food preservation, food fermentation, and food-borne diseases will be discussed.

Laboratory procedures involving isolation, identification, enumeration, and characterization of bacteria, yeasts, molds, and other microbes associated with foods and food processing.

Research or related work with others, or a literature search. Written reports are required. Any field of food science for which the student has adequate background.

A comprehensive study of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) System and Preventive Controls for Human Food and their application in the meat and food industries. Students will meet the training requirements under USDA HACCP and the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) for food safety for human foods.

A comprehensive course covering all aspects of quality assurance practices in the food industry. Emphasis is placed on interrelations of food chemistry, microbiology, sanitation, processing, and laws and regulations.

In-depth study of a topic supervised by a member of the graduate faculty.

Fundamentals of consumer research in terms of organizing and executing studies. Planning studies, selecting products, recruiting target consumers, and organizing study execution are included.

This course provides a deep dive into qualitative research, including the design, application, execution, and reporting. This course will educate the student on the appropriate tools for qualitative data collection based on the objectives, with a particular emphasis on interviews and focus groups.

Methods and issues associated with measuring consumer responses to products including preference testing, preference ranking, acceptance testing, hedonic scales, and consumption testing.

A study of the principles and practices involved in the harvesting, handling and storage of horticultural products. The relationship of plant structure and physiology will be emphasized in discussing effects of postharvest handling and storage to maximize quality and shelf life of products.

The course deals with various aspects of phytochemicals in plant-based foods including fruits and vegetables and their impact on human health and well-being. It includes potential effects of phytochemicals in promoting human health, preventing various diseases and fostering wellness. It also includes biosynthesis and metabolism of phytochemicals in plants. Emphasis is placed on developing strategies to improve the phytochemical content of food crops through approaches involving crop management, environmental and biotechnology tools. Two hours lecture per week.

Historical perspectives of the sustainable agriculture movement in the U.S. and world-wide will be examined and critiqued. Components of sustainable agriculture such as agroecosystem theory, permaculture, energy use efficiency, and organic standards will be compared and evaluated. Students will demonstrate their understanding and application of the material by conducting research on a topic within sustainable agriculture and presenting the topic to the rest of the class.

Students will become familiar with a wide variety of urban agriculture types and production systems utilized in urban settings. The course will include background readings, case studies, guest speakers, student- facilitated class discussion and lectures.

This course will cover all aspects of food safety for fresh produce grown in urban and rural environments, including pathogen ecology and production aspects as well as pre- harvest and postharvest factors that influence the risk of microbial contamination. More specifically, we will discuss ways to minimize the risk of human pathogens on fresh produce using strategies such as the implementation of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and Good Handling Practices (GHPs). The course will cover postharvest interventions that are currently used (chemical sanitizers) as well as innovative technology applications like physical treatments, irradiation, and biological control techniques. Additionally, students will explore the impact of foodborne outbreaks on public health and the fresh produce industry in terms of economics, consumer acceptance, and legal aspects.

This course will cover all components of urban food systems through the lens of food security, food justice, access, policy, and community planning. Students will gain skills in grant-writing, non-profit planning and management, and working with urban policy and planning boards.

Faculty-led trip for students to explore leading examples of urban agriculture. Each year, a trip will occur within North America, lasting approximately 7 days. The study tours will focus on urban food system development in major cities and will highlight examples of how food is being grown in urban areas and the impacts that it has on the community.

A course emphasizing concepts and practices of statistical data analysis for the health sciences. Basic techniques of descriptive and inferential statistical methods applied to health related surveys and designed experiments. Populations and samples, parameters and statistics; sampling distributions for hypothesis testing and confidence intervals for means and proportions involving one sample, paired samples and multiple independent samples; odd rations, risk ratios, simple linear regression.

Statistical concepts and methods applied to experimental and survey research in the sciences; tests of hypotheses, parametric and rank tests; point estimation and confidence intervals; linear regression; correlation; one-way analysis of variance; contingency tables, chi-square tests.

Simple and multiple linear regression, analysis of covariance, correlation analysis, one-, two-, and three-way analysis of variance; multiple comparisons; applications including use of computers; blocking and random effects.