KRVN Chat with the Chancellor

Ronnie Green Author

02/14/2022 Added

4 Plays

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Ronnie Green talks about winterships, ARPA funds, a proposed new USDA facility at NIC, and Green's participation on a panel focused on land-grant universities' work to help agriculture overcome several challenges.

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[00:00:00.260]Well, thanks so much for tuning in
[00:00:01.430]to the Rural Radio Network.
[00:00:03.150]It's time now
[00:00:03.983]for our weekly "Chat with the Chancellor" program,
[00:00:06.090]and we're joined now by Dr. Ronnie Green,
[00:00:08.140]Chancellor of the University of Nebraska Lincoln in studio.
[00:00:11.250]Dr. Green, thanks so much for taking time
[00:00:12.780]to hop on with us today.
[00:00:13.930]Always glad to talk to KRVN
[00:00:16.360]and all the listeners out across the state.
[00:00:18.280]Excellent.
[00:00:19.113]Well, let's kick off our conversation.
[00:00:21.170]We are talking about winternships.
[00:00:23.960]This was something that a handful of UNL students
[00:00:26.470]had the opportunity to do over their Christmas break.
[00:00:29.970]Tell us a little bit more about these winternships.
[00:00:32.754]Yeah, well, Alex, we had 11 of our students
[00:00:35.793]in the UNL Honors Program
[00:00:37.640]that devoted a big part of their winter break,
[00:00:41.430]so think during the holidays, Christmas,
[00:00:43.650]and New Year's time to this winternship opportunity
[00:00:48.250]where they were involved in teaching science fundamentals
[00:00:51.330]to kindergarten through eighth grade students,
[00:00:54.630]jointly in a 4-H-backed science and technology program
[00:00:58.270]that's called Galactic Quest working across the state.
[00:01:01.620]And so between right after Christmas, December 27th,
[00:01:05.510]and right after New Year's, January 4th,
[00:01:08.040]this half day program was offered
[00:01:10.010]at 12 sites across Central, Eastern, Southeastern Nebraska
[00:01:15.030]from Aurora, to Grand Island, to Kearney,
[00:01:19.340]Nelson down on the Southern border,
[00:01:21.590]David City, Crete, Weeping Water,
[00:01:23.540]across that sector of our state,
[00:01:27.120]having about 120 youth that participated in this program.
[00:01:31.740]And then during the week
[00:01:32.810]of the 10th through the 14th of January,
[00:01:35.530]more of our honor students spent part of their winter breaks
[00:01:38.440]kind of leading up
[00:01:39.350]to the start of the spring semester on the 18th
[00:01:43.760]involved in after-school learning programs
[00:01:46.465]in the Lincoln and Omaha locations in particular
[00:01:50.450]within that winternship activity.
[00:01:52.880]And this gave the youngsters involved
[00:01:57.174]more exposure to scientific concepts
[00:01:59.585]outside of the school setting
[00:02:01.330]in that kind of after-school environment,
[00:02:03.590]and it gave them a connection to influential role models
[00:02:06.650]in these students that were working
[00:02:08.550]in the programs with 'em.
[00:02:10.350]And of course, our students benefit.
[00:02:11.960]They get a chance to kinda flex their teaching
[00:02:14.850]and their learning, their communication skills.
[00:02:17.140]It gives 'em a chance
[00:02:17.973]to make a little money in the process too,
[00:02:20.220]during their break,
[00:02:21.053]and to have fun with these youth, as well.
[00:02:26.140]This winternship kind of activity
[00:02:28.340]is the latest step in the partnership between Nebraska 4-H
[00:02:31.930]and our University Honors Program at UNL
[00:02:35.060]to specifically work in
[00:02:37.070]these learning and afterschool program opportunities
[00:02:39.940]with Nebraska youth.
[00:02:41.770]About 70 of our Husker UNL Honor students last summer,
[00:02:47.770]in the summer of 2021, were involved in a similar kind of
[00:02:51.850]Huskers after-school and learning opportunities
[00:02:54.427]across the state, as well.
[00:02:56.660]And since 2018,
[00:02:58.140]so just back in a little over three years ago,
[00:03:01.000]the Honors Program here
[00:03:02.420]has worked with Lincoln's Community Learning Centers
[00:03:04.930]and the 4-H program in partnership,
[00:03:07.460]and with Beyond School Bells, that's another public group,
[00:03:12.220]and other partners
[00:03:13.360]to provide after school and summer learning opportunities
[00:03:16.020]to over 3,000 youth
[00:03:18.320]in the Lincoln Community Center learning models.
[00:03:21.190]So big opportunities for our UNL honor students,
[00:03:24.360]really good use of their time, and their energy,
[00:03:26.323]and their investment, most recently during our winter break.
[00:03:31.020]Excellent.
[00:03:31.853]Like you said, a good opportunity
[00:03:32.720]to get some future Huskers interested, too.
[00:03:35.110]I know that's a long way down the road, but.
[00:03:36.900]Well, shifting gears a little bit,
[00:03:37.890]Dr. Green, we were just chatting before we came on air today
[00:03:41.310]that, you know, we're talking about the updates
[00:03:43.700]with the development of the proposed new USDA facility
[00:03:46.350]right here at Nebraska Innovation Campus.
[00:03:49.110]This is also tied in with the American Rescue Plan.
[00:03:51.410]Can you get us up to speed on this?
[00:03:53.590]Yeah.
[00:03:54.423]So we've talked a few times in the past year on this program
[00:03:57.920]about the plans for and the development of
[00:04:01.330]a new national research center
[00:04:03.050]for USDA's Agricultural Research Service
[00:04:05.980]here at Nebraska Innovation Campus at UNL
[00:04:09.810]in specifically regenerative
[00:04:12.000]and resilient precision agriculture.
[00:04:14.120]So a new national center
[00:04:15.740]devoted to technology development and precision ag by USDA.
[00:04:21.820]And that planning and development is going well.
[00:04:24.290]It's actually growing legs as we speak,
[00:04:27.691]with the plans for the first part of that facility
[00:04:31.380]under development now,
[00:04:32.750]with the USDA hopefully to be in the process
[00:04:36.110]of seeing that building emerge in 2023, 2024 here.
[00:04:41.460]And we are also, as part of that plan,
[00:04:47.230]developing a new technology development
[00:04:50.670]and commercialization arm
[00:04:52.960]attached to that national center
[00:04:55.280]that will be here as well
[00:04:57.300]that will be a companion to the USDA's national lab.
[00:05:01.630]That is under development at the same time
[00:05:04.100]for our researchers, and our students,
[00:05:07.310]and the community here to work as a startup community,
[00:05:10.470]if you will, for commercializing new technologies
[00:05:14.990]that come out of that national center.
[00:05:18.100]That proposed facility is a proposed $50 million facility
[00:05:22.880]here at Nebraska Innovation Campus,
[00:05:25.170]and the university has a request
[00:05:28.030]into the American Rescue Plan's Act funding
[00:05:31.654]to the state of Nebraska.
[00:05:33.627]As you may know or may have heard,
[00:05:36.430]there is a process underway in the legislature
[00:05:39.460]with the Appropriations Committee
[00:05:40.730]of the unicameral this session reviewing those proposals
[00:05:45.540]and making decisions on recommendations for funding.
[00:05:49.490]Our hearing is coming up on February the 17th,
[00:05:52.240]where this is one of the proposals
[00:05:55.070]that has been proposed by Senator Williams, actually,
[00:05:58.970]as the sponsor of this bill,
[00:06:02.266]that would commit 25 million of ARPA funds
[00:06:06.670]to the construction of this tech transfer facility's
[00:06:11.028]companion to the USDA center
[00:06:13.870]that would be matched with $25 million of private funding
[00:06:18.560]that would go into that project.
[00:06:20.410]So we're excited about that.
[00:06:22.020]Of course, we all know how important
[00:06:24.710]agriculture is in the state of Nebraska
[00:06:27.320]and the food system is here in our state,
[00:06:30.320]the major economic driver of the state of Nebraska,
[00:06:33.630]and as I was known to say for a long time,
[00:06:36.559]we're the center of the universe.
[00:06:38.900]Nebraska is the center of the universe in this field.
[00:06:41.920]And of course, the University of Nebraska
[00:06:44.584]has long been an international leader in innovation,
[00:06:48.760]and in research, and technology development for agriculture.
[00:06:53.640]So excited about that development.
[00:06:56.630]Looking forward to the consideration
[00:06:58.560]of that funding in the ARPA funds.
[00:07:00.870]I should also mention that another one of the proposals
[00:07:05.370]that is interrelated to this one for ARPA funds
[00:07:09.320]is also coming to that same hearing on February 17th.
[00:07:14.320]That has to do with the expansion of
[00:07:18.040]and the rebuilding of the Holland Super Computing Center
[00:07:21.810]that the university currently houses at UNL
[00:07:24.820]that serves all of the university system here
[00:07:27.880]to be expanded and rebuilt with expanded capacity
[00:07:33.840]also at Nebraska Innovation Campus,
[00:07:36.600]with the establishment of a new institute
[00:07:40.350]for cyber security and artificial intelligence
[00:07:44.810]focused very heavily on ag cybersecurity.
[00:07:48.970]So also a big proposal,
[00:07:50.850]a $50 million proposal that we're excited about
[00:07:53.833]being in that hearing, coming up on February 17th.
[00:07:57.510]Yeah, very exciting.
[00:07:58.343]I'm sure we'll get an update the next time we chat, too.
[00:08:00.170]Awesome.
[00:08:01.003]Well, last, but certainly not least Dr. Green,
[00:08:03.380]you were just named to a panel with the-
[00:08:05.170]I wanna get this name right,
[00:08:06.050]The National Academies of Sciences,
[00:08:07.632]Engineering, and Medicine.
[00:08:09.960]This is a panel focused on investigating
[00:08:11.790]how land-grant institutions will help ag
[00:08:14.290]overcome a number of competitive challenges.
[00:08:17.280]Tell me a little bit more about this panel
[00:08:18.820]and some of your goals of being involved.
[00:08:21.240]Well, a little over a year ago,
[00:08:24.001]Congress and its appropriations bill last year
[00:08:27.610]was called for the establishment of a blue ribbon task force
[00:08:33.090]to look at how the land-grant university system
[00:08:36.690]in the United States could be better coordinated
[00:08:39.840]and work together to solve big challenges
[00:08:43.890]associated in the agricultural sciences
[00:08:46.520]and the food system, in general.
[00:08:48.740]That call by Congress resulted in
[00:08:52.420]the National Academies of Science, Engineering, Mathematics.
[00:08:55.157]We often refer to 'em kind of generically
[00:08:57.600]as the National Academies.
[00:08:59.710]Setting up this task force to look at this
[00:09:03.990]and to develop a report for how to better coordinate
[00:09:08.680]the activities of the land-grant universities
[00:09:12.080]across the country,
[00:09:12.913]including what we traditionally we think of
[00:09:15.200]as the 1862 land-grant universities,
[00:09:18.620]like the University of Nebraska,
[00:09:20.750]as well as the 1890 institutions,
[00:09:24.690]which are historically serving colleges
[00:09:26.810]per black universities,
[00:09:28.640]as well as the 1994s,
[00:09:30.650]which are minority serving institutions.
[00:09:34.460]So we set up this panel,
[00:09:36.350]the National Academies asked me to join this panel
[00:09:40.600]and this task force in November.
[00:09:43.760]There are 12 of us who are serving in the task force
[00:09:46.707]under the direction of the National Academies.
[00:09:49.960]We started our work just after Thanksgiving
[00:09:53.250]and are well into a development of this report.
[00:09:57.980]The task force itself is made up of a mixture of leaders
[00:10:03.830]across the agricultural spectrum.
[00:10:06.430]I happen to be the only university president or chancellor,
[00:10:09.780]but there are several deans of agriculture
[00:10:12.200]from several of the land-grants,
[00:10:14.860]several directors of the agricultural experiment stations
[00:10:17.685]in some of the land-grants.
[00:10:19.853]There are administrators
[00:10:22.010]from Historically Black Colleges and Universities
[00:10:25.270]that are on the panel,
[00:10:26.660]there's a state director of agriculture from Kentucky
[00:10:29.040]is on the panel, and private industry representatives
[00:10:33.070]that are on the panel, as well.
[00:10:35.570]So we're well into our work.
[00:10:37.330]We're on target to produce that report
[00:10:40.500]and make those recommendations back in the summer of 2022.
[00:10:45.140]So this is for a task force like this,
[00:10:49.400]a pretty rapid process to go from the end of 2021
[00:10:54.540]to mid 2022 with our final report,
[00:10:57.150]but we're well on track to make that happen.
[00:10:59.010]So excited to be part of it, honored to be part of it,
[00:11:02.170]and looking forward to the strategies that emerge.
[00:11:05.040]All right.
[00:11:05.873]Well, Dr. Green, the last word,
[00:11:06.706]of course, as always, is yours.
[00:11:08.790]Is there anything we missed that's important to mention?
[00:11:11.200]I don't think so.
[00:11:13.050]Other than always glad to visit with KRVN.
[00:11:15.937]I kind of miss it, actually-
[00:11:17.310](host laughing)
[00:11:18.240]'Cause it used to be before I was in this role,
[00:11:20.640]I'm six years now into the the role serving as chancellor,
[00:11:23.950]but the six years I was the I&R vice chancellor,
[00:11:26.680]I always had such fun doing the weekly kinda programs
[00:11:31.299]that I got to be able to communicate
[00:11:34.230]with so many of our friends across the state.
[00:11:36.180]Absolutely.
[00:11:37.013]Well, you're still a pro.
[00:11:37.846]Dr. Green, think you so much.
[00:11:38.700]Yep, thank you.
[00:11:39.690]And that'll do it for this week's
[00:11:40.927]"Chat with the Chancellor" program.
[00:11:42.560]Again, we were joined by
[00:11:43.393]Chancellor of the University of Nebraska Lincoln,
[00:11:46.010]Dr. Ronnie Green.
[00:11:47.370]You're listening to the Rural Radio Network.

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KRVN Chat with the Chancellor

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