ARD Dean Candidate - Dr. Tala Awada
IANR
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08/16/2022
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Dr. Tala Awada, Associate Dean and Director, Agricultural Research Division, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Public Presentation — Aug. 16, 1:30 to 3 p.m. at Nebraska East Campus Union
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- [00:00:04.140]Okay.
- [00:00:04.973]So welcome, everybody.
- [00:00:06.120]I'm Ed Cahoon.
- [00:00:08.670]Excuse me.
- [00:00:09.607](Ed laughs)
- [00:00:12.138]The veterinarians that always (indistinct)
- [00:00:14.954](Ed laughs)
- [00:00:18.080]So I would like to welcome everybody.
- [00:00:20.070]On behalf of myself, Ed Cahoon,
- [00:00:21.780]and the co-chair of our search committee,
- [00:00:23.910]Dean Tiffany Heng-Moss,
- [00:00:25.500]it's our pleasure to welcome Dr. Tala Awada today
- [00:00:29.580]as part of the interview process for the IANR,
- [00:00:35.252]the dean of the Agricultural Research Division
- [00:00:38.100]and the director
- [00:00:39.000]of the Nebraska Agricultural Research Experiments Station.
- [00:00:45.180]Close enough.
- [00:00:46.230]Okay.
- [00:00:49.200]So Dr. Tala Awada is currently the associate dean.
- [00:00:54.490]I think my volume is here.
- [00:00:58.019]Okay.
- [00:00:59.160]Okay.
- [00:00:59.993]So Tala is currently the associate dean
- [00:01:02.910]and associate director
- [00:01:03.870]of the Agricultural Research Division
- [00:01:06.240]and the Institute of Agricultural and Natural Resources
- [00:01:11.760]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
- [00:01:13.380]And in this role,
- [00:01:14.580]Dr. Awada provides leadership and support
- [00:01:17.940]for the strategic and operational mission of ARD.
- [00:01:21.720]She also oversees ARD's global research mission
- [00:01:25.620]and supports team building and mentoring activities
- [00:01:28.380]across IANR's academic units and centers,
- [00:01:31.500]as well as the research extension education
- [00:01:35.280]and education centers across the state.
- [00:01:38.310]Dr. Awada holds the professor
- [00:01:41.130]of plant ecophysiology
- [00:01:42.750]from the School of Natural Resources at UNL.
- [00:01:46.170]And she also co-leads
- [00:01:48.690]with the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA,
- [00:01:51.630]the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research
- [00:01:55.500]or LTAR Network that includes 18 USDA-ARS sites
- [00:02:02.190]across the nation and 400 scientists.
- [00:02:06.480]She's a fellow
- [00:02:07.560]of the Robert Daugherty Global Water for Food Institute
- [00:02:11.460]and the National Strategic Research Institute
- [00:02:13.830]at the University of Nebraska.
- [00:02:15.510]She serves on many committees,
- [00:02:17.430]including the NU Federal Relations Committee,
- [00:02:20.460]the UNL Grand Challenges Steering Committee,
- [00:02:23.730]and the Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences.
- [00:02:27.210]And she's also actively involved
- [00:02:29.640]in the APLU,
- [00:02:30.870]the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities,
- [00:02:34.320]including a representative
- [00:02:36.960]for the Central Region on the Diversity Catalyst Committee.
- [00:02:41.520]And a number of other activities include the...
- [00:02:45.750]She serves on the advisory Board
- [00:02:47.280]of the Nebraska Audubon Society.
- [00:02:49.890]Okay.
- [00:02:52.770]And previously,
- [00:02:53.790]Tala was the associate director,
- [00:02:56.040]and the interim director,
- [00:02:57.150]and graduate chair
- [00:02:58.650]in the School of Natural Resources at UNL.
- [00:03:02.850]Okay.
- [00:03:03.683]So her research is transdisciplinary.
- [00:03:06.210]She has widely published.
- [00:03:08.940]She collaborates with many peers and stakeholders
- [00:03:12.300]across Nebraska and across the world
- [00:03:14.670]on topics related to climate variability and change,
- [00:03:17.940]ecophysiology, invasive woody species, and so on.
- [00:03:22.764]And so on.
- [00:03:24.150]Let's stop there.
- [00:03:24.983]She's very accomplished.
- [00:03:26.392]Thank you.
- [00:03:27.509]Okay.
- [00:03:28.342]We had this debate ahead of time.
- [00:03:29.175]I said just say who I am and we move.
- [00:03:31.130]He said, "No, we have to say the whole thing."
- [00:03:33.000]I said, "Okay."
- [00:03:34.560]And finally.
- [00:03:36.208]And finally.
- [00:03:37.200]Dr. Awada has a PhD in plant sciences
- [00:03:40.020]from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada,
- [00:03:43.470]and an MS in environmental and renewable resources
- [00:03:47.070]from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania,
- [00:03:50.610]Greece,
- [00:03:51.660]and BS in agricultural engineering
- [00:03:54.900]from the Lebanese University in Lebanon.
- [00:03:57.810]And we'll end this session with discussion.
- [00:04:03.030]We'll have questions from the audience here
- [00:04:06.570]and also on Zoom.
- [00:04:07.740]And those on Zoom,
- [00:04:08.790]feel free to put your questions
- [00:04:11.160]into the chat portion of Zoom,
- [00:04:12.930]and I'll read them off
- [00:04:14.190]as we get to that part of the seminar.
- [00:04:17.130]And Tala, welcome.
- [00:04:19.273]Thank you.
- [00:04:20.190]Okay.
- [00:04:21.193]Glad to have you here.
- [00:04:22.329]Thank you, Dr. Cahoon, for this introduction.
- [00:04:24.911]Okay, thank you.
- [00:04:28.831]And thank you all for being here today,
- [00:04:30.360]whether in person or in Zoom.
- [00:04:32.460]It's an honor for me to be selected
- [00:04:34.440]as one of the finalists for this important position.
- [00:04:37.650]And in the next 45 minutes or so,
- [00:04:40.470]I'm gonna work hard to share with you my vision
- [00:04:43.230]for the position
- [00:04:44.760]and what I see our potential
- [00:04:46.980]in the ag research division moving forward.
- [00:04:50.460]Let's see.
- [00:04:51.450]So my presentation is gonna be structured
- [00:04:55.020]in six different parts.
- [00:04:56.550]First, I'm gonna give you a little bit,
- [00:04:59.040]very short background about myself
- [00:05:01.080]and my pathway to leadership,
- [00:05:04.170]followed by some demonstration
- [00:05:06.870]of my leadership and research.
- [00:05:09.150]And this is not to go into depth.
- [00:05:11.640]This is just to demonstrate the breadth of my research
- [00:05:18.270]and the extent of my collaborations,
- [00:05:20.490]and think out of the box in terms of receiving
- [00:05:23.310]or getting grants and resources.
- [00:05:25.680]Then this is where we start really talking
- [00:05:28.650]about what is my vision for ARD
- [00:05:31.920]and how do we get there?
- [00:05:34.470]I will have extended section on challenges,
- [00:05:37.440]opportunities, and priorities.
- [00:05:40.080]I will take little time
- [00:05:41.250]to talk about diversity, equity, inclusion,
- [00:05:43.290]and accessibility.
- [00:05:44.280]We have a forum tomorrow,
- [00:05:45.750]so I'm not gonna spend too much time on it,
- [00:05:48.030]but I wanna emphasize how important it is.
- [00:05:51.840]And finally, the metrics for success in this position,
- [00:05:55.500]what I view as how we would reach impact basically.
- [00:06:00.750]So with that,
- [00:06:03.060]first, we'll start with a background
- [00:06:06.180]and personal path to leadership.
- [00:06:08.340]Many of you know,
- [00:06:09.540]I am originally from Lebanon.
- [00:06:12.720]And I did my undergraduate over there
- [00:06:15.810]before I actually did it in ag engineering
- [00:06:20.340]before I traveled to Greece
- [00:06:22.530]and did a masters on the physiology
- [00:06:24.570]and gas exchange in pines.
- [00:06:27.300]And that was
- [00:06:28.320]in the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania.
- [00:06:32.910]Then I took a very long trip to the boreal forest,
- [00:06:38.160]where I worked on the genetic structure
- [00:06:40.740]and function of white spruce.
- [00:06:42.690]It's their economically important species over there.
- [00:06:47.010]And finally, made my trip down to Lincoln.
- [00:06:50.820]And we've been here for 22 years.
- [00:06:54.600]It's home for us.
- [00:06:58.650]I am married to another faculty here in the institute,
- [00:07:02.040]Konstantinos Giannakas.
- [00:07:03.840]We have two great kids,
- [00:07:06.750]and we love it.
- [00:07:08.280]So that's all about it.
- [00:07:13.410]My path to leadership,
- [00:07:14.880]I feel that was incremental and accidental in many ways,
- [00:07:20.190]just I found myself in different positions
- [00:07:23.160]throughout my career at UNL.
- [00:07:25.980]I've color coded them.
- [00:07:27.660]The red ones are IANR leadership positions.
- [00:07:31.380]These are only subset of the things I've done.
- [00:07:34.050]The full list is in my CV as you would expect.
- [00:07:37.830]The brown ones are leadership positions
- [00:07:40.170]that I acquired on a campus,
- [00:07:42.390]or I served in a campus level.
- [00:07:44.370]Then you have the blue ones on a state level,
- [00:07:47.130]and then on a national, international scale.
- [00:07:50.730]So in IANR,
- [00:07:53.040]I started really my first role
- [00:07:55.170]in leadership was graduate chair.
- [00:07:57.810]And for many of you who have served
- [00:07:59.550]in this capacity know how rewarding
- [00:08:02.400]and challenging it is to work with 170 students
- [00:08:06.000]with all their needs to optimize,
- [00:08:08.400]modernize the system.
- [00:08:09.960]And I've created actually the award
- [00:08:12.000]that still today is the only award
- [00:08:14.100]in SNR-Meritorious Graduate Student Award.
- [00:08:17.670]I've served as the associate
- [00:08:19.440]and interim director as Ed indicated.
- [00:08:22.350]And in 2014,
- [00:08:24.180]I stepped down and I got the call from IANR
- [00:08:27.270]to lead the Consortium of Integrated Translational Biology.
- [00:08:30.690]And we were tasked
- [00:08:32.220]to develop the plant phenomic facilities on campus
- [00:08:35.640]and create a community of practice around these facilities.
- [00:08:40.080]I wanna say we've been successful.
- [00:08:42.000]It's still work in progress.
- [00:08:43.650]We still have ways to go,
- [00:08:45.570]but our facilities are now known worldwide.
- [00:08:49.830]And our faculty,
- [00:08:51.720]we have become the authority in plant phenomics
- [00:08:54.740]in the US and elsewhere.
- [00:08:56.880]So I'm very proud of this accomplishment,
- [00:08:58.770]and it wasn't my doing only.
- [00:09:01.950]We had very large team all collaborating together
- [00:09:05.130]on this effort.
- [00:09:06.840]My service,
- [00:09:08.040]my multiple service
- [00:09:09.420]at UNL level has really given me a good opportunity
- [00:09:14.190]to have a comprehensive understanding
- [00:09:16.800]of what's going on across campus in other colleges,
- [00:09:21.240]and be able to build really, truly transdisciplinary teams
- [00:09:25.410]to accomplish bigger things.
- [00:09:28.170]I've done lots of work with the Research Council,
- [00:09:31.710]with the Advisor Council
- [00:09:33.180]for the Nebraska Center for Energy Research Sciences.
- [00:09:36.510]And in my role
- [00:09:37.740]on the Council of Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity,
- [00:09:41.910]I've not only contributed
- [00:09:43.770]to the development of best practices,
- [00:09:48.270]but I have also been tasked to serve on subcommittees
- [00:09:51.900]to develop best practices for staff evaluation
- [00:09:55.170]and for carrying difficult conversations
- [00:09:57.930]for department heads.
- [00:10:00.990]The NUL Federal Relations has been totally new for me,
- [00:10:04.530]and I've gained lots of experience
- [00:10:06.390]on how to engage with our representatives here in the state
- [00:10:10.290]with our program officers,
- [00:10:12.030]national and national level,
- [00:10:13.530]and really develop a compelling story
- [00:10:16.980]to be able to seek resources and be successful at it.
- [00:10:22.800]On a Nebraska level,
- [00:10:24.390]I am the governor appointee
- [00:10:26.520]for the Riparian Vegetation Management Task Force,
- [00:10:30.060]and we have one task only,
- [00:10:32.610]have our waterways open for water to flow.
- [00:10:36.630]So that is a really difficult,
- [00:10:39.960]but it's at the same time rewarding.
- [00:10:42.390]And I have been through this position.
- [00:10:45.480]I have had the capacity
- [00:10:47.700]and the opportunity to interact with our state agencies
- [00:10:52.710]and work with them closely
- [00:10:54.570]on an issue that's very important to Nebraska being water.
- [00:10:59.070]On the other one,
- [00:10:59.903]advisory board.
- [00:11:01.170]This has been an eyeopener for me
- [00:11:02.970]on how to develop successful philanthropic campaigns
- [00:11:07.650]to engage and bring lots of millions of dollars.
- [00:11:11.520]It's amazing how many people care for birds
- [00:11:14.970]and bird watching.
- [00:11:16.410]So how can we brand ourselves
- [00:11:18.543]to be the Audubon Society of Nebraska?
- [00:11:21.990]So I will talk more about LTAR in the next slide or so.
- [00:11:27.270]I am, as ED mentioned, involved on a national scale
- [00:11:31.290]with our Association of Public Land Universities
- [00:11:36.210]with the industry serving on their council,
- [00:11:38.850]University Industry Council,
- [00:11:40.590]and that has opened up for me the ability
- [00:11:43.950]to connect with our major sectors and companies
- [00:11:47.280]in the agri-food system,
- [00:11:48.630]and bring these connections to the university
- [00:11:51.570]to promote collaborations.
- [00:11:55.260]Being a fellow
- [00:11:56.340]on the Nebraska Strategic Research Initiative,
- [00:11:59.730]this is new for me,
- [00:12:01.020]but I have been working with them
- [00:12:02.640]for multiple years on developing the strategic plan
- [00:12:06.150]for biosecurity and biosafety,
- [00:12:10.350]cybersecurity and biosecurity.
- [00:12:12.630]We finally have a draft.
- [00:12:14.919]And we hopefully, in the near future,
- [00:12:17.280]will start working on an implementation plan.
- [00:12:21.090]I am a learner by nature.
- [00:12:23.970]So I've taken every opportunity
- [00:12:26.430]to develop my leadership skills.
- [00:12:28.710]Graduate of the LEAD21,
- [00:12:30.960]the academic leadership program of Big 10.
- [00:12:33.930]And I will soon join the FSLI,
- [00:12:36.120]which is the Food System Leadership Institute,
- [00:12:38.880]two-year program.
- [00:12:39.870]So I'm very excited with that.
- [00:12:42.030]I hope through this slide,
- [00:12:43.320]I demonstrated the breadth
- [00:12:45.210]and the variety of my experiences,
- [00:12:49.470]not only at UNL,
- [00:12:50.940]but nationally as well.
- [00:12:54.930]So for the next few slides,
- [00:12:56.580]and I'm gonna take long time from you,
- [00:12:59.610]I'm gonna just demonstrate the breadth of my research.
- [00:13:02.970]This is not the depth.
- [00:13:04.500]This is just a breadth of collaboration
- [00:13:07.260]and research that's happening.
- [00:13:10.020]I did this analysis,
- [00:13:12.750]word analysis and network analysis,
- [00:13:15.450]and I didn't know that.
- [00:13:17.550]Actually, I have collaborators
- [00:13:19.230]and I have published with institutions
- [00:13:22.140]and faculty in 15 countries.
- [00:13:25.260]And when I did the word analysis,
- [00:13:28.560]I did not expect that Nebraska will be
- [00:13:31.200]at the epicenter of it.
- [00:13:33.420]So that was news to me as well,
- [00:13:36.870]pleasant news.
- [00:13:37.830]So that shows you how diverse,
- [00:13:42.060]and where I have been,
- [00:13:43.860]and what kind of collaborations I've had.
- [00:13:46.860]There are four examples I'm gonna highlight.
- [00:13:50.460]And the first one,
- [00:13:51.690]my research in the Sandhills.
- [00:13:53.490]That's very close and dear to my heart,
- [00:13:56.250]the Long-term Agroecosystem Network Research,
- [00:14:00.240]then the Data Science example,
- [00:14:02.550]and finally North America and Global Research.
- [00:14:06.000]Just four examples to give you a flavor.
- [00:14:10.950]So when I first came to Nebraska,
- [00:14:13.440]I asked, "What are these trees doing here?
- [00:14:15.990]I am a Forester.
- [00:14:16.920]I worked in the boreal forest initially.
- [00:14:19.020]And are they all friends?"
- [00:14:20.760]They said, "No, these are invasive.
- [00:14:22.530]We have to work on them."
- [00:14:23.670]And that has kept me busy
- [00:14:25.170]for the last 20 years in Nebraska.
- [00:14:28.800]So when I looked at the research and what's going on,
- [00:14:31.710]there was very little published
- [00:14:33.780]on the impact of eastern redcedar
- [00:14:35.910]that you've all worked with
- [00:14:37.680]and the expansion of ponderosa pine on ecosystem services.
- [00:14:42.750]Where to start from is, okay,
- [00:14:45.210]let's look at the impact on the productivity
- [00:14:47.310]and let's look at what makes them successful to start with.
- [00:14:50.580]And that was the initial research,
- [00:14:54.090]what we've done.
- [00:14:54.923]And then we built a large team made up of hydrologists,
- [00:14:58.860]so scientists, biotechnologists, remote sensing,
- [00:15:02.100]and dendroecologists
- [00:15:03.720]to start looking at it from a system perspective
- [00:15:06.990]because the next question was,
- [00:15:08.760]so what's their impact on the water?
- [00:15:10.350]Water and livestock production are two
- [00:15:12.600]of our most important commodities in this state.
- [00:15:15.780]So we were able to not only demonstrate their impact
- [00:15:19.920]on livestock, but productivity,
- [00:15:22.440]but also on the impact on the water cycle in the centers.
- [00:15:27.900]And we divide it
- [00:15:29.880]and decompartmentalize the different components
- [00:15:33.120]of the hydrological cycle.
- [00:15:35.100]We were able to study
- [00:15:36.660]where they're getting their water from,
- [00:15:38.760]comparison to the grasses,
- [00:15:40.320]how much water they're using,
- [00:15:42.270]and what's the overall impact on water resources.
- [00:15:48.000]If they impact water,
- [00:15:49.590]they impact nutrients as well.
- [00:15:51.510]And we did that study.
- [00:15:53.310]And of course,
- [00:15:54.143]there's tremendous changes in the biochemical cycle
- [00:15:57.268]and also in the microbial diversity.
- [00:16:00.600]We moved from bacteria-dominated
- [00:16:02.580]into fungal-dominated being conifer.
- [00:16:05.490]So my next question,
- [00:16:07.440]which I haven't studied yet is the fact
- [00:16:10.500]that the soil has transitioned so much,
- [00:16:13.080]would it impact recovery?
- [00:16:14.760]Would it truly promote more invasion
- [00:16:18.240]in the next round?
- [00:16:19.470]I don't know.
- [00:16:20.303]We'll have to see.
- [00:16:21.570]But then how are they gonna be a hundred years from now?
- [00:16:25.260]Where are they gonna be distributed,
- [00:16:27.060]and what they're gonna do?
- [00:16:28.110]And we use dendrochronological work,
- [00:16:30.630]which is three rings.
- [00:16:32.010]And also, I stopped signatures of them
- [00:16:34.800]to be able to predict their distribution in the future.
- [00:16:39.030]And I hate to say this,
- [00:16:40.470]but east of the 100 meridians,
- [00:16:42.810]there is no environmental factor
- [00:16:44.910]that limits the spread of the species in Nebraska.
- [00:16:48.960]As long as the seed makes it,
- [00:16:50.520]it's gonna germinate,
- [00:16:51.570]it's gonna establish,
- [00:16:52.620]it's there.
- [00:16:53.453]So the best treatment is prevention, prevention, prevention,
- [00:16:56.820]and early control.
- [00:16:58.980]We were able to link all these ground measurements
- [00:17:02.160]with remote sensing to try to understand
- [00:17:04.530]at a larger scale what's happening in the Sandhills.
- [00:17:09.508]I am very open with my data.
- [00:17:11.370]So we've shared data with students across campus,
- [00:17:13.710]with modelers to correct and validate ET measurements.
- [00:17:17.280]And more recently,
- [00:17:18.300]were asked to collaborate with the Smithsonian Institute
- [00:17:21.510]and with ForestGEO on being part
- [00:17:24.480]of the global study on the impact of climate change
- [00:17:27.150]on our forest resources globally.
- [00:17:29.310]We had the first paper published,
- [00:17:31.020]and now we're working on a second study addressing this.
- [00:17:35.160]And why is that important?
- [00:17:36.990]Because historically,
- [00:17:38.670]when these models are developed,
- [00:17:41.670]they skipped Nebraska.
- [00:17:43.440]We are grassland,
- [00:17:44.850]but we do have lots of trees that go unaccounted for.
- [00:17:51.900]So the next example I wanna give is
- [00:17:55.320]the Long-Term Agroecosystem Network example.
- [00:18:02.490]For those of you who don't know,
- [00:18:04.110]this is an ARS-funded network, USDA.
- [00:18:07.260]We have 18 sites in the country.
- [00:18:10.260]And I lead colleague with our ARS partner,
- [00:18:13.680]the Nebraska site,
- [00:18:15.137]15 out of the 18 are pure ARS.
- [00:18:18.330]It's only us,
- [00:18:19.950]Michigan State University and Archbold Station
- [00:18:22.890]that are non-ARS members.
- [00:18:26.550]We are tasked by local to national,
- [00:18:31.073]the impact of conventional business-as-usual,
- [00:18:36.360]scenarios on ecosystem services,
- [00:18:39.330]and try to develop aspiration management practices
- [00:18:43.380]so we can improve holistically agriculture around the US.
- [00:18:49.620]We have tons of collaborators on campus
- [00:18:53.130]and outside of campus.
- [00:18:55.050]And we were able to secure permanently
- [00:18:57.870]in 2019 $1 million a year permanently
- [00:19:02.610]for the site to share with ARS.
- [00:19:06.060]In 2020,
- [00:19:08.850]I got a phone call from our ARS partners telling me,
- [00:19:13.267]"Tala, the fertilizer challenge is out.
- [00:19:17.340]We have a new group of fertilizers.
- [00:19:19.800]Can you develop a SAS,
- [00:19:21.930]Sustainable Act System letter of intent to submit grant,
- [00:19:26.250]to test this new nutrient and water management practices?"
- [00:19:31.230]I said, "I am not in nutrient management practices,
- [00:19:33.570]but I know who who can help us."
- [00:19:36.900]I reached out to Joe Luck and to Christopher Neale.
- [00:19:39.930]And together we formed the team.
- [00:19:42.060]I said, "Let's focus on the science here
- [00:19:44.220]and I'll get you the partners."
- [00:19:46.230]So I got the Fertilizers Institute for Pursell Fertilizer,
- [00:19:49.720]EPA, NRCS, and others.
- [00:19:53.100]And we all submitted this letter of intent,
- [00:19:56.250]which I still believe was the best letter
- [00:19:58.500]of intent I've ever worked on.
- [00:20:01.140]And it did not go anywhere.
- [00:20:03.390]But this is where personal connections matter.
- [00:20:08.115]Pursell Fertilizer got hold of it.
- [00:20:11.100]They know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody.
- [00:20:15.210]And long story short,
- [00:20:16.680]we now have designation of $2 million a year
- [00:20:21.120]to address this at NREC permanently,
- [00:20:25.140]which is, I think, this is fantastic opportunity
- [00:20:27.930]for us to work on the digital ag
- [00:20:30.030]and sustainable ag moving into the future.
- [00:20:37.440]Oops, I don't know why this didn't show up.
- [00:20:39.780]There's supposed to be many words in this.
- [00:20:42.300]And they were in my...
- [00:20:45.360]That's fine, that's fine.
- [00:20:46.530]We recovered.
- [00:20:48.450]So as part of the network,
- [00:20:50.880]I was very honored in 2018
- [00:20:53.190]to be asked to be part of the leadership team
- [00:20:55.650]that oversees the whole network
- [00:20:57.900]and defines the agenda for the network.
- [00:21:00.450]And in 2021,
- [00:21:02.550]I was elected to serve as the co-chair.
- [00:21:04.710]The co-chair is actually the chair
- [00:21:06.420]because the chair is the national program director
- [00:21:09.840]that just provides administrative oversight.
- [00:21:12.450]And during that year,
- [00:21:14.130]we're asked to develop the strategic plan of the network.
- [00:21:17.730]So it was a fantastically rewarding experience for us
- [00:21:21.900]to work with the 400 people come up
- [00:21:24.510]with a vision moving forward.
- [00:21:26.670]And if there were words in the top square,
- [00:21:30.930]sorry, triangle,
- [00:21:32.220]you will see that our focus number one,
- [00:21:34.290]science and climate smart solution indicators
- [00:21:37.830]for innovation and science on adoption.
- [00:21:40.950]And below here,
- [00:21:41.850]we have four initiatives that are operational,
- [00:21:45.360]that are inclusion, increasing capacity, data,
- [00:21:50.310]and develop partnership with our stakeholders.
- [00:21:53.550]So with that,
- [00:21:54.930]I'm very excited
- [00:21:56.100]because my next responsibility on the network is
- [00:21:59.700]to develop an MOU with a group of us with TNC,
- [00:22:03.660]The Nature Conservancy.
- [00:22:05.460]We develop the science and agencies,
- [00:22:08.130]such as NRCS, TNC are the ones
- [00:22:11.820]that have the broad societal impact.
- [00:22:14.250]So this collaboration's gonna be fantastic moving forward.
- [00:22:18.210]And we're working on the details
- [00:22:20.250]of what this is gonna look like.
- [00:22:24.840]Data science is the next passion of mine.
- [00:22:28.770]I'm not a data scientist, though.
- [00:22:31.320]So I know how the more we move into the digital world,
- [00:22:36.150]the more data is becoming more complex.
- [00:22:38.490]It's coming at different frequency, different format,
- [00:22:41.280]and everything is different.
- [00:22:43.170]For us to do high impact research,
- [00:22:45.930]we need to be able to integrate the data,
- [00:22:48.480]and analyze them,
- [00:22:49.530]and get information out of it to help our stakeholders.
- [00:22:53.700]So with that in mind,
- [00:22:55.530]in 2020,
- [00:22:56.880]and with the support of the associate vice chancellor,
- [00:23:00.750]Ron Yoder,
- [00:23:01.583]the vice chancellor, Mike and Dean Archie Clutter,
- [00:23:05.475]I submitted an NRI proposal
- [00:23:08.700]to the Nebraska Research Initiative
- [00:23:11.340]to start the development of this platform
- [00:23:14.070]that will host these ag data.
- [00:23:16.380]Within the national search,
- [00:23:17.790]We hired Dr. Yu Pan,
- [00:23:19.290]who is in BSE,
- [00:23:21.030]biological systems engineering.
- [00:23:23.550]And less than a year,
- [00:23:25.500]he developed the first platform that is to be tested,
- [00:23:30.450]which will allow the user to upload their data,
- [00:23:35.100]to upload the model.
- [00:23:37.110]And each dataset has a geolocator.
- [00:23:42.360]And with that,
- [00:23:43.890]you can query all the data in the database
- [00:23:47.370]after we do data harmonization and quality.
- [00:23:50.460]And if you ask permission of Ed,
- [00:23:52.530]can I use your data
- [00:23:54.030]to address larger whatever questions?
- [00:23:58.050]They say yes or no.
- [00:23:59.130]You take the permission.
- [00:24:00.570]And then through Jupiter,
- [00:24:02.850]then these all other programs are embedded.
- [00:24:06.270]You can run Python,
- [00:24:07.440]you can run MATLAB,
- [00:24:08.550]you can run other programs.
- [00:24:10.410]So it gives you the flexibility
- [00:24:12.300]to integrate not only the data,
- [00:24:14.370]but also the analysis.
- [00:24:16.830]I'm very excited with this,
- [00:24:18.390]our beta testing's gonna be initially
- [00:24:20.880]with the phenotyping data,
- [00:24:23.220]with the AmeriFlux data,
- [00:24:24.630]with the N RAT data,
- [00:24:26.310]and with the LTAR data.
- [00:24:30.180]Why is that very important?
- [00:24:32.670]Because my vision is that every person in this room,
- [00:24:36.990]in this state and beyond can take their mouse hover
- [00:24:41.250]over every single plot we have in our research extension
- [00:24:44.427]and education facilities.
- [00:24:46.920]And it'll tell them what is the metadata of that site,
- [00:24:51.270]what are the treatments,
- [00:24:53.100]and will have near time or real time plot analysis
- [00:24:57.480]that shows you what are the productivity,
- [00:24:59.760]what soy moisture,
- [00:25:00.870]whatever indicators that we have measured.
- [00:25:03.690]And in this case,
- [00:25:05.310]you, as a farmer,
- [00:25:06.840]you are looking at this data and saying,
- [00:25:09.337]"Wow, I'm managing my site very differently.
- [00:25:12.540]I am in the same area.
- [00:25:14.910]I should talk to them.
- [00:25:16.470]Maybe I can improve on my productivity and sustainability,
- [00:25:19.621]or I am in a totally different area."
- [00:25:21.750]So I envision this to be our communication
- [00:25:25.170]and our engagement way of many to reach our stakeholders,
- [00:25:30.300]to reach a private industry,
- [00:25:31.800]to reach our peers,
- [00:25:32.880]to reach our students and our citizens.
- [00:25:36.450]And what I envision also is
- [00:25:38.610]that we will have an innovation week
- [00:25:41.490]at each of those research extension education facilities,
- [00:25:45.480]and we'll bring the industry, our innovators,
- [00:25:48.450]and whoever wants to come
- [00:25:50.040]and showcase what's happened in that year.
- [00:25:53.688]And this is how we build trust,
- [00:25:57.090]and we build loyalty,
- [00:25:58.530]and we build collaborations.
- [00:26:00.480]So I have really big hopes for this.
- [00:26:02.610]We need more money,
- [00:26:03.840]but it's gonna get there eventually.
- [00:26:07.830]My last example here before I move
- [00:26:10.020]to a different topic is my collaboration
- [00:26:13.590]in North America and the Global Research.
- [00:26:17.310]Craig Allen and I,
- [00:26:18.330]who's director
- [00:26:19.260]of the Center for Resilience in Ag Working Lands submitted
- [00:26:25.170]an NSF proposal with the idea
- [00:26:27.300]to bring everybody in North America onboard
- [00:26:30.540]and develop this resilience network
- [00:26:32.700]that looks at the recovery of agricultural land
- [00:26:36.450]on multiple scales.
- [00:26:39.946]So far, we got the funding,
- [00:26:42.210]and we have a great person,
- [00:26:44.280]Shana Sundstrom,
- [00:26:45.240]who is leading some of the efforts.
- [00:26:48.060]There's lots of excitement from LTAR,
- [00:26:50.820]from Ag Canada,
- [00:26:51.900]from the Living Laboratories,
- [00:26:53.400]and from the ResNet,
- [00:26:55.140]and from our Resilience International Network.
- [00:26:58.350]And we got another grant to bring Mexico into the equation.
- [00:27:02.550]That's gonna transform the way we collaborate
- [00:27:05.550]on a continental scale.
- [00:27:06.960]I'm very excited with this.
- [00:27:10.590]Yet the results to be seen we've just started,
- [00:27:12.930]this is a year-old exactly.
- [00:27:15.060]And we've made lots of progress.
- [00:27:16.800]We have a concept paper in the making.
- [00:27:19.650]The final example,
- [00:27:20.730]this is just fresh new,
- [00:27:22.290]we just got the funding,
- [00:27:24.000]and that is to form an international network
- [00:27:28.110]of networks that look at the socioeconomic
- [00:27:32.220]multiplied by the sustainability
- [00:27:34.920]and the resilience of the ag land and on soil health.
- [00:27:38.190]This is the outcome of many years of discussion
- [00:27:41.640]with our stakeholders,
- [00:27:42.960]with our international partners.
- [00:27:44.880]And finally, we came up with a plan to accomplish this.
- [00:27:48.810]The effort is being led by the University of Wisconsin
- [00:27:52.020]with many other universities in this state.
- [00:27:54.450]And I serve as a co-PI on this effort.
- [00:27:58.230]We are in the process of hiring project director
- [00:28:00.840]that will lead the workshop development
- [00:28:03.750]and the connection and talking to stakeholders.
- [00:28:08.610]So hopefully by now,
- [00:28:09.690]I have been able to demonstrate
- [00:28:11.250]to you the extent of my collaboration, my research,
- [00:28:14.310]and the breadth of the work that I do.
- [00:28:17.880]Next, I wanna move now into ARD
- [00:28:20.760]and my vision for ARD.
- [00:28:24.450]As a leader,
- [00:28:25.800]you are expected to know many, many, many things,
- [00:28:29.400]and you expect to embody qualities that keep growing.
- [00:28:35.910]Through my training,
- [00:28:38.070]through my self-reflections,
- [00:28:41.130]I have identified myself
- [00:28:43.830]as what they call a modern leader,
- [00:28:47.040]a modern leader.
- [00:28:50.070]There is a term related to this.
- [00:28:53.730]A modern leader puts people first.
- [00:28:57.180]They put people first ahead of performance.
- [00:29:01.500]Not that performance is not important,
- [00:29:04.350]performance is our metric,
- [00:29:06.540]but if you put the people first
- [00:29:09.180]and work with the people,
- [00:29:10.830]performance naturally will follow.
- [00:29:14.449]And I strongly believe this.
- [00:29:17.130]In terms of philosophy,
- [00:29:19.830]if you know my background,
- [00:29:21.450]and if you know how I operate in being an ecologist,
- [00:29:25.380]adaptability is number one thing
- [00:29:28.050]that I feel has to be a characteristic of a leader.
- [00:29:33.750]There's no one situation that is treated in the same way.
- [00:29:38.520]You always have to understand the situation,
- [00:29:41.010]the people, the department.
- [00:29:42.480]And you need to develop solutions
- [00:29:44.490]that are suitable for that situation.
- [00:29:48.330]And we are in an era of accelerated change.
- [00:29:52.590]We are keep on changing.
- [00:29:54.390]If you cannot adapt,
- [00:29:55.950]you fall behind,
- [00:29:58.500]you're no longer competitive as simple as this.
- [00:30:01.770]So you truly have to be adaptable to the environment.
- [00:30:05.580]It's like an ecosystem.
- [00:30:08.040]I consider us an ecosystem.
- [00:30:10.260]We are bunch of individuals
- [00:30:12.390]that we're interacting with each other,
- [00:30:14.130]and we're interacting with the environment.
- [00:30:16.500]Every time you remove and add individuals to this room,
- [00:30:19.710]you change the dynamic.
- [00:30:21.060]And we can't control the external factors
- [00:30:24.150]so we still have to work on adaptability.
- [00:30:28.320]Integrity is important,
- [00:30:29.850]as well as optimism.
- [00:30:31.800]In terms of value,
- [00:30:33.150]I have identified these values are very important to me,
- [00:30:37.380]but number one for me,
- [00:30:38.970]and you've heard me today is trustworthiness.
- [00:30:42.090]If you cannot gain the trust of the people you work with,
- [00:30:45.870]you will not succeed in any position in leadership.
- [00:30:49.230]And trust is very hard to build.
- [00:30:52.830]You are always working on it,
- [00:30:54.750]and you can lose it suddenly
- [00:30:57.180]because of a little mistake you've made.
- [00:30:59.790]So it's very important to focus on trust in my opinion.
- [00:31:07.470]In terms of my vision for the institute,
- [00:31:09.990]it's very simple,
- [00:31:11.610]it's not simple,
- [00:31:12.480]but it's short,
- [00:31:14.550]lead an inclusive culture for innovation,
- [00:31:17.730]discovery, creative activity and entrepreneurship,
- [00:31:21.420]from ideation to realization
- [00:31:24.180]across the whole pipeline in the agri-food system,
- [00:31:28.620]natural resources,
- [00:31:29.790]and promote a human health prosperity
- [00:31:32.490]to improve the lives of everyone in Nebraska and beyond.
- [00:31:36.750]Now, you'll ask me how we're gonna do this.
- [00:31:39.660]So to me,
- [00:31:42.360]when you have a challenge is equal to an opportunity.
- [00:31:45.660]When you take advantage of this opportunity,
- [00:31:47.580]you can disrupt,
- [00:31:48.930]you can transform,
- [00:31:50.010]and you can change the system.
- [00:31:52.110]But we need to understand what are these challenges.
- [00:31:56.100]And to me,
- [00:31:56.933]I divide these challenges in two different pools.
- [00:32:00.360]The one pool is what we are facing as a society.
- [00:32:04.950]If you were related
- [00:32:06.360]to the Institute of Ag and Natural Resources,
- [00:32:09.081]there are other challenges.
- [00:32:10.200]And then at the same time,
- [00:32:12.450]we have the higher education challenges.
- [00:32:15.750]Local to global,
- [00:32:16.950]we all know climate change is big for us.
- [00:32:20.070]Food security and food sovereignty,
- [00:32:22.542]just look at the Ukraine-Russia war.
- [00:32:27.030]Many countries had food security
- [00:32:29.100]by importing the wheat and the sunflower oil from Ukraine.
- [00:32:34.440]And suddenly, the supply has been disrupted.
- [00:32:38.640]And there is no sovereignty or very little sovereignty,
- [00:32:41.640]which is causing subsequent conflict
- [00:32:44.610]in some of these countries that rely on this.
- [00:32:47.190]One of those countries is my home country, Lebanon,
- [00:32:49.560]where 95% of the wheat comes from Ukraine.
- [00:32:52.680]So the disruption can cause really global impact on humans.
- [00:33:00.720]Dwindling natural resources,
- [00:33:02.580]everybody knows by 2050,
- [00:33:05.010]the US will need five times the resources
- [00:33:07.710]that it needs today to support business-as-usual scenarios.
- [00:33:11.550]Where are these five times gonna come?
- [00:33:14.940]So land use change,
- [00:33:16.830]decline in biodiversity,
- [00:33:18.390]animal health and welfare,
- [00:33:19.800]insects and diseases, human health,
- [00:33:21.870]pollution, waste, bio and cybersecurity.
- [00:33:25.110]The more we have faced with many challenges
- [00:33:30.510]in the last two, three years,
- [00:33:31.950]and it's really biosecurity and cybersecurity boils down
- [00:33:36.810]to the level of threats
- [00:33:38.490]and the level of vulnerability of the system.
- [00:33:41.580]How can we work on reducing threat
- [00:33:44.400]and reducing vulnerability to increase biosecurity?
- [00:33:49.110]Economic disparity and conflict,
- [00:33:51.810]misinformation, racism.
- [00:33:53.670]And I'm sure you can come up with other challenges.
- [00:33:57.270]Higher education for me,
- [00:33:59.910]it's about turnover,
- [00:34:01.440]turnover not only in faculty,
- [00:34:03.030]turnover in staff,
- [00:34:04.170]turnover in students and so on.
- [00:34:06.630]Accelerated technology changed.
- [00:34:09.330]Many of the faculty are unable
- [00:34:12.330]to keep up with our change in technology.
- [00:34:15.540]How can we stay ahead of the game
- [00:34:17.880]and influence the future
- [00:34:19.650]if we have not been keeping up?
- [00:34:22.410]What can we do for our faculty
- [00:34:24.720]to help them stay on top of their game
- [00:34:28.350]so they are competitive?
- [00:34:30.320]Resource availability,
- [00:34:32.100]we're going through several budget cuts.
- [00:34:34.710]And we don't know what the future is gonna look like.
- [00:34:37.560]How do we manage our resources?
- [00:34:39.270]How do invest our resources?
- [00:34:41.310]And at the same time,
- [00:34:42.930]when you cut resources on faculty A,
- [00:34:45.690]what are you giving them in exchange?
- [00:34:49.170]Are you giving them the right training?
- [00:34:50.850]Are you giving them the right support
- [00:34:53.610]so they can on their own start acquiring resources
- [00:34:57.660]to deal with the cut that they have experienced?
- [00:35:00.270]Same thing as departments.
- [00:35:03.420]Aging facilities,
- [00:35:04.680]that's a big topic for me.
- [00:35:07.020]Student enrollment,
- [00:35:08.310]that's a national thing.
- [00:35:09.540]We have lower enrollment in universities
- [00:35:13.920]because of the lower graduation rates in schools.
- [00:35:17.640]So how is that gonna impact our research,
- [00:35:20.400]education, and extension enterprise?
- [00:35:24.240]And what about international students as well?
- [00:35:26.340]We've seen tremendous decline in their enrollment.
- [00:35:28.980]We've seen other countries open up,
- [00:35:30.960]how are we gonna recover from this?
- [00:35:32.550]And what would it take?
- [00:35:34.260]Diversity, equity, inclusion,
- [00:35:36.030]and accessibility remain an issue.
- [00:35:38.940]Mental health is an issue.
- [00:35:40.620]I shared with some of you today
- [00:35:42.900]that I was very surprised reading an article
- [00:35:46.200]that burnout in people is not due
- [00:35:49.037]to the high volume of work.
- [00:35:53.220]It's number one reason is loneliness.
- [00:35:56.400]So take a moment to think about this
- [00:35:59.280]because I did not even think about it
- [00:36:02.430]that loneliness could be a major reason
- [00:36:06.780]for burnout and mental health.
- [00:36:09.780]And let's think about what COVID has done
- [00:36:12.030]to our community here.
- [00:36:15.420]Of course, global disruptions.
- [00:36:18.480]We're not the only ones worried about this.
- [00:36:23.040]We do have the sustainable development goals.
- [00:36:27.120]They've made it priority for them.
- [00:36:30.090]This is from the UNICEF,
- [00:36:31.800]from the UN to tackle these issues by 2030.
- [00:36:38.880]On the right-hand of the screen on top,
- [00:36:42.660]this is the FAO,
- [00:36:44.130]the Food and Agriculture Organization
- [00:36:46.350]from the United Nations.
- [00:36:47.940]And they just came up with their four,
- [00:36:50.340]what they called four Bs.
- [00:36:52.620]These are the priority for them:
- [00:36:55.230]better production,
- [00:36:56.370]better nutrition,
- [00:36:57.390]better environment,
- [00:36:58.500]and better life.
- [00:37:00.420]And USDA just came up with their new strategic plan,
- [00:37:04.440]which looks at climate change,
- [00:37:06.960]climate smart solutions,
- [00:37:08.910]advancing racial justice,
- [00:37:10.620]so advancing DEIA,
- [00:37:14.280]creating more and better market opportunities,
- [00:37:17.820]entrepreneurship,
- [00:37:19.350]and tackling food and nutrition insecurity,
- [00:37:22.980]and making USDA better place for everyone.
- [00:37:26.520]We are very consistent with those priorities.
- [00:37:30.960]If we look at the Nebraska Chamber and their priorities,
- [00:37:35.580]it's not surprising that we see agriculture
- [00:37:38.100]as their number one priority.
- [00:37:40.680]And they have identified four major areas
- [00:37:46.110]that we need to focus on in the next years.
- [00:37:50.220]Number one is to develop the agriculture production
- [00:37:54.180]and processing industry;
- [00:37:56.070]number two, promote education, incentives,
- [00:37:58.950]and partnerships in many areas,
- [00:38:01.860]areas that we excel at;
- [00:38:04.560]build broadband connectivity
- [00:38:06.840]and invest in sector-wide data networks.
- [00:38:10.620]These things align with our priorities as institution.
- [00:38:16.290]We look at the 2025
- [00:38:19.290]and their emphasis on research on creativity,
- [00:38:22.500]on students, on engagement.
- [00:38:25.260]And from that emerge the grand challenges.
- [00:38:28.230]I see us fitting in each one
- [00:38:30.270]of those squares moving forward.
- [00:38:33.660]And then we bring our six communities.
- [00:38:36.720]12 years ago,
- [00:38:37.920]I was actually involved
- [00:38:39.390]in the development of these communities.
- [00:38:41.790]And since then,
- [00:38:43.260]we've made tremendous investments
- [00:38:45.870]in each of these communities.
- [00:38:47.670]We've developed the talent, the expertise.
- [00:38:51.540]What is next for us?
- [00:38:53.100]Knowing what we know now about the challenges
- [00:38:55.950]that we're facing as a community,
- [00:38:57.780]as a country,
- [00:38:58.620]and on global level,
- [00:39:00.120]are these communities gonna look the same
- [00:39:02.970]for the next 10 or 15 years?
- [00:39:06.030]That is something that all of us have
- [00:39:08.100]to think about moving forward.
- [00:39:12.840]I have my own views on things, obviously.
- [00:39:17.460]I led a team of very talented people with a grand challenge.
- [00:39:23.070]We got planning grant from the grand challenges,
- [00:39:25.650]and we called it the Nebraska Circular Agricultural System,
- [00:39:29.970]for short NCA.
- [00:39:32.015]And for those of you who speak Greek,
- [00:39:33.330]NCA means when.
- [00:39:35.040]And we labeled it
- [00:39:36.360]that this is the way we're gonna win the battle
- [00:39:39.150]against our challenges.
- [00:39:42.660]And everybody can see themselves in this picture.
- [00:39:45.420]But let me guide you through it
- [00:39:47.460]because I think it's very important.
- [00:39:49.650]Circularity means that we move away from use and dispose
- [00:39:55.770]and to use, reduce, create products that last longer,
- [00:40:02.250]and basically increase efficiency and reduce waste.
- [00:40:07.050]And we start here with the smart.
- [00:40:09.450]Let me here take my mouse.
- [00:40:11.850]We start here that anything I do,
- [00:40:13.680]whether I present to you,
- [00:40:15.420]whether it's related to plant production
- [00:40:17.730]or to animal production,
- [00:40:19.500]has to be built on smart architecture using technology
- [00:40:25.740]that's sustainable.
- [00:40:26.880]So that really in the hands of the engineers
- [00:40:31.170]and other people who design products.
- [00:40:36.030]You can start the circle at any point,
- [00:40:37.800]but I wanna start the circle
- [00:40:39.630]in the biomass production broadly defined.
- [00:40:42.900]It could be crops,
- [00:40:43.770]it could be grasses,
- [00:40:44.670]it could be anything.
- [00:40:46.350]Just plant material.
- [00:40:48.390]And I'm suggesting we use the GEMS principle for it,
- [00:40:52.050]which is selection
- [00:40:53.190]or creation of novel genotypes.
- [00:40:55.920]Environment,
- [00:40:56.880]how do we manage that environment?
- [00:40:59.190]What kind of practices we impose,
- [00:41:02.040]whether it's nature-based, cover crops,
- [00:41:04.500]or it's technology-based using digital agriculture
- [00:41:07.710]and other methods?
- [00:41:08.820]And of course,
- [00:41:09.750]it has to be relevant to the local community,
- [00:41:12.510]which is the society,
- [00:41:13.830]which is the S.
- [00:41:15.540]Then the food goes into the system,
- [00:41:17.820]goes under either to the animal feed.
- [00:41:19.950]And I'm not going to repeat the cycle here.
- [00:41:22.200]And we're producing in the same manner the livestock.
- [00:41:25.800]And here we have the meat
- [00:41:27.990]and the plant material that some of it is gonna go
- [00:41:31.680]for human consumption.
- [00:41:32.910]But here I wanna challenge us,
- [00:41:34.470]what else can we produce?
- [00:41:36.390]What are those high value-added products that we can use?
- [00:41:41.490]This could be textile.
- [00:41:42.660]This could be biofuel.
- [00:41:44.730]This could be all kinds of things.
- [00:41:46.950]Waste,
- [00:41:47.783]let's reduce the waste.
- [00:41:49.080]The waste goes into the system again.
- [00:41:51.660]And we have fantastic faculty over here,
- [00:41:54.120]whether it's in the food processing center,
- [00:41:55.680]and PSI, and BSE, and other areas.
- [00:42:00.210]The food goes back and the waste goes back into the system,
- [00:42:04.080]then we have to work with the Center of Transportation,
- [00:42:07.020]which we have on campus,
- [00:42:09.549]and optimize that transportation mechanism,
- [00:42:13.260]and then find ways to prevent,
- [00:42:16.710]whether it's a human consumption.
- [00:42:18.150]Let's be more cognitive
- [00:42:19.620]about how much food we are throwing away.
- [00:42:22.500]And waste processing.
- [00:42:24.720]And we have tremendous capabilities
- [00:42:26.400]in the College of Engineering
- [00:42:27.960]before it moves again into the system
- [00:42:31.170]as fertilizers or whatever.
- [00:42:34.380]What are the threats?
- [00:42:35.550]Climate change, biosecurity, cybersecurity.
- [00:42:38.250]Where are the potentials?
- [00:42:39.660]Europe has put now multihundred millions of dollars
- [00:42:43.170]in developing the digital twin for natural systems.
- [00:42:48.480]Basically, these are virtual reality
- [00:42:51.450]that create the whole processes in a virtual space.
- [00:42:55.020]And you add, remove processes
- [00:42:56.940]and see what happens subsequently to this system.
- [00:42:59.820]So that's a huge capability.
- [00:43:01.350]Ten universities already
- [00:43:03.090]in the world are using these technologies
- [00:43:05.460]to improve education and advance education.
- [00:43:08.550]We have tremendous opportunity in digital economics.
- [00:43:12.300]This is the future.
- [00:43:13.290]What used to be internet economics,
- [00:43:16.560]now is digital economics.
- [00:43:18.120]And I feel that's a tremendous way
- [00:43:20.160]to improve prosperity in our rural communities.
- [00:43:25.260]So that's my little circle.
- [00:43:28.260]Oops.
- [00:43:29.430]How do I go back?
- [00:43:33.000]So with that,
- [00:43:33.833]I'm not gonna go through each of those areas.
- [00:43:36.990]But this is the outcome I envision
- [00:43:39.840]after all from the science
- [00:43:42.480]and the innovation that we have that we invest
- [00:43:45.510]in the institute.
- [00:43:48.240]Now, I spoke about the grand challenges
- [00:43:51.060]with relation to challenges around food and food products.
- [00:43:56.220]Let me address a little bit of our internal environment,
- [00:44:00.510]which is the higher education.
- [00:44:04.080]How do we lead in an era of accelerated change?
- [00:44:08.700]And to me,
- [00:44:10.800]focus on the people and their resilience.
- [00:44:13.440]And how do we do that?
- [00:44:15.360]First of all,
- [00:44:16.320]we need to work with our faculty,
- [00:44:18.360]with our postdoc staff,
- [00:44:19.860]and students across the whole pipeline to create,
- [00:44:23.670]to promote the sense of innovation and entrepreneurship,
- [00:44:27.330]and I will tell you how in the next slide,
- [00:44:30.600]invest in partnership,
- [00:44:33.000]invest in resources and facilities,
- [00:44:37.140]communication, and branding,
- [00:44:39.660]and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
- [00:44:45.390]So how do we work with our community of people?
- [00:44:50.010]We need to empower them,
- [00:44:51.390]incentivize them, reward them, recognize them.
- [00:44:54.990]We need them to become influencers
- [00:44:57.720]in the area for federal governments.
- [00:45:00.300]We are in most part reactionary to the call of a grant.
- [00:45:04.770]How can we move from being reactionary to being influencers?
- [00:45:09.510]How can we cultivate team science
- [00:45:12.270]that are integrated across all mission areas
- [00:45:15.780]and build in them entrepreneurship?
- [00:45:18.960]Most importantly,
- [00:45:20.070]we need to create a safe environment
- [00:45:22.770]that everybody feels free
- [00:45:24.900]to express their opinion without retaliation.
- [00:45:29.460]And we strongly encourage mentoring
- [00:45:31.320]and training of everyone,
- [00:45:34.170]promote mental health and wellbeing,
- [00:45:37.770]push for diversity, equity, inclusion,
- [00:45:40.470]and entrepreneurship across the pipeline.
- [00:45:43.080]And I am proposing.
- [00:45:45.302]Well, here we leverage the ARD council,
- [00:45:49.260]but in the next one,
- [00:45:51.150]I propose that we develop an external advisory board
- [00:45:55.170]for ARD that's made up
- [00:45:56.610]of our stakeholders broadly defined.
- [00:46:00.240]In terms of partnership,
- [00:46:02.100]I am not gonna go through all of those items,
- [00:46:05.310]but I want you to look at the chart.
- [00:46:07.620]In any successful partnership,
- [00:46:10.290]first, we need to have active listening to our partners,
- [00:46:14.970]then we need to make each other aware
- [00:46:17.580]of what are those problems.
- [00:46:19.590]And so slowly,
- [00:46:21.150]we generate interest,
- [00:46:22.410]we generate desire,
- [00:46:24.000]we generate action, partnership, and loyalty.
- [00:46:27.480]It takes time.
- [00:46:28.620]It doesn't happen overnight,
- [00:46:30.510]but it's something we have to keep at it.
- [00:46:33.990]I always say we are the brain.
- [00:46:36.000]We are the powerhouse in innovation.
- [00:46:39.960]And our partners are eager for solutions.
- [00:46:43.830]And our private partners can be the entity
- [00:46:47.070]that can take this innovation,
- [00:46:49.440]and can expand it, and increase,
- [00:46:53.730]and augment its impact.
- [00:46:55.470]So we produce the innovation.
- [00:46:57.630]They produce societal impact.
- [00:46:59.670]Sometimes we can do all,
- [00:47:01.260]but successful partnership leverage each other's strength.
- [00:47:10.590]Everybody knows we have some aging facilities.
- [00:47:13.530]We can't be at the forefront of innovation
- [00:47:16.530]if our faculty don't have access
- [00:47:18.900]to state of the art facilities.
- [00:47:21.750]We wanna disrupt.
- [00:47:22.860]We wanna transform.
- [00:47:24.090]We wanna have the resources.
- [00:47:28.980]And communication, transparency, and branding.
- [00:47:32.910]This is my vision.
- [00:47:36.019]When I talked about partnership,
- [00:47:37.590]we really need to have conversation with our stakeholders,
- [00:47:41.640]broadly defined.
- [00:47:42.987]And I am suggesting we create this bi-monthly newsletter.
- [00:47:49.050]I'm not an artist
- [00:47:49.980]so bear with me.
- [00:47:51.990]On top,
- [00:47:53.403]it'll be message from ARD,
- [00:47:54.480]not from the dean,
- [00:47:55.560]from ARD.
- [00:47:56.430]It could be me who's gonna write it.
- [00:47:58.040]It could be Hector.
- [00:47:59.070]It could be any other member of our office.
- [00:48:02.370]Metrics,
- [00:48:03.210]where are we with the grants?
- [00:48:04.350]It's all about transparency and communication.
- [00:48:06.900]Where are we with number of publication?
- [00:48:08.670]Whatever we can accurately get metrics for.
- [00:48:12.540]There is a follow up.
- [00:48:13.920]We'll be active on Facebook
- [00:48:15.450]and on social media and donate.
- [00:48:18.510]Then we will have a space for two or three articles.
- [00:48:22.320]These articles are not what we're doing,
- [00:48:26.160]are not how we're doing it,
- [00:48:28.020]it's why we are doing it.
- [00:48:30.120]So it's not gonna be,
- [00:48:31.567]"Tala, receive this grant.
- [00:48:33.630]It's not faculty-centric to do X and Y research.
- [00:48:37.320]It's gonna be a new innovation
- [00:48:41.550]that will allow you to leave your farm all winter.
- [00:48:45.870]And it's the farm's gonna operate on itself
- [00:48:50.640]with the press of a button with your phone,
- [00:48:52.770]which is highly unlikely,
- [00:48:54.120]but you get the message."
- [00:48:55.740]But that's what's gonna attract the stakeholders.
- [00:49:00.540]So I know I'm overreacting here,
- [00:49:02.520]but you get my meaning.
- [00:49:04.200]It's what kind of impact?
- [00:49:05.760]What kind of innovation we generated?
- [00:49:07.800]And maybe at the bottom of the article would say,
- [00:49:10.703]"And by the way,
- [00:49:12.240]it came from NSF
- [00:49:13.800]and Tala was the generator of this idea."
- [00:49:17.400]So it's really focused on the why and the impact,
- [00:49:20.370]rather on the faculty.
- [00:49:22.260]I wanna hear from you.
- [00:49:23.250]I wanna have a section
- [00:49:25.530]where stakeholders will give us articles to post
- [00:49:30.120]as long as they conform with our values and beliefs.
- [00:49:33.480]I mean, we don't wanna open it up to all kinds of subjects.
- [00:49:36.240]It has to be related
- [00:49:37.260]to the institute, to agriculture,
- [00:49:38.760]natural resources, human health, and so on.
- [00:49:41.940]Highlight faculty lab and their people,
- [00:49:46.050]hearing from our centers, faculty, postdocs, same idea.
- [00:49:50.130]Then we can put the metrics of grants and patents and so on.
- [00:49:53.640]I would like to have a message
- [00:49:55.170]from our Research Extension Education Centers.
- [00:49:57.990]Give us that message.
- [00:49:59.070]Give us a message from ARD global.
- [00:50:01.470]What are the events?
- [00:50:02.970]Professional developments,
- [00:50:04.290]the whole idea is to create small clips,
- [00:50:06.420]small questions, small tips to how to do X, Y, and Z,
- [00:50:11.250]how to manage your grant effectively and so on.
- [00:50:14.910]And in the end,
- [00:50:15.780]this is a private button where you click on it
- [00:50:18.360]and we wanna hear from you.
- [00:50:19.650]What can ARD do for you?
- [00:50:21.480]And it will be open to everybody within our community
- [00:50:25.440]and outside of the community.
- [00:50:27.930]Another publication I would like
- [00:50:29.760]to have is an annual review,
- [00:50:31.908]which would be a year of review.
- [00:50:35.640]Again, it highlights innovation and not faculty.
- [00:50:39.720]Sorry, faculty.
- [00:50:41.130]So it is gonna be focused on what kind of impact we had.
- [00:50:47.160]This is very important subject to me.
- [00:50:49.350]We will have tomorrow a session
- [00:50:51.630]specifically related to this.
- [00:50:54.750]And the reality is we have made tremendous progress
- [00:51:00.000]in terms of diversity.
- [00:51:01.890]And I felt so until month ago.
- [00:51:03.930]Somebody told me, "Well,"
- [00:51:08.568]How did he frame it?
- [00:51:10.297]"you can't control which country you were born in,
- [00:51:12.600]and you can't control your financial grow,
- [00:51:16.197]which house you were born in.
- [00:51:18.450]Get yourself out,
- [00:51:20.040]forget about your background
- [00:51:21.870]and just focus on the skills you bring."
- [00:51:23.940]I was horrified
- [00:51:25.500]because my experience is very different
- [00:51:28.230]than somebody with physical disability is very experienced,
- [00:51:31.680]is very different from somebody who is person of color.
- [00:51:34.740]And we all bring our culture into the equation.
- [00:51:38.010]And that helps us find innovative solutions
- [00:51:41.850]that are very different
- [00:51:43.290]that if we only focused on what kind of thinking you bring.
- [00:51:47.850]Inclusion,
- [00:51:48.683]I think we continue to make progress.
- [00:51:50.580]Equity,
- [00:51:51.750]and we have been making progress for staff and for faculty.
- [00:51:55.860]But I really want us to think about postdocs,
- [00:51:58.410]graduate students,
- [00:51:59.280]and undergraduate student.
- [00:52:00.630]And I will tell you example about undergraduate student,
- [00:52:03.600]true story.
- [00:52:04.770]My daughter doesn't need the money.
- [00:52:06.810]She has diversity of diverse internships on campus.
- [00:52:10.830]Some are paid,
- [00:52:11.663]some are not.
- [00:52:12.750]Her best friend also comes from privileged background,
- [00:52:16.920]working actually in a lab here in IANR,
- [00:52:19.710]unpaid internship, doesn't care.
- [00:52:22.290]Both parents are doctors.
- [00:52:23.730]And then they have a third friend
- [00:52:25.740]who is from Lincoln on a region scholarship,
- [00:52:29.550]but comes from a low income family
- [00:52:32.490]and has not been able to identify a lab
- [00:52:34.920]that would be paying her for an internship.
- [00:52:38.070]Thinking those three students are gonna graduate
- [00:52:41.100]couple of years from now,
- [00:52:42.420]who do you think has the better capabilities
- [00:52:44.640]of finding graduate school,
- [00:52:46.080]or professional school or whatever?
- [00:52:48.120]Their third friend is working 20 hours a week
- [00:52:51.780]to be able to make it.
- [00:52:52.980]So those things,
- [00:52:53.910]we really have to think about moving forward.
- [00:52:56.970]Accessibility,
- [00:52:57.870]let's not think just within the community,
- [00:53:00.210]let's think of NTCA.
- [00:53:02.850]Let's think of the community college.
- [00:53:04.470]Let's think broadly how we bring those students
- [00:53:08.040]and the community into what we do.
- [00:53:11.190]And finally, what success looks for me.
- [00:53:17.010]I want agriculture to become a destination job.
- [00:53:21.240]Nathan Meyer, do you remember?
- [00:53:22.830]We had this conversation at some point.
- [00:53:26.190]I want everybody to select agriculture
- [00:53:30.540]to come to the state,
- [00:53:31.890]to IANR to become the place to be,
- [00:53:34.830]to be the place where diverse
- [00:53:37.860]and inclusive environment is expected.
- [00:53:41.100]And we have the discovery, creativity, entrepreneurship,
- [00:53:44.610]and inspire collaboration and trust
- [00:53:47.130]where we can put science into practice.
- [00:53:50.815]And a place if you have an idea.
- [00:53:53.520]And it's a great idea,
- [00:53:54.690]you'll be able to realize it and have an impact.
- [00:53:58.230]And with that,
- [00:54:00.750]that is my last slide.
- [00:54:02.340]Thank you so much.
- [00:54:03.210]And thank you for your time.
- [00:54:04.831](audience applauding)
- [00:54:12.900]Okay, we'll open up for questions here
- [00:54:15.960]in the auditorium.
- [00:54:17.550]And raise your hand if you have a question.
- [00:54:25.881]Yes.
- [00:54:33.150]Oh, double barrel.
- [00:54:35.130]Tala, great job.
- [00:54:36.510]I have a question for you.
- [00:54:37.410]You talked about,
- [00:54:39.750]it was towards the end,
- [00:54:41.010]but in your opinion,
- [00:54:43.230]or where you see this,
- [00:54:44.730]how are you gonna not only measure,
- [00:54:47.430]but how are you gonna communicate impact and research?
- [00:54:51.270]Absolutely.
- [00:54:52.110]If you can't measure it,
- [00:54:53.490]it's not an impact.
- [00:54:55.517]That's what they usually say.
- [00:54:57.120]So how do we measure it?
- [00:54:58.920]There are always the monetary translation of it,
- [00:55:02.070]like we did here in the institute
- [00:55:04.170]where we measure the grants,
- [00:55:05.340]the number of people we hire and so on.
- [00:55:08.070]But to me is most importantly,
- [00:55:10.620]we measure impact against our strategic plan.
- [00:55:14.430]We have developed these priorities,
- [00:55:17.070]we have developed this plan of action,
- [00:55:20.280]and we have developed these outputs
- [00:55:22.915]as a result of these action.
- [00:55:25.290]Are we meeting that outputs?
- [00:55:27.660]We can do it in a monetary value.
- [00:55:30.060]We will do it also with number of publications,
- [00:55:32.850]with transformative behavior,
- [00:55:34.470]with patents and so on,
- [00:55:36.210]but it really has to be related
- [00:55:40.470]to a plan that we have created,
- [00:55:42.360]and we develop those outputs that we seek
- [00:55:45.930]to measure it against.
- [00:55:48.510]And that's why I think we are prime right now
- [00:55:51.810]to look at the existing six communities.
- [00:55:54.870]How are we gonna move forward?
- [00:55:56.700]What is the plan of success?
- [00:55:58.530]And what success means to us?
- [00:56:00.240]And then we develop the metrics
- [00:56:02.040]for the impact associated with that.
- [00:56:06.690]Other questions?
- [00:56:09.726]Andrea Cap.
- [00:56:12.115]Hi, Tala.
- [00:56:13.800]You have presented us with some things
- [00:56:16.950]that I think we all would like to see within ARD.
- [00:56:21.877]And I think that a lot of times,
- [00:56:24.742]when you talk about team science
- [00:56:27.840]or working on large projects,
- [00:56:30.030]then you have to sacrifice some of the things
- [00:56:32.610]that you're doing that are actually putting money
- [00:56:37.560]in your lab, if you will, right?
- [00:56:40.080]So if I participate in this large research project,
- [00:56:43.920]maybe I can't write a grant for my lab
- [00:56:47.430]with the people that I collaborate with.
- [00:56:49.680]So I guess I'd like to get down to the nuts and bolts
- [00:56:52.920]of how do you do this?
- [00:56:55.440]How do you incentivize faculty
- [00:56:59.700]who are already doing quite a bit to participate
- [00:57:05.880]and collaborate in these new types of system research
- [00:57:10.830]and understanding that they're gonna have
- [00:57:14.730]to give something up that they're doing right now?
- [00:57:17.760]Absolutely.
- [00:57:18.593]And I always say our faculty are independent agents.
- [00:57:22.770]And so how do you bring them to buy-in your values
- [00:57:26.820]and your beliefs?
- [00:57:28.200]And for motivation,
- [00:57:29.370]there are always different ways
- [00:57:32.640]that a person is motivated personally.
- [00:57:35.550]Some have internal motivations to work on some issues.
- [00:57:38.520]Some need some incentives,
- [00:57:40.020]whether it's monetary,
- [00:57:41.220]whether it's other kinds of incentives.
- [00:57:43.590]But all of this aside,
- [00:57:45.840]large teams' success really lies on the value proposition.
- [00:57:51.810]What are you proposing to do?
- [00:57:54.930]And how do you get there?
- [00:57:56.520]And in the process,
- [00:57:58.320]creates safe environment in that team.
- [00:58:01.380]But it's very important that not only
- [00:58:04.890]to grow the capacity of the team
- [00:58:07.800]as a whole to answer the questions,
- [00:58:11.070]but also how do you increase the capacity
- [00:58:13.440]of each person in that team
- [00:58:16.410]because if you don't increase the capacity
- [00:58:18.480]of each person of the team,
- [00:58:20.820]then there is no buy-in from the individual
- [00:58:23.520]to be part of the research team.
- [00:58:26.550]And I don't have any scientific proof about it,
- [00:58:29.400]but I have worked with the faculty closely
- [00:58:32.310]for so many years.
- [00:58:33.810]And it always boils down to I'm giving my time on this
- [00:58:39.060]and I don't see my research moving forward.
- [00:58:41.730]So how can we make sure that your research continues
- [00:58:44.850]to move forward within your discipline of animal physiology,
- [00:58:50.130]but contribute in your own way
- [00:58:53.220]to the success of this large idea?
- [00:58:56.880]It might not suit,
- [00:58:57.930]that's fine.
- [00:58:58.770]Not everybody has to be everywhere.
- [00:59:01.770]But those who buy into the value proposition,
- [00:59:05.910]we need to find ways to help them,
- [00:59:08.250]assist them to be successful in terms of breadth
- [00:59:12.150]and in terms of depth,
- [00:59:14.610]if this makes sense.
- [00:59:18.900]When we had the ORAD program for leadership,
- [00:59:23.730]it was a pleasant surprise.
- [00:59:25.350]I don't know if you told them this,
- [00:59:26.850]that they're gonna have a buyout
- [00:59:28.710]of their teaching at the end of the program.
- [00:59:32.190]That really made the difference.
- [00:59:34.200]That's an incentive for them to do something else.
- [00:59:37.380]What kind of collaboratively,
- [00:59:39.189]ourselves, extension,
- [00:59:40.950]and Kasner can sit together
- [00:59:42.870]and create those incentives
- [00:59:44.670]for faculty to take the time to participate
- [00:59:49.140]in a project that they see value in?
- [00:59:52.470]And I agree with you.
- [00:59:53.850]I always say time is a non-renewable resource,
- [00:59:56.700]so you can't replace it.
- [00:59:58.320]You use it, it's gone.
- [01:00:04.020]Thank you.
- [01:00:06.360]So if anybody online has questions,
- [01:00:07.890]please put that into the chat.
- [01:00:09.150]I don't see anybody yet.
- [01:00:12.810]If there are more questions in the room, please.
- [01:00:14.460]Okay.
- [01:00:18.150]Very interesting talk.
- [01:00:20.610]You are very involved
- [01:00:21.630]in developing the grand challenges this year,
- [01:00:24.570]and it was the first year for it, right?
- [01:00:27.360]Can you give us an idea of what you guys learned
- [01:00:30.930]from doing that
- [01:00:32.070]and what you feel the impact
- [01:00:33.420]of that has been across campus.
- [01:00:36.420]I don't know if I can give you that
- [01:00:39.000]because we're scheduled to meet at the end of August
- [01:00:43.410]to actually go over what we have learned from that.
- [01:00:46.950]So if you can give me two or three more weeks,
- [01:00:50.460]I can answer you
- [01:00:51.960]unless someone else from ORAD would like to answer that.
- [01:00:57.090]No.
- [01:00:57.923]Okay.
- [01:00:58.756]We will wait.
- [01:00:59.589]Give us two or three weeks
- [01:01:01.440]and we'll give you what are the lessons
- [01:01:03.540]that have been learned throughout the process.
- [01:01:18.285]Dr. Awada,
- [01:01:19.260]thank you very much for your presentation.
- [01:01:22.020]Thank you.
- [01:01:22.997]Enjoyed a great deal of it.
- [01:01:23.830]I wanna clarify one thing that I think I heard,
- [01:01:29.610]what you would desire as results
- [01:01:33.690]or confirming of results of success,
- [01:01:38.250]I hope I'm saying this correctly.
- [01:01:41.460]Was that you would like feedback
- [01:01:44.370]from stakeholders in that process, correct?
- [01:01:47.580]Absolutely.
- [01:01:49.050]My question revolves around that very point
- [01:01:54.990]about examples of success.
- [01:01:57.690]And I believe I heard as long as it fits our vision.
- [01:02:02.070]Well, my point is that it's not it fits our vision per se,
- [01:02:06.900]is that, for instance,
- [01:02:08.160]that Science Education Extension newsletter,
- [01:02:12.180]I want all kinds of feedback to be with relation
- [01:02:15.480]to those extension research and education.
- [01:02:20.820]I wouldn't want the newsletter to become,
- [01:02:23.670]for instance, just an example,
- [01:02:25.320]a political platform to discuss politics, for instance.
- [01:02:29.880]That's my meaning.
- [01:02:31.350]We keep it within the framework of what is the mission
- [01:02:35.610]and the purpose of this newsletter.
- [01:02:38.760]As an individual in this room
- [01:02:41.220]that tries my best to represent stakeholders,
- [01:02:45.510]Absolutely.
- [01:02:46.343]particularly in my end of the industry,
- [01:02:48.900]what I'm familiar with
- [01:02:50.160]and have the most knowledge about,
- [01:02:53.730]the organizations that support this university,
- [01:02:57.750]and I think do it extremely well,
- [01:03:00.510]pretty much have always been
- [01:03:01.890]it's in an inclusive environment
- [01:03:04.770]where the stakeholders are part
- [01:03:06.870]of that vision creation to start with.
- [01:03:09.081]Absolutely, absolutely.
- [01:03:10.613]And I absolutely didn't get that feel.
- [01:03:13.470]So I appreciate you handling the question,
- [01:03:17.340]taking the question.
- [01:03:18.600]No, absolutely.
- [01:03:19.680]And in the previous slide that I have shown,
- [01:03:23.010]this one.
- [01:03:24.300]And again, in the cycle of the six communities
- [01:03:28.710]and in the circle that is empty,
- [01:03:31.410]that's exactly what I am referring to.
- [01:03:34.800]This is not my vision to create.
- [01:03:37.860]That's our vision to create.
- [01:03:40.500]And that's why I left it empty
- [01:03:42.450]because it's critical that we need
- [01:03:44.370]to co-generate the questions,
- [01:03:46.380]co-generate the solutions,
- [01:03:48.420]and co-generate the implementation plan.
- [01:03:51.120]I am highly, highly, highly...
- [01:03:57.810]I am very committed to stakeholder engagement.
- [01:04:01.140]I've worked with it from my own research.
- [01:04:04.380]And I strongly believe in its value
- [01:04:06.480]because the knowledge and the experience
- [01:04:08.430]that our stakeholders bring are unmatchable.
- [01:04:12.720]And if you look at here with facilitate
- [01:04:16.080]and cultivate partnerships with stakeholders,
- [01:04:19.200]connect with stakeholder to co-develop research,
- [01:04:22.260]co-generate products,
- [01:04:23.610]and co-implement solutions.
- [01:04:25.650]That's part of my fundamental task or mission.
- [01:04:32.790]I might also add.
- [01:04:34.140]And I would like your response to this,
- [01:04:36.300]if you would, please.
- [01:04:38.190]And that is understanding that you are on the committee
- [01:04:43.230]or some leadership
- [01:04:46.260]in the Daugherty Water for Food program
- [01:04:48.930]here at the university.
- [01:04:51.090]The vast number of the latter slides that you shared
- [01:04:55.410]with the group here had a little to no mention
- [01:04:59.400]of water in the grand challenge,
- [01:05:01.950]the research and what went on.
- [01:05:03.900]And I know certainly deep down in,
- [01:05:06.690]you have an understanding of the importance of that value
- [01:05:10.920]in systems approach to agriculture here,
- [01:05:13.770]particularly in this state.
- [01:05:15.660]Absolutely.
- [01:05:16.497]And I think it was low here,
- [01:05:18.960]and I feel that Don is sitting in front of you,
- [01:05:22.440]so he has blocked your vision.
- [01:05:25.061](audience laugh)
- [01:05:26.840]The later slide.
- [01:05:28.359]Which one?
- [01:05:29.543]The later slides that you went through,
- [01:05:31.319]there is little to no mention of water.
- [01:05:35.863]Keep going.
- [01:05:38.061]There's one of them.
- [01:05:39.319]Yeah.
- [01:05:40.152]So when I put the slides,
- [01:05:43.447]dwindling natural resources,
- [01:05:46.020]and that includes water, includes nutrient,
- [01:05:48.960]includes phosphorus that is critical.
- [01:05:52.080]And in my second slide
- [01:05:53.460]when I mentioned my own research,
- [01:05:55.320]I explicitly said livestock
- [01:05:57.660]and water are our main two products.
- [01:06:01.350]So it's just the term of space.
- [01:06:03.360]I didn't wanna replicate terms and definitely water.
- [01:06:07.110]And I serve
- [01:06:07.943]on the Riparian Vegetation Management Task Force.
- [01:06:11.910]And it is to make sure that our waters flow,
- [01:06:14.520]and streams, and rivers.
- [01:06:15.960]Absolutely, I totally understand
- [01:06:18.060]and value the importance of not only water quantity,
- [01:06:23.880]but water quality in the state.
- [01:06:26.610]So absolutely.
- [01:06:27.810]It's not by design.
- [01:06:29.850]It's just I incorporated it in a larger term.
- [01:06:33.660]Thank you.
- [01:06:34.493]Yeah.
- [01:06:35.326]No, but I totally appreciate your comment.
- [01:06:38.010]And I am a member of the Water for Food Institute,
- [01:06:41.190]and I work on water myself.
- [01:06:43.440]So, yeah.
- [01:06:45.660]Other questions?
- [01:06:49.020]I'll ask.
- [01:06:50.190]Yes.
- [01:06:51.023]You're on the board of the Nebraska Energy Center.
- [01:06:53.850]Yes.
- [01:06:54.683]So what's going on with the Energy Center?
- [01:06:56.460]And how can we get it more involved maybe in IANR?
- [01:07:00.650]What's your vision for that?
- [01:07:03.245]Well, we are in the process
- [01:07:04.380]of doing a national search for the director.
- [01:07:08.280]Annually, we get feedback.
- [01:07:10.230]And I think a couple of years ago,
- [01:07:12.120]you provided feedback about bioenergy.
- [01:07:14.460]And so we gather feedback from across campus
- [01:07:18.360]around what are the topics current
- [01:07:20.370]and emerging within the broader energy discipline.
- [01:07:24.150]And that's how the call gets developed
- [01:07:26.790]for the next round of competition.
- [01:07:29.820]The leadership of it is still in transition.
- [01:07:35.100]I serve also on the search committee for that director.
- [01:07:37.980]And we are in the process of selecting new director.
- [01:07:41.910]And I will see what their vision is gonna be.
- [01:07:45.390]Where do you see the research though going maybe
- [01:07:47.610]with the Nebraska Energy Center maybe in relation
- [01:07:50.490]to what's going on in IANR?
- [01:07:52.763]Yeah.
- [01:07:54.660]We have funded and there's tremendous emphasis on bioenergy,
- [01:07:58.560]on biofuel, on biochar,
- [01:08:00.720]and anything that really increases the efficiency
- [01:08:03.720]of the system,
- [01:08:04.710]whether saving energy
- [01:08:06.390]or finding alternative energies.
- [01:08:09.390]So those are areas that have been highlighted
- [01:08:13.110]and have been funded in the past.
- [01:08:14.910]Moving forward,
- [01:08:15.810]it depends on your input as a community
- [01:08:19.110]to what are these priorities should be.
- [01:08:21.720]Okay.
- [01:08:22.553]Thank you. Thank you.
- [01:08:25.410]We still don't have any questions in the chat.
- [01:08:27.480]If anybody has questions,
- [01:08:29.550]please put them in the chat that are online.
- [01:08:34.200]Otherwise, are there any additional questions in the room?
- [01:08:41.160]All red.
- [01:08:43.036]We have our own time with them.
- [01:08:45.360]Okay, good.
- [01:08:48.870]All right.
- [01:08:50.010]So let's thank Tala for a great seminar.
- [01:08:52.440]Thank you.
- [01:08:53.647](audience applauding)
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