On the afternoon of Feb. 8, the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) held its annual research showcase at Kellogg West Conference Center.
The event was held at the center from 1-5 p.m. and showcased studies conducted by students and professors of the agriculture department to explain their research process, goals and results.
CPP is one of four colleges in California to have an agriculture program that falls within the ARI’s jurisdiction; the other campuses include California State University (CSU) Fresno and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Of those four campuses, CPP is the only one located in Southern California.
In the conference center’s lobby, research posters were pinned to bulletin boards, allowing attendees to view them in any order they pleased. The posters displayed research projects made by various personnel within the ARI. The researchers stood by their posters to explain their process as visitors viewed their work.
“For our research, we want to know the feasibility of using orange pomace in the food industry as part of the product development ingredients or for future food packaging application,” said second-year food science and technology student Xiaohan Zhuang about her research project.
The poster exhibition took place from 1-2 p.m. After, the main showcase started in the main conference room. Opening remarks from ARI occurred for the first 15 minutes of the scheduled 2-3:15 p.m. time frame for presentations. Each presentation was conducted by various CPP professors within the Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture.
Questions were taken after each presentation. Due to running over on time, the final presentation for the first round by Eileen Cullen, titled “Food Safety on California Urban Farms: Harnessing Biological Soil Amendment Microbial Activity without Increasing Risk of Microbial Foodborne Illness,” was only able to take one question.
“California is the U.S.’s biggest producer of avocados, so we hope to extend their short shelf life by application of biopolymeric codings,” said Experimental Food Science Lab professor Franciela Garcia about her poster.
At 4 p.m., the second round of presentations began. Despite the earlier overscheduling, this round of presentations ran without any problems. Each presentation had time to take two questions at most.
“This forum provides a medium for scientists to exchange ideas and stakeholders to learn what we’re doing on campus that involves research especially in support of students,” said ARI Campus Coordinator Ondieki J. Gekara. He also added that the event’s purpose is to “promote the exchange of ideas based on research results that support and contribute to California’s agriculture economy.”