Awards and Achievements
NextGen Grant- 2023
Florida A&M University has partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help build a more equitable and diverse workforce in food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences.
Lambert H.B. Kanga, Ph.D., director of the Center for Biological Control, is the principal investigator on a $10 million grant, “Developing the Next Generation of Minority Leaders in Pest Management for Food and Agriculture in a Changing Climate,” funded under the NIFA NEXTGEN Program. The project is concerned with the development of future leaders in entomological studies equipped with much-needed skills to cope with the challenges of climate change and foster interest and excitement in pest management through real-world applications and interactive and digital learning tools.
FAMU is the lead institution, with Fort Valley State University, the University of Florida, and USDA ARS CMAVE in a consortium. Associate Professor Muhammad Haseeb, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor Anamika Sharma, Ph.D. from FAMU, will serve as co-principal investigators.
Professor Kanga is a distinguished researcher and chair of the Entomology Program at FAMU. He and his team will use the funding to address the shortage of minorities in pest management professions. This multifaceted project will include experiential learning, leadership, and entrepreneurship to train secondary school and college students.
For the last three years, CAFS has received the largest quantity of grant funding it has ever received in the history of the university dating back to its founding in 1887. CAFS Dean Robert Taylor, Ph.D. estimates the college should receive a total of $35.9 million in grant funding for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which ends July 1.
International IPM Award – Center for Biological Control
The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Team of the Center for Biological Control was recognized at the 10th International IPM Symposium in Denver, Colorado, February 28, 2022, as the 2021 Recipient of the International Integrated Pest Management Award of Recognition (Team) by the International IPM Symposium Awards Committee.
This unique distinction is a great testimony to the cutting-edge research, high impact, and extremely valuable contributions to pest management around the world by the Center for Biological IPM Team (Dr. Lambert Kanga, Dr. Muhammad Haseeb, Dr. Benjamin Hottel, Dr. Raymond Hix, Dr. Jesusa Legaspi, Dr. Stephen Hight, Dr. Wills Flowers, and Dr. Manuel Pescador).
Accomplishment
The faculty of CBC has established strong collaborative linkages with researchers in twenty-three (23) countries in the area of integrated pest management and biological control. Faculty members have designed biologically-based integrated pest management strategies for fruit and vegetable producers used internationally as an Agricultural Production Model. Such a novel IPM Model provides more than $70 million per year export industry in some of these countries.
Since 2010, the CBC IPM team has been instrumental in the development and implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in vegetables and small fruits in communities in North Florida. The team’s collaborative activities resulted in a substantial increase in the number of underrepresented and minority students receiving experiential IPM research training in undergraduate and graduate programs. In addition to students in Entomology, students from other disciplines such as Animal Science, Food Science, Pharmacy, Nursing, Agribusiness, Horticulture, Agronomy, and Plant Science were provided with hands-on training activities. Another great outcome is that an increased number of underrepresented small-scale growers, backyard/urban gardeners, organic farmers, and the public have benefited from the team’s research and outreach activities, and small-scale growers were able to reduce pesticides usage by 20-35%.