Fifteen students, who are members of the second Research and Extension Experiential Learning Undergraduate Fellowship Student Cohorts, visited Prairie View A&M University’s campus on June 12. They spent much of the day getting a hands-on experience of water quality research capabilities at the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences.

“It’s important to note that eight of these students were from PVAMU-CAHS, six were from Texas A&M University, and one came from Texas Tech University,” said Dr. Ali Fares, associate director of Research and professor of Water Security.

Research Scientist William Foxworth gave the students a tour of CAHS’ onsite wastewater treatment system within the International Goat Research Center. The system processes goat waste. Participants also saw a septic system that’s used to treat dairy parlor wastewater. Drs. Ripendra Awal and Almoutaz Elhassan then took the students to the Cooperative Agricultural Research Center’s Core Laboratory where Dr. Javad Barouei gave them a tour and overview of how to use genomics techniques to indent the microbial population found in processed wastewater.

“In addition, the students visited the Agriculture and Business Building where they toured different laboratories and some of the classrooms,” said Fares. “They were very impressed with our facilities for research, teaching, and extension.”

Following the students’ trip to PVAMU, they went to the Ecological Society of America’s annual meeting in Houston where they interacted with scientists from across the U.S. They also gave a poster presentation summarizing their fellowship work experience.

PVAMU participants in the water quality program receive three hours of course credit, a $2,500 stipend, housing at Texas A&M University during the program, a meal allowance of $150 per week, an internship experience with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, and a $250 travel allowance to present their research at a water quality conference. Three top-tier fellowship students, who show exceptional performance, receive a fully funded scholarship to attend the 2018 BAEN Environmental Science and Engineering Study Abroad program in Leuven, Belgium.