June 21 – Student participants and faculties of the Reuse Water Quality Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates (REEU) program visited Prairie View A&M University on June 18, 2021. The joint program between Prairie View A&M University and Texas A&M University for which Ripendra Awal, Ph.D., and Ali Fares, Ph.D., serve as PVAMU co-PIs. Program visitors toured the International Goat Research Center (IGRC), receiving a warm welcome from Fares and Alfred L. Parks, Ph.D. William Foxworth, Ph.D., gave a brief introduction of the IRGC and goat on-site wastewater system. Students under the supervision of the CARC personnel collected water samples from the lagoon system and tested them using water quality multi-sensor testing probes. They had a brief discussion about the results of the tests then all participants headed to the ongoing field research plots as part of the “Performance of Sweet Corn under Different Organic Amendment Types and Rates” project led by the Natural Resources and Environmental Science group. In addition, Awal gave them an overview of the project’s objectives and activities; Post-doctoral Fellows Almoutaz El Hassan and Anoop Veetiil demonstrated to the participants how to collect soil water samples from suction cups and below the root zone. NRES research team explained how to monitor: carbon dioxide emission, soil water content, chlorophyll levels, and other parameters.
Parks gave the students a brief introduction to the Cooperative Agricultural Research Center (CARC) in the seminar room. Participant students followed with an overview of their experience and shared some preliminary results of their work. Before leaving CARC, the visitors expressed appreciation for CARC personnel’s hospitality and stated they were very impressed with the program. Shamir Hightower, Paul Fields, and Rebecca Annan are three CAHS students in this year’s REEU program.
For more information on this article contact:
Ripendra Awal, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
riawal@pvamu.edu
(936) 261-5092