The CAST Science Communication Scholarship encourages graduate-level student scientists, specifically focusing on careers in agriculture or food sciences, to grow their abilities to communicate with nonscientific audiences. Selected graduate and veterinary medicine students were invited to learn about the application of science communication at the 2021 CAST Annual Meeting held at The Ohio State University. This opportunity instilled the importance of science communication by allowing students to participate in CAST’s ongoing work and mission as well as provide students with networking opportunities with like-minded scientists from across the nation.

This year, eight graduate and veterinary medicine students from The Ohio State University received the CAST Science Communication Scholarship on Wednesday, October 27, during the CAST Annual Meeting in Columbus, Ohio. The recipients could choose to submit a short video, infographic, or a micro-podcast, as well as submitting a short essay on how their digital media example communicates a component of their research.

Students were invited to attend other parts of the meeting including work group breakout sessions and a tour of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. They also had a choice among three other tours: 1) the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Veterinary Medical Center featuring presentations by vet med faculty members, 2) the Midwest Campus featuring virtual reality in food science and meat science, and 3) the Waterman and Midwest Campus featuring a look at the insectary and information about controlled environment agriculture. Recipients were also able to listen to various speakers, programs, and a One Health Panel Discussion during the annual meeting.

The CAST Science Communications Award is supported by individual donors of CAST.

Allison Howell—A Safe Charitable Food System

CFAES Department of Food Science and Technology

Research Area(s): Food Safety, Food Security, Public Health

Erica Grush—The Quest for Natural Food Coloring: The Potential of Beautyberry Fruit

CFAES Department of Food Science and Technology

Research Area(s): Phytochemicals and Food Science

Ishveen Kaur—Effects of Trichomes in Mediating Plant-Herbivore Interactions

CFAES Department of Food Science and Technology

Research Area(s): Agriculture

Jerish Joyner Janahar—Ultra Shear Technology

CFAES Department of Food Science and Technology

Research Area(s): Ultra shear treatment of low-acid liquid foods

Kush Kumar Yadav—HEV Immunosuppressed Model

College of Veterinary Medicine, Center for Food Animal Health

Research Area(s): Virology, disease modelling, pathogenesis, molecular biology

Lenin Rodriguez Betancourth—Fusarium Head Blight: An Acute Problem on Wheat

CFAES Department of Horticulture and Crop Science

Research Area(s): Plant Breeding and Genetics

Menuka Bhandari—Exploring Antimicrobial Peptides

Center for Food Animal Health, Department of Animal Sciences

Research Area(s): Poultry, Antimicrobial peptides, Antibiotics resistance, Bacteriology

Taylor Williams—Methods of Swine Depopulation

College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine

Research Area(s): Water-based foam as a swine depopulation method

*CAST rotates its scholarship eligibility based on the location of its annual meeting. As the scholarship grows, we hope to include and support more students, regardless of the location of our annual meeting.