Dr. Yangchao Luo (Program Director) and Dr. Loneneke Blackman Carr (Co-PD) received a $500K award from USDA to support the “Bridging the Gap II: Summer Experiential Learning in Food and Nutrition” project (2021-2026). This new project is built on our successful experience and positive results/feedback from students and participating institutions from our previous “Bridging the Gap Program I” project (2016-2019).

The overall goal of this project is to offer a summer experiential learning program (10-week each year for five years) to underrepresented students, focusing on food and nutrition-related topics in the Department. Students will be primarily recruited from UConn regional campuses and community colleges across the state, where students do not have the opportunities to perform research in food and nutrition. This half-million dollar grant is a clear testament to the Department and CAHNR’s emphasis on providing education opportunities for underrepresented students.