Meredith Adkins and Marilyn Bailey at Pine Bluff University.
of Faculty of Human Sciences At the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff announced I recently received a course and program grant from VentureWell. “Using entrepreneurship curriculum and strategic partnerships to equip students to address food and nutrition equity,” said Meredith Adkins, assistant professor at the Institute for Integrative Innovation (I³R) at the University of California. I am cooperating with this project as a co-researcher. . ”
VentureWell is a grant-making organization that cultivates a pipeline of inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs who aim to solve the world’s biggest challenges and create lasting impact. The purpose of the $28,936 award is to educate and empower the next generation of diverse food business and food technology entrepreneurs.
 Meredith Adkins (left) and Kimberly Haney attend the VentureWell announcement. Photo by Meredith Adkins. |
Under the leadership of principal investigator and department chair Marilyn Bailey, Adkins will serve as lead instructor in the development of a course and certificate program in food and nutrition entrepreneurship that will be open to students in all majors at UAPB beginning in fall 2024. Support Kimberly Haney. The initiative aims to foster a partnership between UAPB and I³R to strengthen the innovation ecosystem and increase access to mentorship and resources for entrepreneurs in Pine Bluff, who have fewer resources than those in Northwest Arkansas. That’s it.
Mr. Adkins received a secondary award for advising on course development and helping build relationships with Northwest Arkansas and the state of Arkansas as a whole. She will also be providing guest lectures and assisting guest speakers and panels with her discussions, in addition to her role as a consultant for additional courses on her team’s student projects.
The UAPB-I³R collaboration was one of only 19 projects selected for funding from a competitive pool of applicants, demonstrating the institute’s strength in convergence research and effective funding. Utilizing gold reserve resources. Mr. Adkins, who heads the institute, said: cultivate IQ project that was Recently awarded an additional $5 million It is part of the National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator Program, and in addition to bringing together experts in a variety of fields from multiple land-grant universities, it also has a track record of innovation in research.
“The Institute actively develops partnerships within and beyond Arkansas to stimulate economic growth and improve the health and well-being of Arkansans. Through this exciting new collaboration, We will share models of interdisciplinary research involving the industry, government (and nonprofit sector) to develop innovation curricula to increase social impact and develop scalable solutions to community challenges. ,” Adkins said.
Through the Institute’s Grand Challenge in Integrative Medicine, she aims to leverage its resources and capabilities to strengthen capacity and foster an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship in underserved regions . As stated in the project details, this effort includes efforts to support underrepresented populations, such as historically Black colleges and universities like UAPB, with student populations that have been excluded and underrepresented from STEM-based economic development. This includes partnerships with institutions that
“We hope this partnership with UAPB, another land-grant university in Arkansas, will be the first of many.”, Our collaboration directly fulfills I³R’s mission to support entrepreneurship and develop innovative solutions that drive the state’s economy,” said Vice Chancellor and Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering. said Ranu John, Founding Executive Director of I³R.
