Education & Workforce Development

Lead: Hulbert and Chatrchyan
Team: Lundberg, Newlands, Erickson, Eckley, Hunt, Ogutu, Ozbay, Goff

The AI-LEAF 2024-2025 Stakeholder Needs Assessment will provide insights to our AI-LEAF researchers about the knowledge, attitudes and practices of agricultural stakeholders (farmers; foresters; Extension educators; Climate-Smart Commodity Grant leaders; and state and federal agency staff) related to the adoption of digital agriculture, Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry and AI in agriculture. This research will:

• Inform what technology the institute should develop to help farmers and foresters mitigate and adapt to the changing climate
• Lay the foundation for co-creating technology directly with stakeholders.

Our team will identify barriers to adopting AI technology for CSAF and create a communication, outreach and education plan to encourage adoption and address barriers such as data privacy and accessibility.
 

Lead: Hunt and Erickson (Undergraduate), Mulla (Graduate and Postdoctoral)
Team: Hulbert, Chatrchyan, Papanikolopoulos, Gregory, Sehler

To train the next generation of AI-LEAF leaders, our program offers education, mentorship and professional development opportunities for undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

Undergraduate and Graduate Students
Undergraduate and graduate students engage with the AI-LEAF team through events like open houses, monthly seminars and collaborative team meetings. These activities help students build professional networks, gain hands-on research experience and explore career opportunities in AI and climate science. Graduate students also participate in journal clubs and work closely with AI and CSAF scientists to stay updated on cutting-edge research in AI-LEAF.

Postdoctoral researchers benefit from professional development opportunities, including publishing research and educational content. They also gain access to valuable teaching materials, research experiences and curated reading lists to support their academic and professional growth.

Faculty
Faculty across AI-LEAF universities are enhancing and teaching courses integrating AI with digital agriculture and CSAF. New educational content is being developed to bridge gaps between AI and CSAF disciplines, including creating interdisciplinary courses focusing on the use of AI technologies in climate mitigation and adaptation in agriculture and forestry.

AI-LEAF minors for undergraduates are being designed that fit within existing degree timelines, and AI-LEAF specializations are being introduced in current programs. The work is being shared with the wider academic and professional community through national conferences, ensuring a broad impact. By providing these diverse opportunities and resources, the next generation of experts is being empowered to lead the way in AI-LEAF research and innovation.

1. Precision Ag 2nd Edition Textbook Chapter Development (Hunt, Erickson, Mulla)
   Develop content (AI & CSAF) for an updated textbook 2nd edition, Precision Agriculture Basics, in partnership with Professor David Clay, South Dakota State University.
2. Undergraduate Needs Assessment (Hunt + Grad Students)
   Complete Undergraduate Education Needs Assessment that identifies the existing educational courses and curriculum related to undergraduate education.
    

Lead: Erickson, Chatrchyan, Ogutu
Team: Ozbay, Hulbert

AI-LEAF is building the capacity of agriculture professionals including Extension educators and high school agriculture teachers to better understand CSAF, digital agriculture and AI in agriculture to better serve and educate farmers and foresters. During year two, Bruce Erickson will be updating his Agronomy E-Learning Academy for Precision Agriculture to incorporate modules on AI, automation, data management and CSAF. Other projects will be aimed at teaching Extension educators about AI for CSAF and building partnerships and trust between AI-LEAF and agricultural advisors. Education and outreach will involve presentations and trainings at agriculture in-service and conferences with Extension educators.
 

Lead: Chatrchyan and Ogutu 
Team: Hulbert, Erickson, Eckley, Hunt, Gini, Ozbay, Newlands, Lundberg

AI-LEAF works with Extension at each of the partnering universities and is working to engage with farmers and foresters about CSAF, digital agriculture and AI in agriculture to help them mitigate and adapt to the changing climate. Through partnerships with the Cornell Climate Smart Farming program, the USDA Climate Hubs Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellowship (CAMF), and the USDA Northeastern Sustainable Research and Education program, AI-LEAF is building education and outreach materials for farmers and foresters.

Lead: McCaffery, Eckley
Team: Chatrchyan, Hulbert,

AI-LEAF is developing a secondary education curriculum for high school students designed to introduce digital agriculture through engaging, hands-on COMET-based activities. A multi-modular design will introduce the fundamentals of agriculture—including croplands, animal agriculture and forestry—as well as COMET-Tools, the role of greenhouse gas in economic and environmental contexts, the use of data and digital tools in agriculture, and future advancements in digital agriculture through AI.

Lead: Hulbert, Chatrchyan, Lehmann
Team: Newlands

The Working Lands Climate Corps (WLCC) started in 2024. The WLCC is a partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)/United States Department of Agriculture, AmeriCorps and the National Association of Conservation Districts. AI-LEAF and our partner Cornell Climate Smart Farming serve as a host site and host one service member. The goal of this partnership is to provide training, education, professional development, mentorship and networking opportunities to a WLCC service member to help them begin a career in CSAF.

Lead: Gini
Team: Haag

Given the large number of Native Americans in Minnesota and in the Twin Cities, this project aims to engage and expose Native Americans to AI and its uses in CSAF, starting with undergraduate students to expose them to research projects being conducted as part of the Institute and career opportunities.

Lead: Ogutu 
Team: Ozbay, Chatrchyan, Hulbert

We continue to engage farmers through various forums in Extension including cooperating with North Eastern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NESARE) activities. During the Delaware Ag Week held at Harrington Fairgrounds in January 8 - 11, 2024, a survey was passed out to farmers in attendance to gather their thoughts on AI and climate as it relates to their farming activities.

We seized an opportunity during the ‘Profiting From A Few Acres (PFFA)’ Conference held on May 7, 2024 to engage 62 attendees on some of the workable tools available by Cornell Climate Smart Farming Program.

Through Extension activities in 2024, Delaware State University Small Farms program demonstrated specialty crop production in high tunnels and conventional plots to showcase smart farming practices at the Smyrna Outreach and Research (SORC) site. Through educational Extension events 20 regular farm school attendees were able to follow and participate in the activities including learning about the available online tools at their disposal.

During the 2024 Delaware Cooperative Extension annual professional conference held on October 29, 54 Delaware cooperative Extension staff were able to acquire knowledge on the workings of the AI-LEAF Institute as it relates to farmers and farms. Throughout the event, attendees gained in-depth understanding of AI tools and learned how Delaware Extension was already leveraging AI to enhance its programs.

Two undergraduate students and a project assistant are involved in the extensive, Extension activities leading to productive educational opportunities.

Lead: Ozbay
Team: Ogutu, Hulbert

There are 10 undergraduate students (at least three from MANNRS), three graduate students and one high school student trained in research projects focusing on AI and machine learning in their animal science, environment, marine sciences, climate and plant sciences projects. These students are currently under the supervision of Dr. Kwame Matthews, Dr. Fatima Boukari and Dr. Gulnihal Ozbay.

The 2024 BIPOC Farmers Conference hosted by Delaware State University (DSU), College of Agriculture, Science, and Technology at Smyrna Outreach and Research Farms, held a drone training and drone competition for four high school student teams. An additional, half a dozen students received drone training at DSU.

Several graduate students are researching food omics and machine learning models An Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) team is utilizing machine learning to obtain survey information about nutritional needs and community access to nutritional foods.

Lead: Gini 
Team: Haag, Hulbert, Papanikolopoulos

Women and members of underrepresented groups are disproportionately absent from computing fields. Given how AI is changing many jobs, it is important to inspire the younger generation to select fields of study that will prepare them for those jobs.

Computational thinking and knowledge of computer programming are becoming essential for many jobs. Groups absent from computing will be disadvantaged and left out of opportunities. In addition, diversity in the workforce is critical to ensure that the technologies developed are for everyone.

AI-LEAF conducts summer STEM camps for junior high and high school girls. Attendees learn the foundations of programming and how computers can support creative activities and address practical problems. Summer camps for younger students engage them with robotics and simple robot assembly.

Lead: Newlands and Goff
Team: Hulbert

As a part of the AI-LEAF Stakeholder Needs Assessment (EWD subproject 1), we will also be producing a Broadening Participation Needs Assessment which focuses on understanding the unique challenges and specific needs faced by marginalized farmers, particularly those who are BIPOC, low-income and climate-vulnerable through direct outreach and engagement.

By exploring how AI and digital agriculture can address these challenges, the assessment will identify opportunities to support marginalized farmers in adopting climate-resilient practices.

The findings will help shape the development of inclusive educational resources and professional development initiatives, ensuring that underrepresented groups are equipped with the skills and knowledge to thrive in the evolving field of CSAF.