Mentorship program, seminar course help train next generation of minority food scientists

Food Nutritional Science students prepare their interview skills in an exercise coordinated by Mondelez Foods

An effort to influence and train a new generation of food scientists has increased undergraduate and master’s enrollment as well as internship opportunities through a mentorship program and seminar course at N.C A&T State University.

“Recruit, Retain and Prepare the next generation of minority food science students,” led by Roberta Claro Da Silva, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at N.C. A&T, aimed to increase enrollment in the food and nutritional sciences program through initiatives that provide information about career opportunities.

“Food science is a STEM field in which opportunities continue to expand annually; on the other hand, the number of individuals from minority populations pursuing these careers continues to decline,” Silva said. “Consequently, there is an immediate need to graduate well-prepared minority students in these fields.”

A lack of awareness of food science careers has affected enrollment in food science programs, according to Silva, and studies show that a high drop-out rate, especially among first-year students, is the primary reason for low retention among minority college students. To remedy this, she crafted a year-long program with trained mentors to assist students with academic planning and social support as well as a Seminar in Food Sciences course to connect undergraduate food science students with successful professionals and researchers from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.

In the four-semester seminar, 12-15 professionals from industry, academia, government and other organizations contributed each week by offering a rundown of their operations. Multinational heavyweights included PepsiCo Inc., Hormel Foods Corp., The Hershey Company, Rich Products Corp., Gatorade Sports Science Institute, LC America Inc., Fuji Foods Inc., The Good Food Institute, Chick-Fil-A, USP Organization and Mondelez International.

Food Nutritional Science students participated in a networking event held by Dogwood IFT

Alaina Brock, a senior in the food science program, called her experience in the seminar course “extremely valuable.”

“The speakers would come in, break down their company culture, what they stand for, and describe a day-in-the-life of what they do,” Brock said. “Then, they would go through a current opportunity that we could apply for and opened it up for us to send our resumes and schedule a follow-up interview.”

Students enrolled in the course were responsible for developing the schedule, creating the invitations and introducing the speakers. An average of 15 students attended the presentations each week.

Brock — who took guidance under Silva in lieu of an assigned mentor — said that she strengthened her networking skills.

“I felt prepared for any possible offers that would come,” she explained. “I would say that my elevator pitch, my resume and knowing the applicable experiences I’ve had so that I could apply to a research and development internship helped a lot. I definitely felt prepared.”

Students participating in mentorship program and seminar course became better prepared for interviews, Silva said, and received summer 2022 internship offers from food industries across the country and research laboratories such as A&T’s Center for Excellence in Post-Harvest Technologies.

Brock herself applied for — and received — internship offers with Hershey and Mondelez, ultimately choosing the latter. Over a two-month period in the snack company’s manufacturing plant in East Hanover, New Jersey, she took part in a gum innovations project.

“They wanted me to try some of the different sugar outcomes and taste-test a syrup center-filled gum myself,” she said. “Getting to do that and also working with candy equipment, like actually getting to press out pieces of gum and feel them myself, was pretty exciting.”

The program has increased undergraduate and master’s degree enrollment in the food and nutritional sciences program, according to Silva. Master’s enrollment has steadily increased from eight students in fall 2020 to 13 in 2021, then to 20 in 2022. Concurrently, undergrad enrollment increased from 38 students in 2020 to 57 in fall 2021.

“This MEA project impacts enrollment, once we use the program to attract students interested in food science,” Silva said. “The fact that we have the seminar course partnering with food companies increased the number of students in our program interested in pursuing jobs in the food industry.”