UF/IFAS GCREC Welcomes Tomlin Middle School STEM Students

Faculty, staff and students at University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) welcomed 65 seventh graders Tuesday from Tomlin Middle School in Plant City on Tuesday. 

The annual tour provides the students exposure to labs, greenhouses, fields and up-close demonstrations of techniques and research at the center. The morning began with a welcome and powerpoint presentation by Christine Cooley, Media Coordinator for the center. The presentation showed the students how the research impacts and assists Florida growers. Students were shown examples of alternative crop research as well as the future of artificial intelligence/robotic work in agriculture.

UF graduate students, Edgar Sierra, Cas Willborn and Cleveland Ivey acted as tour guides, taking groups of 20 students each to several locations throughout the building and property. One stop included the Plant Diagnostic Clinic, operated by plant pathologists. Bio Scientist Teresa Seijo and graduate student Marcus Marin provided students a comprehensive overview of the importance of the center’s Diagnostic Clinic and how critical it is for growers to have this local clinic available for research and analysis of plants from their fields. They discussion centered on diagnosing diseases and how their recommendations can benefit growers.  

Sriyanka Lahiri’s entomology students – Gagandeep Kaur, Chasity Perry and Lovely Adhikary, along with postdoc associate Midhula Gireesh – provided the students a chance to examine chili thrips under a microscope. The team discussed the pest and the damage it can create if not managed properly.   

UF/IFAS treated the students to two demonstrations in the auditorium. Nematology research was presented by grad student Clement de Oliveira, who provided some amazing video footage of this tiny pest, and a DNA Extraction experiment using common household items by postdoc associate, Dr. Jessica Chitwood-Brown.

The groups also visited a plant pathology greenhouse where two additional graduate students, Renzo Ramirez and Jingya Yang, presented an overview on the value of greenhouses for research and explained their current plant pathology projects. 

A treat of the visit was when they students visited the strawberry research fields to pick berries and try the new white strawberry.  Angel Arredondo, who oversees field research for plant breeder Vance Whitaker, provided a summary of how the breeding lab creates and selects seedlings for research. Each student was allowed to fill a bag with fresh Florida strawberries.