The Jones Avenue Healthy Harvest site. Photo: OPOC

Rutgers University has received a $2.4 million award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) through the Research Facilities Act Program to support the modernization of agricultural research, teaching, and community engagement facilities that will support the ongoing development of Healthy Harvest and related programs. The project will replace an aging greenhouse and renovate the adjacent headhouse on the Jones Avenue Healthy Harvest site, creating a modern facility that will serve students, researchers, agricultural professionals, and community members throughout New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic region.  

Rutgers Gardens student interns at the Jones Avenue Healthy Harvest site. Photo: OPOC

The Rutgers project is one of 36 projects selected nationwide through USDA NIFA’s Research Facilities Act Program. In October 2026, NIFA announced more than $121 million in awards to universities and research institutions across the country to modernize, expand and build state-of-the-art agricultural research facilities. According to NIFA, these investments are designed to strengthen the nation’s capacity for food and agricultural research, accelerate innovation, and support workforce development through facilities such as laboratories, greenhouses, and integrated research hubs.  

The proposal was led by Cara Cuite, Associate Director of Community and Student Engagement at the New Jersey Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health, who serves as principal investigator and leads programming for the Healthy Harvest Living Laboratory. Healthy Harvest is a hub for experiential learning, food systems innovation, research, workforce development, and community partnership, bringing together students, faculty, Extension professionals, and community members to address food systems and environmental challenges. The Healthy Harvest urban agriculture spaces are managed by Rutgers Gardens, the university botanical garden, within the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS). 

The interdisciplinary team of grant co-investigators includes Laura Lawson, Executive Dean, SEBS, and Executive Director of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station; Jennifer Shukaitis, Family and Community Health Sciences educator; A.J. Both, Extension Specialist and controlled-environment agriculture expert; Lauren Errickson, Director of Rutgers Gardens and Campus Stewardship; Christopher Hack, Director of Rutgers Facilities Contract Services at Rutgers Institutional Planning & Operations (IP&O); Brian Schilling, Director of Rutgers Cooperative Extension and Senior Associate Director of NJAES; and Mazen Shehat, Senior Associate Dean of Finance and Administration for SEBS and NJAES.   

Healthy Harvest at Jones Avenue, New Brunswick. Photo: OPOC

A distinguishing feature of the project is the inclusion of Rutgers planning, facilities and operational leaders as co-investigators. While facilities professionals often support implementation of capital projects, it is unusual for experts in finance and construction to be integrated directly into the leadership team starting at the proposal stage. This collaborative approach helps ensure that the facility is intentionally designed to meet long-term research, teaching, Extension, workforce development, and community engagement needs. 

“This award recognizes Rutgers’ long-standing commitment to integrating research, teaching, Extension and community engagement to address critical agricultural and food system challenges,” said Lawson, Executive Dean of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “The new facility will provide transformative opportunities for students, researchers, and community partners while strengthening Rutgers’ role as a leader in agricultural innovation and workforce development.”  

“This investment will help us create a space where education, research, and community engagement come together,” said Cuite. “As we continue building out the Healthy Harvest site on Jones Avenue and associated programming, we are especially excited to welcome students, families, farmers, community organizations and other partners into the new facility designed to support learning, discovery, and collaboration for years to come.” 

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Honors College students board the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences/New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station shuttle for a field trip in a new seminar that takes them to 12 off-campus research locations in six New Jersey counties. Photo: Chris Gutierrez

A new seminar helps undergraduates connect their interests to research they never knew existed

For Dave Bushek, the obstacle to bringing students to Rutgers’ field stations across New Jersey was getting them there.

A visitor to Rutgers’ shellfish research facilities wondered why more students weren’t seeing them, too. Bushek, a professor of marine and coastal sciences, explained that transportation from campus was the problem. The visitor offered a solution. 

Following Honors College students on a first-ever journey to all of the Rutgers research stations in New Jersey to discover how science shows up for the state and its people. Graphic: Michelle Cody

“The person made it possible for us to purchase a shuttle,” Bushek said.

This fall, a white, 18-passenger shuttle bus is carrying students into areas of Rutgers that many never knew existed. Their destinations include research farms, shellfish laboratories and centers devoted to clean energy and food innovation. 

Along the way, the undergraduates at Rutgers-New Brunswick will investigate a question that reaches beyond any single stop: Where might they fit into this work?

The new interdisciplinary honors seminar, “Beyond Campus: Research at Rutgers Off-Campus Stations,” brings together 12 students for a semester of Friday visits to places where university research meets the needs of New Jersey’s communities and industries. Leading them are Bushek, and Peter Oudemans, a professor of plant biology, both faculty members of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

Over 10 Fridays, the students will visit 12 research locations in six counties.

For Kyle Yoon, a sophomore mechanical engineering major from Closter, N.J., the course offered a departure from familiar routines.

“Currently I have only taken lecture style classes at college and when I saw the hands-on approach this seminar provided, I wanted to experience it for myself,” Yoon said. 

Peter Oudemans, left, a professor of plant biology, and David Bushek, a professor of marine and coastal sciences, created a new honors seminar to introduce students to the breadth of Rutgers research and help them see how their own interests and skills could contribute to it. Photos: Chris Gutierrez

The instructors, who oversee Rutgers’ marine field stations and research farms, want students to discover how their interests could contribute to work happening throughout the state.

Already, some connections are emerging.

Bushek recalled asking students whether they thought their majors related to the work they would encounter. Nobody raised a hand.

He then asked a civil engineering student how people get around on a farm. Roads, the student realized, require engineering. Bushek asked a mechanical engineering student what farmers use to harvest crops. Machinery, the student realized, requires engineers, too. 

For Oudemans, those moments of epiphany get to the purpose of the course. He wants students to see that rigorous research should also address problems that matter beyond the laboratory.

“You need to do your science well, but it has to be good for something,” he said.

Veronica Girgis, an Honors College student majoring in food science, selects a Scarlet Sunrise tomato during an exercise in a new honors seminar designed to show students the hands-on aspect of science. Photo: Mike Lucas

The first class offered a close look at what that means. After an introduction to Rutgers’ land-grant mission, students visited the hazelnut breeding program led by plant biologist Thomas Molnar. Working in six groups, the students located assigned trees and harvested 50 clusters of nuts from each, Bushek said. They then analyzed productivity, comparing trees with different parentage and characteristics.

The exercise opened a window onto the work behind a possible new agricultural industry. Students learned breeding a successful hazelnut involves decisions about traits, size and commercial uses, along with the effort of connecting growers and companies.

In subsequent stops, students will learn about sustainable agriculture, Rutgers-bred cranberries that are used worldwide, shellfish breeding, coastal ecosystems and food processing.

They will witness efforts that span generations of Rutgers research, from shellfish work begun in 1888 and cranberry research in 1918 to newer food and clean-energy centers.

For Foysal Sorwar, an Honors College sophomore studying biological sciences, the itinerary offers a new perspective on a familiar state. Originally from Bangladesh and raised in Elizabeth, N.J., Sorwar learned to appreciate gardening through his mother and is curious about the research behind food production.

“It gives me a new perspective of the other side of New Jersey that I would not get to see this close otherwise,” Sorwar said.

Rutgers professor and plant breeder Thomas Molnar explains his work developing new hazelnut varieties to students during the first field trip of a new honors seminar. Photo: David Bushek

Students will meet scientists whose working days unfold in fields, among experimental crops and beside tidal waters. Bushek has spent his career in such places. Once, when approached about moving to campus, he declined. Asked why he would pass up being where the academic action was, he had a ready answer.

“My action is my research,” Bushek said. “I can walk out the back of the lab, and I’m in the field where I’m going to do it.”

That proximity also brings researchers close to the people who depend on their findings

At the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory in Port Norris, N.J., members of the oyster industry still walk in to discuss problems, Bushek said. At the blueberry and cranberry research center, Oudemans and his colleagues work with growers on concerns that can threaten a harvest or a livelihood.

After MSX, a disease caused by a single-celled Protozoan, began devastating Delaware Bay oysters in 1957, Rutgers researchers studied the parasite and bred disease-resistant oyster lines.

These relationships help explain why Rutgers maintains a presence throughout the state.

Brian Schilling, director of Rutgers Cooperative Extension, introduced students to Rutgers’ land-grant mission, which combines teaching and research with practical service to the public. The university’s farms and field stations are part of that statewide system, along with Extension offices in all the state’s 21 counties.

The exchange works in both directions.

“A problem comes in from the field, often through extension, into our research community,” Schilling said. “Answers are developed, and then they go back out through extension to the farmer community.”

Sometimes the response involves breeding a disease-resistant plant. Sometimes it means testing equipment before growers commit their own money.

“Let us kick the tires and see if this is going to work,” Schilling said. “If it doesn’t, let us fail with it. If it works, let us help you succeed with it.”

Students have work to do, too. They prepare questions before visits, keep field notebooks and write reflections. Their final multimedia projects will explain how research addresses a New Jersey challenge.

Kanishk Sharma, an Honors College sophomore studying computer science, data science and economics, already sees possibilities. A friend’s account of working at the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve helped inspire an interest in the course.

Hazelnuts gathered by students during a class exercise help illustrate how plant breeders compare trees for productivity and other desirable traits. Photo: David Bushek

“Hearing about how she used technology to study marine environments made me realize how much overlap there can be between computing and environmental science,” Sharma said. “I am hoping this course gives me a chance to experience that connection myself rather than only learning about it in a classroom.”

The instructors hope those connections will endure beyond the final assignment. Bushek said he wants students to be sharing their discoveries years from now. Oudemans said he hopes they will find places where their talents are needed.

Even ordinary surroundings could begin to look different.

At the Rutgers Plant Science Research and Extension Farm, often called the Adelphia Farm, in Freehold, N.J., students encountered more than 51,000 turf plots under evaluation. Rutgers has developed more than 500 improved turf cultivars with the seed industry that are used in high profile locations including several 2026 World Cup venues, at Yankee stadium and Augusta National Golf Club, where the Masters golf tournament is played. 

Reflecting on the students’ encounter with Rutgers’ turfgrass research, Oudemans offered one prediction.

“You’ll never look at turf the same.”

This article first appeared in Rutgers Today.

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Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor Mark Robson CC’77; GSNB’79, ’88; SPH’95. Photo: Luca Mostello

A new endowed legacy professorship at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences will recognize and support exceptional faculty in plant biology.

The Rutgers University Board of Governors approved the creation of the Robson Endowed Legacy Professorship on Oct. 1. The professorship was established through a gift from Mark Gregory Robson and Patricia Mykalosky Robson.

Robson first came to Rutgers in 1973 as an undergraduate at the newly established Cook College. He earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Rutgers and began his Rutgers career in 1979. Today, he is a distinguished professor of plant biology, associate vice provost for graduate education at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and dean of the School of Graduate Studies.

“I have spent my entire adult life at Rutgers, first as a student, where I had wonderful teachers, and then for many decades as a teacher, where I have had exceptional students,” said Mark Robson. “I feel truly fortunate to have been the beneficiary of an education at a public land-grant university. We felt strongly that this was an appropriate way to demonstrate our commitment to teaching and service excellence at Rutgers.”

Teaching and mentoring have been a significant part of Robson’s Rutgers career. In 2024, he received the Sustained Career Teaching Excellence Award, recognizing his decades of teaching and commitment to student success. His other honors include the Daniel Gorenstein Memorial Award in 2021, the Clement A. Price Human Dignity Award in 2020 and the Chancellor’s Award for Global Impact, among others.

Robson’s ties to Rutgers began even before he became a student. He grew up on a New Jersey farm, where his family interacted with Rutgers agricultural agents and participated in 4-H. 

The professorship is designed to honor, retain or recruit an exceptional faculty member in plant biology, with a preference for someone who demonstrates a passion for educating students or goes above and beyond what is required of them. It will support teaching, research and professional activities in the field.

Rutgers’ Board of Governors approved the creation of legacy professorships in 2020, allowing current, emeritus and retired faculty members and their families to create endowed positions honoring their legacy at the university.

This article first appeared in Rutgers Today.

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Anna and Ava from Hunterdon County 4-H spent the past year as youth leaders with the NJ 4-H Agriculture Ambassador Program, educating the public about agriculture, sharing their knowledge, and highlighting the important role agriculture plays in our everyday lives.

The future of agriculture depends on young people who can champion the industry, communicate its value, and help shape its direction. Fourteen New Jersey 4-H members from eight counties have been selected for the 2027 NJ 4-H Agriculture Ambassador Program, a statewide leadership initiative preparing teens to represent and promote agriculture across New Jersey, and led by Melissa Bright, 4-H agent, Somerset County.

Launched in fall 2024 through a partnership between National 4-H Council and Nutrien, the program gives high school youth opportunities to deepen their understanding of agriculture while developing skills in leadership, public speaking, communication, and advocacy. Open to active New Jersey 4-H members in grades 9 through 13, the program welcomes teens with interests spanning farming, animal science, food systems, and natural resources.

Avery from Gloucester County 4-H, proudly serving as NJ 4-H Agriculture Ambassadors.

Throughout the program year, ambassadors will connect with agricultural industry professionals, explore career pathways, and learn about current issues affecting the industry. “Educational programs, agricultural tours, leadership development experiences, and outreach activities help them build confidence in communicating agriculture’s importance to diverse audiences,” said Bright.

The 2027 cohort represents Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Monmouth, Salem, Somerset, Union, and Warren counties. Together, these young leaders will build connections across the state while gaining firsthand insight into the people, practices, and systems that sustain New Jersey agriculture.

By equipping youth with the knowledge and skills to engage their communities, New Jersey 4-H is helping cultivate a new generation of agricultural advocates, professionals, and leaders prepared to advance the industry’s future.

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Gloucester County 4-H youth member earned Reserve Grand Champion Junior Showman at the NJ 4-H Beef Show held during the Burlington County Farm Fair.

From the show ring to national learning opportunities, New Jersey 4-H youth spent the summer building livestock expertise, strengthening leadership skills, and exploring careers in animal agriculture.

The 2026 New Jersey 4-H Beef Show, held at the Burlington County Farm Fair, brought together 45 youth from seven counties to exhibit 62 head of cattle. Participants competed in showmanship, fitting, and market and breeding cattle classes, gaining hands-on experience in animal husbandry, decision-making, and communication. The Sussex County team earned top honors in the County Herd competition.

At the 2026 New Jersey 4-H Dairy Show, also held at the fair, youth exhibited Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Jersey, and Holstein cattle in conformation and showmanship classes. The youth sharpened their animal management and evaluation skills while practicing public speaking and sportsmanship. Participants also earned recognition in breed classes, championships, and showmanship competitions.

Gloucester County 4-H youth member earning Reserve Grand Champion Junior Showman at the NJ 4-H Beef Show at the Burlington County Farm Fair.

In addition to the show ring, New Jersey 4-H members participated in dairy judging and dairy quiz bowl activities, applying their knowledge and critical-thinking skills while learning alongside their peers. One member, who was selected to attend the National 4-H Dairy Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, on September 29 to 30, joined youth from across the U.S. to explore dairy industry careers, leadership opportunities, and emerging issues in animal agriculture.

Together, these experiences demonstrate how New Jersey 4-H connects hands-on agricultural learning with personal growth, helping young people develop practical skills, build confidence, and discover pathways to future education and careers in the beef and dairy industries.

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The 2026 EduCATE Resilience Action Team Cohort.

The Rutgers Department of 4-H Youth Development and the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JCNERR) formally began their new educator-community climate resilience initiative for the greater Jersey City and Newark areas this past July at Liberty Science Center and the Liberty State Park Nature Center.

The year-long program is designed to support Resilience Action Teams in select middle and high schools. Through school clubs, students will work toward implementing local, community-based projects aimed at making the areas they value more resilient to the effects of climate change.

The inaugural cohort includes Academy I Middle School, Infinity Institute, and William L. Dickinson High School in Jersey City; Lincoln Middle School in Kearny; Newark School of Data Science and Information Technology in Newark; and Union Hill Middle School in Union City.

Participants practice a landscape design exercise at the Liberty State Park Nature Center using a map of the surrounding area.

The kickoff brought together educators and administrators from each school, who will collaborate to run their school’s club during the coming school year. With support from the Rutgers Department of 4-H Youth Development and graduate student mentors, the teams will use a co-designed club curriculum centered on fun and engaging activities. The curriculum takes a problem-based learning approach, focusing on analyzing research data and using landscape architecture design processes to develop meaningful projects in their communities. Youth will come to Rutgers University in spring 2027 to share their ideas and results.

The department partnered with various Rutgers-affiliated groups and specialists to provide a robust, multifaceted kickoff designed to prepare educators to guide their students through the initiative.

This included James Shope (Assistant Extension Specialist in Climate Services, Department of Environmental Sciences), who presented on the New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center’s State of the Climate report. Additionally, Ashlyn Spector (Environmental Analysis and Communications Group Unit Manager, the Center for Urban Policy Research) walked the teams through NJAdapt, a cache of New Jersey specific climate data visualization tools.

Alayne Toretta (County Extension Department Head and 4-H Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Warren County) and Kaitlin Gannon (Education Coordinator, JCNERR) led team-building activities that emphasized community planning and group problem solving. In addition, Alexis Lo (Center for Urban Environmental Sustainability (CUES) Project Manager and Lecturer, Department of Landscape Architecture), modelled the landscape design activities the teams will lead their students through to construct their project, and Edward Cohen (Associate Director, Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education) and Brielle Kociolek (Senior iSTEM Education Coordinator, Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education) showcased various problem-based learning methods to potentially use.

These speakers and activities were all complemented by Marissa Staffen (County Extension Department Head and 4-H Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Essex County) and Rodrigo Sanchez-Hernandez (4-H Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Hudson County), who spoke on how Rutgers 4-H could provide county-level support.

Union Hill Middle School presents some resiliency design ideas with Nesheiwat.

The kickoff also offered an opportunity for the school teams to connect with local civic stakeholders and brainstorm ways to implement projects that can be supported and sustained within their communities.

“We want young people to truly feel like they have the agency to work with their school and community members to see a project through,” said Janice McDonnell, SEBS Associate Dean of Research Impact, 4-H STEM Agent, and co-PI on the initiative.

Community stakeholders at the kickoff included Amanda J. Nesheiwat (Director of Sustainability & Community Outreach, Hudson County Improvement Authority); Christine Morales (Kearny Advisory Committee on the Environment and Sustainability); Kevin Force (Supervising Planner, Hudson County Division of Planning); Marytrine De Castro (Council President, Town of Kearny); Shannon Evans (Kearny Advisory Committee on the Environment and Sustainability, Town of Kearny); Victoria Bruno (Strategic Programs Manager, Newark Office of Sustainability), accompanied by Marilyn Cerrato and Roselyn Muniz (Assistant Gen Green Coordinators, Newark Office of Sustainability).

Other speakers at the kickoff included Caleb Stratton, borough administrator for Atlantic Highlands, and Kevin Lyons, professor of professional practice in the Supply Chain Management Department at Rutgers Business School. Stratton spoke about his experience as the former chief resiliency officer for the city of Hoboken and how select city infrastructure projects were designed with flooding and community culture in mind. Lyons, drawing on his experience as director of both the Center for Local Supply Chain Resiliency and the Rutgers Business School Public Private Community Partnership Program, discussed previous projects in the greater area that leveraged existing supply chain systems to uplift community spaces and rearranged supply chains to become more circular.

Newark School of Data Science and Information Technology practices a landscape design exercise with Bruno, using a satellite map of their school and the surrounding area.

Together, the kickoff sessions gave educators the tools, connections and support needed to help students move from learning about climate resilience to identifying and addressing challenges in their own communities. The initiative will continue throughout the school year as students develop their projects with guidance from their educators, Rutgers 4-H, graduate student mentors, and community partners.

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Melissa Bright, 4-H agent in Somerset County and past chair of the National Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals Animal Science Working Group, coordinated the National 4-H Animal Science Career Night focused on veterinary science. Featured speakers Hannah Neill, clinical instructor of Large Animal Field Service at the Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine at Rowan University, and Michelle D’Alessandro of Belle Mead Animal Hospital in Hillsborough, New Jersey, shared their educational journeys, professional experiences, and perspectives on working with companion animals and livestock. They also answered questions from youth considering careers in veterinary medicine.

Participant evaluations highlighted the program’s impact. After the event, more than 80% of respondents reported knowing “a lot” or “a great deal” about veterinary science careers, compared with 12.5% before the program. Additionally, 75% said they had learned about a veterinary career they had not previously considered, while 37.5% expressed strong interest in pursuing a career in veterinary science.

By connecting youth directly with practicing professionals, the program expanded awareness of career possibilities and helped participants better understand the educational pathways and opportunities available in veterinary medicine. The National 4-H Animal Science Career Night series continues to create valuable connections between young people and professionals, encouraging exploration of future careers in animal science and agriculture.

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L-R: Dr. Richard Moses SEBS’12; Dr. Jenice Sabb, Cook College’87, retired Director of EOF; Mr. Frager Foster, retired Director of Cook College EOF; and Dr. Jacqueline Moore, current Director of SEBS EOF.

Four decades after its first summer program, the SEBS Educational Opportunity Fund’s Solid GEMS program continues to prepare students to succeed in science while building a community that extends well beyond graduation

Summer 2026 marked a significant milestone for the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Program as Solid GEMS General Education in Mathematics and Science celebrated 40 years of preparing students for success in the sciences.

The anniversary was commemorated on July 26 at the Livingston Student Center, bringing together 66 alumni, current students, faculty, staff, administrators and supporters to celebrate a program whose impact has extended across generations.

Among those in attendance were 34 Solid GEMS alumni whose participation in the program spanned from its earliest years in 1986 through 2026. It was the largest gathering of Solid GEMS alumni at a single event in the history of the SEBS EOF Program and offered a powerful visual representation of the program’s enduring legacy.

For four decades, Solid GEMS has been rooted in a simple but consequential idea: students with talent and potential can excel in rigorous science disciplines when they are provided with the academic preparation, mentorship, community and opportunity to do so.

Alumni panelists at the Solid GEMS 40th anniversary event.

From “Diamonds in the Rough” to Solid GEMS

The history of Solid GEMS dates to 1980, when research and development began on an instructional approach designed to strengthen the performance of EOF students in introductory mathematics and science courses. The first Solid GEMS summer pilot program launched in 1986 through the EOF Program at Cook College in partnership with the Rutgers University Department of Chemistry.

The program’s name reflected both its academic purpose and its philosophy. GEMS General Education in Mathematics and Science represented the program’s focus on building a strong academic foundation, while “Solid GEMS” reflected the belief that students were like “diamonds in the rough”: individuals with tremendous potential who could flourish when provided innovative instruction and comprehensive academic support.

Built on research in student learning, the GEMS instructional model emphasized four stages New Problems, Exploration, Invention and Application designed to move students beyond memorization and toward critical thinking, problem-solving and scientific reasoning.

Solid GEMS was developed to improve achievement in introductory mathematics and science courses, increase retention, reduce attrition and encourage EOF students to persist in science-related majors. Historically, it served as the third component of an EOF student success model that began with a Pre-Freshman Summer Institute and continued with academic support during the first year.

Over time, the program evolved, but its central mission remained: prepare students not simply to pass challenging science courses, but to develop the skills and confidence to see themselves as capable scientists and STEM professionals.

A History Built on Being “Solid”

Mr. Frager Foster, retired Director of Cook College EOF, gave the keynote address at the 40th anniversary.

Frager Foster, who served as director of the SEBS EOF Program from 1981 to 2013, delivered the anniversary keynote address and took attendees back to the program’s beginnings. Foster connected the philosophy behind Solid GEMS to a much deeper cultural history.

“The connection between the Harlem Renaissance and the Solid GEMS Program is both meaningful and intentional,” Foster said. “Since the 1920s, the word solid has symbolized far more than strength. It represented trust, loyalty, reliability, and mutual responsibility.”

For Foster, the word captured what the program was designed to create among students, faculty and staff.

“To be solid meant being dependable, standing by one another, and producing results through consistency and integrity,” he said.

That philosophy became embedded in the culture of Solid GEMS. Students were challenged academically, but they were not expected to navigate those challenges alone. Faculty instruction, peer tutoring, collaborative learning, mentoring and community became integral parts of the experience.

The 40th anniversary celebration also honored the leadership that helped sustain that philosophy over four decades. Foster attended alongside Jenice Sabb-Dumas, who served as director from 2005 to 2021, and Jacqueline Moore, current assistant dean/director of the SEBS EOF Program and Solid GEMS director, who has served the program since 2006.

A presentation at the 40th anniversary event takes a look back at Solid GEMS.

Together with generations of faculty, staff, teaching fellows, tutors and supporters, their leadership represents the continuity that has allowed Solid GEMS to remain an important part of the SEBS EOF experience.

More Than a Chemistry Course

Today, Solid GEMS operates as a summer program, with intensive academic support designed to help students progress through foundational science coursework.

Its continued success was evident during the anniversary summer. In 2026, 12 residential Solid GEMS scholars participated in the 12-week Chemistry program, completing Chemistry Parts I and II. All 12 students successfully passed their courses a 100 percent success rate among the residential participants.

Yet the value of Solid GEMS cannot be measured by course grades alone.

The program combines rigorous coursework with collaborative learning, faculty engagement, peer tutoring and mentoring. Students develop study strategies, learn how to work through difficult scientific concepts and discover the importance of seeking academic support. Just as importantly, they build relationships with peers who are experiencing many of the same challenges.

That combination can change how students view themselves.

A difficult introductory science course can cause students to question whether they belong in a science major. Solid GEMS works to transform that uncertainty into confidence. Students leave the program having demonstrated to themselves that they can successfully complete demanding science coursework.

For many, completing chemistry through Solid GEMS does more than move them toward the next course in their academic sequence. It reinforces their belief that pursuing a science major is not only possible it is the right choice.

That sense of academic confidence and belonging is one of the program’s most important outcomes.

Forty Years of Alumni and Community

The 34 alumni who returned for the anniversary celebration demonstrated another important measure of Solid GEMS’ success: the community created during the program does not necessarily end when the summer ends or even when students graduate from Rutgers.

Over four decades, Solid GEMS alumni have gone on to careers and advanced study in medicine, research, science, healthcare, education and other professional fields. Some have returned to the program as mentors, tutors and supporters for the students coming behind them.

Solid GEMS alumni have developed into one of the SEBS EOF Program’s most established alumni communities, connected not simply by having participated in the same summer program but by a shared experience of perseverance, academic growth and mutual support.

That legacy can be seen in alumni such as Kevin Guerrero, SEBS’19, who previously credited Solid GEMS Biology House with providing his first laboratory experience. That opportunity helped spark his interest in research and contributed to a path that ultimately led him to medical school. Richard P. Moses, SEBS’12, similarly served as a teaching fellow for Solid GEMS Chemistry before going on to medical school and a career as a U.S. Navy anesthesiologist.

Solid GEMS alumni Dr. Esther Exantus ‘2015; Dr. Ashley Woolfork ‘2016; Dr. Jenice Sabb Cook College ‘1987; Mr. Frager Foster; Dr. Jacqueline Moore; and alumna Ms. Francia Noel ‘2015.

Their stories illustrate the long-term impact that an early academic opportunity can have on a student’s trajectory.

Protecting the Next 40 Years

As Solid GEMS celebrates its history, the anniversary also provides an opportunity to consider its future.

The program is now offered during the summer, when students can focus intensively on foundational science coursework and receive the academic support that has distinguished Solid GEMS for four decades. But providing that experience has become increasingly expensive.

The costs associated with summer tuition, housing, instructional support, tutoring, programming, food and other student needs continue to rise. Without sufficient resources, the number of students who can participate and the level of comprehensive support the program can provide can be limited.

Continued institutional, state, alumni and philanthropic support will therefore be essential to sustaining and strengthening Solid GEMS for future generations.

The SEBS EOF Program is grateful to the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education and the EOF administration for its continued support of Solid GEMS and its role in sustaining a program that has made a meaningful difference in students’ lives for four decades.

The need that inspired Solid GEMS in 1986 remains relevant today. Students arrive at Rutgers with ability, ambition and dreams of careers in science, healthcare, research and other STEM fields. What can make the difference is access to the preparation, mentorship and community that allow those abilities to develop.

In closing the 40th anniversary celebration, Moore reflected on the principle that has sustained Solid GEMS throughout its history: talent exists in every community, but opportunity can change the trajectory of a life.

Solid GEMS provides more than academic instruction. It gives students an environment in which they can struggle with challenging material, learn from those struggles, support one another and ultimately experience success. Through that process, students develop confidence, resilience, belonging and the academic skills needed to continue progressing in the sciences.

Forty years after the first summer pilot program, the meaning behind the name remains remarkably fitting.

The students are the gems. The academic preparation helps them shine. And the community surrounding them remains solid.

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The Kickoff Welcome Event. Top row, left to right: Ari Daniel, Sage Lichtenwalner, Brian Schilling, John Krasting, Kay Bidle, Rachel Thibodeau-Nielsen, Susan Renoe, Ashley Schwab, and Travis Miles. Bottom row, left to right: Mitaali Taskar, Sue Shapses, Janice McDonnell, Petronela Radu, Mónica Bugallo, Margaret Duffy, Christine Kirchhoff, Melissa Libertus, and Nicole Fahrenfeld.

In early August, Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) hosted the Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS) 2026 Research Fellowship Kickoff at the Rutgers University Inn and Conference Center. Organized by SEBS Associate Dean of Research Impact Janice McDonnell and ARIS Executive Director Susan Renoe, associate vice chancellor for research, extension and engagement at the University of Missouri, the kickoff brought together the 2025 and 2026 ARIS Research Fellows for professional development and science storytelling training.

Oscar Schofield spoke on RUCOOL’s monitoring work.

The ARIS Research Fellowship supports researchers in creating a coherent, leadership-driven strategy that centers why research matters, how it can drive change, and how it can continue to improve society. The 2026 fellows include Nicole Fahrenfeld, Rutgers University professor and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Director; Mónica Bugallo (Stony Brook University); Casey Canfield (Missouri University of Science & Technology, who attended virtually); Erin James (University of Idaho); Christine Kirchhoff (Pennsylvania State University); and Divya Sitaraman (California State University, East Bay, who was unable to attend).

Kevin Lyons spoke on designing projects with impact in mind.

During the kickoff, fellows were guided through their own leadership journeys by Margaret Duffy, executive director of the Novak Leadership Institute at the University of Missouri, who spoke about the power of personal branding and impact mapping. They also explored a Rutgers case study on building a culture of research impact. Department Chair Oscar Schofield led a tour of the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences and discussed how the department has cultivated its impact culture, as well as its role within the Rutgers University Center for Ocean Observing Leadership (RUCOOL). Fellows also heard case studies highlighting partnerships among communities, universities, and industry from Kevin Lyons, director of the Rutgers Business School Public Private Community Partnership Program.

Fellows also received science storytelling training from Ari Daniel, an independent radio producer whose work has appeared on media platforms including NPR and The New York Times.  James reflected on the importance of storytelling through her unique perspective as a professor of English.

“Training in narrative and emotional literacy makes scientists better tellers and receivers of information,” she said.

“You can’t do science without narrative,” she added. “Even a hypothesis is asking, ‘What if?'”

Ari Daniels (second from the right) and Margaret Duffy (third from the left) mid-discussion during an icebreaker exercise.

The 2026 fellows were joined by last year’s inaugural cohort, which included Kay Bidle (Rutgers University), Melissa Libertus (Case Western Reserve University), Roger Narayan (University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University), Petronela Radu (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), and Rachel Thibodeau-Nielsen (University of Missouri). Having visited Rutgers for their own kickoff last year, they shared insights into the value of the fellowship with this year’s participants.

“ARIS is a state of mind,” said Radu, chair of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

2026 Fellows Mónica Bugallo and Erin James, mid-discussion.

As part of her fellowship, she collaborated with more than a dozen units across campus through activities that promoted interdisciplinary thinking, including research roundtables, science movie screenings, and experiential learning initiatives. Along the way, she gained an appreciation for the leadership and communication skills required to shift institutional culture.

Libertus also reflected on how the fellowship’s emphasis on leadership development influenced her own career trajectory. Within the past year, she transitioned from professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh to chair of the Department of Psychological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.

“After the success of the first kickoff at Rutgers, we were so pleased to welcome these fellows again,” said Janice McDonnell, SEBS associate dean of research impact and a member of the ARIS leadership team. “It is heartening to see them grow and embrace new opportunities to change the research impact culture within their disciplines and universities.”

2026 Fellows Nicole Fahrenfeld (left) and Casey Canfield (center, virtual) mid-discussion with 2025 Fellow Petronela Radu (right).

Bugallo, interim vice president for research and innovation at Stony Brook University, reflected that gathering at Rutgers gave the fellows an opportunity to consider what they hoped to accomplish during the fellowship and beyond.

“It is a space without judgment, where we can reflect openly on the opportunities ahead,” she said. “The power in this room is our shared passion for the broader impact of research and for making a meaningful difference in society.”

By the close of the kickoff, both fellow cohorts returned home with plans to remain connected and collaborate throughout the coming year. Their training will continue over the next year, culminating in presentations of their fellowship projects at the upcoming ARIS Summit.

About ARIS
The Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS), formerly the National Alliance for Broader Impacts, was founded in 2014 and is the largest societal impact community organization in the United States. ARIS supports practitioners, researchers, and communities in achieving positive societal impact. With more than 1,800 members worldwide, ARIS offers resources, certifications, and programs that build capacity, strengthen partnerships, and advance scholarship. Visit researchinsociety.org.

Editor’s note: This article was written by Mitaali Taskar, Research Project Coordinator II with Rutgers Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences.

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This Pathfinders session was an agricultural biosecurity activity led by Anna Kimtis, program specialist trainee with the Department of Agriculture (standing at the front of the room). Session presenters also included Dr. Shipra Mohan, director of the New Jersey Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory (standing, at left), and Dr. Kristofer Smith, veterinarian with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (not pictured).

Twenty-two middle school students from the Trenton area concluded five weeks of discovery, innovation, and hands-on learning by showcasing their summer projects during the closing celebration of the sixth annual Rutgers 4-H STEM Pathfinders Summer Academy.

Held from July 13 through August 13 at Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Mercer County, the academy immersed youth in weekly explorations of public health, cybersecurity, engineering, robotics, and agriculture while introducing them to the people, places, and possibilities that make up New Jersey’s STEM community. The program was led by Yaa Owusu-Mensah, 4-H program associate.

Alanna Weekes-Jackson discusses her experiences in the Rutgers 4-H STEM Pathfinders Summer Academy during the program’s closing showcase on August 13.

The final showcase featured student presentations highlighting projects completed throughout the summer and the skills they developed along the way. Among those attending was Dr. Francine Conway, chancellor of Rutgers–New Brunswick, who met with participants and learned firsthand about their experiences and aspirations.

More than a summer enrichment program, STEM Pathfinders is designed to help young people envision themselves in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. By combining hands-on learning with mentorship and real-world experiences, the program helps middle school students build confidence, strengthen problem-solving skills, and develop a lasting interest in STEM fields during a pivotal stage of their education.

Throughout the academy, participants worked alongside Rutgers faculty and staff, 4-H volunteers and teen mentors, and collaborators from industry, government agencies, and partner universities. These interactions allowed students to engage directly with STEM professionals while exploring how classroom concepts translate into real-world careers.

Pathfinders help monitor water quality and the overall health of a stream at The Watershed Institute in Pennington by using keys to identify the types and variety of aquatic organisms they found in a sample of water.

Field experiences have long been a hallmark of the program. Over the years, participants have visited the New Jersey Department of Health’s Public Health and Environmental Laboratories, New Jersey’s Regional Operations Intelligence Center, The Watershed Institute, and research laboratories at Rutgers University, Princeton University, and The College of New Jersey. These experiences provide students with opportunities to explore advanced research environments and connect with professionals whose work addresses challenges in health, technology, environmental science, and engineering.

Established in 2021, the STEM Pathfinders Summer Academy serves as the critical middle school link in Mercer County 4-H’s STEM education pipeline. It bridges two longstanding programs: Tomorrow’s Innovators Science Saturday, launched in 2013 through a collaboration between Rutgers 4-H and Bristol Myers Squibb volunteers, and the Rutgers 4-H STEM Ambassadors program for high school students, established in 2009.

The impact of this continuum is already evident. Several students who have progressed through all three programs credit their 4-H experiences with helping them identify future academic interests and career pathways, demonstrating how sustained engagement and mentoring can shape educational and professional aspirations.

The Rutgers 4-H STEM Pathfinders Summer Academy is supported through the Mercer County Extension budget and Intern Program and the Mercer County One-Stop Career Center, which provide funding for transportation, intern stipends, and STEM instructional materials. Additional technology support is provided through the Apple Community Education Initiative.

By connecting young learners with mentors, meaningful experiences, and a supportive community of educators and STEM professionals, the Rutgers 4-H STEM Pathfinders Summer Academy continues to cultivate the next generation of innovators, problem-solvers, and leaders.

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