Arkansas 4-H teaches STEM, public speaking skills at Tech Changemakers summer training

By Rebekah Hall
U of A System Division of Agriculture

LITTLE ROCK — Technology skills are critical for both everyday life and career readiness. To set 4-H members up for success, the Arkansas 4-H Tech Changemakers program equips participants with practical knowledge — and teaches them how to share their skills with the community.

HANDS-ON LEARNING — Amanda Berryhill and Landen Floyd use science activity kits at the Arkansas 4-H Tech Changemakers summer training, held June 25-26 at the C.A. Vines Arkansas 4-H Center in Little Rock. The program teaches participants technology skills, and 4-H members then teach skills classes in their communities to help bridge the digital divide. (Division of Agriculture photo.) 

The program hosted its 2024 summer training June 25-26 at the C.A. Vines Arkansas 4-H Center in Little Rock. Participants learned how to take photos and write captions for social media, how to operate drones and their applications for agriculture technology, how to create stop-motion videos and more.

In addition to teaching 4-H members about technology, the Tech Changemakers program requires participants to lead digital skills classes for adults in their communities. To help bridge the technology gap, 4-H members teach lessons in identifying phishing scams, setting secure passwords, basic internet safety and more. Since 2021, the program has grown from 30 participants in 11 Arkansas counties to 75 participants in 24 counties.

Cindy Phillips, extension program technician for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said the program helps 4-H members develop independence through learning to teach.

“Tech Changemakers learn to plan and set up classes,” Phillips said. “They are responsible for the location, teachers and necessary materials. They teach the lessons. Some of them teach from the front of the room, and some of them teach one-on-one to help participants with the new skill. Our team’s adults are there to support and supervise, while our teens are in charge of all of the areas of the program.”

Michelle McVay, extension 4-H STEM instructor for the Division of Agriculture, said 4-H members enjoyed the variety of lessons and activities offered at the training.

“The kids are really loving it,” McVay said. “This is where the world is going anyway, to being more tech-based. Any opportunity you can get to have the kids engaged, interested and excited about technology, the better." 

Learning by teaching

Lynn Lanthrip, Drew County extension 4-H program assistant for the Division of Agriculture, said the program’s teaching element helps participants better master the material.

“I love getting the kids involved with technology and getting a group of kids excited about teaching,” Lanthrip said. “I think this is very much needed. It’s awesome watching them find their spot in the thing they like to teach.”

Lanthrip’s son was a member of the first group of Tech Changemakers in 2021. She said he benefited from connecting with adult students in the digital skills classes.

“He was 17, and he never liked public speaking,” she said. “But he loved working with people one-on-one, especially with teaching older people. He would go in, and he would be the one at the back helping individuals, instead of leading at the front. It does give the kids who are not strong speakers a way to improve, and it gives them a good way to help and teach.”

As part of the summer training, Phillips brought voice coaches to lead participants in vocal exercises — helping 4-H members project their voices and speak confidently. Phillips said she was inspired by a third-year Tech Changemaker participant, whose public speaking skills and confidence improved through his involvement in community theater.

“They led our kids through some fun, kooky games that helped them understand how to make their voices heard all the way at the back of an auditorium,” Phillips said. “And when we were making s’mores by the campfire, they helped show the kids that if there are noise distractions — like the sound of the cicadas — then they need to accommodate for those.”

Discovering their True Colors

Debbie Nistler, assistant vice president of 4-H and youth development for the Division of Agriculture, led Tech Changemakers through the True Colors personality assessment. Nistler said the test provides valuable insights into the individual traits participants bring to their teams.

After completing worksheets to identify their strongest color, participants split into four groups: Blues, known as the peacemakers; Greens, known as the analyzers; Golds, known as the organizers; and Oranges, known as the activators.

“I wanted to do this activity with you because you will be working on your Tech Changemaker teams in your counties all year,” Nistler said. “I want you to think about not what you are, but what your teammates are, and taking someone for who they are. That is one of the hardest things to do. When we work with people who are different than we are, we often think, ‘Well, they’re not like me.’

“I’m hoping you can take this True Colors training and think about your teammates as Blue, Gold, Green and Orange, and where they fit,” she said. “In a successful team, you need all of those colors to be present.”

Nistler also noted that the late Hope Bragg, former extension instructor in 4-H youth development for the Division of Agriculture, who helped start the Arkansas 4-H Tech Changemakers program, would be proud to see the program’s growth.

“I am super excited that we have such a great group of Tech Changemakers here today,” Nistler said. “Hope would be very excited to see the number of folks here. Hope’s True Colors were Blue and Green, and she would be very excited to see all of you doing this. You are doing well in honoring her, and I am excited to see what this iteration of Tech Changemakers does over the next year.”

Phillips said that in 2024, the Arkansas 4-H Tech Changemakers plan to teach original lessons on internet responsibility, how to search for information, email basics, video conferencing and more.

“Our team members complete many hours of service while helping members of their community cross the digital divide,” Phillips said. “Our team motto is ‘Once a changemaker, always a changemaker,’ and I believe they are forever changed by the difference they make in their communities.”

To learn more about Arkansas 4-H Tech Changemakers, visit 4h.uada.edu/programs/science/engineering-technology/ or contact Cindy Phillips at cdphillips@uada.edu.

4-H is a youth development program operated by the Cooperative Extension Service, part of the Division of Agriculture. The program teaches participants life skills through the “learn by doing” model. Program participants gain knowledge through non-formal, science-based, experiential education activities.

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk. 

Tech startup program, ARise, kicks off

by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

Arkansas’ tech entrepreneurs have a new tool to use. ARise – Arkansas Innovators, Startups, and Entrepreneurs – was launched Thursday (June 20). It’s an iteration of the Arkansas Statewide Technology Commercialization program formerly known as Innovate Arkansas.

ARise, funded by the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and led by Startup Junkie, aims to propel tech and tech-enabled companies in Arkansas.

“Growing technology companies is critical for Arkansas’ long-term economic success. The ARise program is a key element of our strategy for providing support and resources for tech ventures as they scale up in the Natural State,“ said Clint O’Neal, executive director, Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

Tech startup program, ARise, kicks off

Renk, who helped move faculty inventions into the real world, retires after 8 years

By Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Bryan Renk, retiring after eight years as director of commercialization for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Technology Commercialization Office, had the right combination of skills and know-how to bring faculty inventions into the real world.

RETIRED — Bryan Renk reflects on his time with the Technology Commercialization Office within the U of A System Division of Agriculture. (Division of. Agriculture photo)

“He’s done an especially amazing job at finding good homes for the Division of Agriculture’s inventions,” said Lisa Childs, a Division of Agriculture vice president and head of the Technology Commercialization Office.

Renk was also good at “helping us and the researchers we support to think about the downstream impacts of our decisions,” Childs said. “We are a better, more professional team as a result of his time with us.

“I was so excited about Bryan joining us eight years ago because of the breadth and depth of his relevant experience,” Childs said. “I have to say that he’s surpassed all my expectations.”

Renk retired in June.

Propelling growth

Renk called his work with the Division of Agriculture’s world-renowned fruit breeder John Clark “both significant and satisfying,” but said it had something of an uncertain start.

When Renk first came to Arkansas, he thought he could use his experience to advise the Division of Agriculture on intellectual property.

“Then Clark dropped off a paper he wrote on intellectual property. It was more recent than the one I’d written,” Renk said with a laugh. Then, he thought, “Maybe I’ll help with marketing. Then searching around, I found the most recent marketing study was one Clark co-authored as well.”

At the time Renk thought, “I guess I’m not going to help him at all.”

Clark “had strengths I didn’t and vice versa. We meshed really well and it turned out to be a good friendship,” Renk said. “At the end of the day, the fruit program has more income now than it had before and is in a nice position to improve” with Clark’s successor, Margaret Worthington.

Renk said he enjoyed his faculty interactions at Arkansas but would especially miss his co-workers in the Technology Commercialization Office.

Renk’s efforts have made a large impact on the results of Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station’s world-class fruit breeding program, said Jean-François Meullenet, who heads the experiment station, which is the research arm of the Division of Agriculture.

“Bryan’s professionalism and focus on cultivating strong relationships with our partners have driven the remarkable growth of our technology transfer program over the last eight years,” Meullenet said. “Bryan’s efforts propelled our fruit licensing program to new heights. All of us with the experiment station wish Bryan the best in this next chapter of his life.”

Badger fan in Razorback land

Parker Cole, associate director of technology commercialization, spent the last year working closely with Renk.

“Bryan Renk is a phenomenal guy – despite his love for the Wisconsin Badgers!” Cole said. “Stepping into my new role was somewhat nerve-racking but Bryan has served as a sounding board and has continuously encouraged me along the way.

“Having had the opportunity to work with Bryan for the past year is something I will cherish for my entire career,” Cole said. “I hope to carry on his legacy and build on the work he has done for the Division of Agriculture.”

Renk, who earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in meat and animal science and muscle biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, also fenced for the school, advancing to the 1984 Olympic trials in saber. He admitted to maybe “needling Cole a little bit” about team loyalties.

Renk joined the commercialization office in 2015, where he was responsible for assessing technology, patenting, licensing and marketing. Renk is an emeritus member of the Board of Visitors for the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at University of Wisconsin at Madison.

He also sits on the board of directors for Maple Leaf Farms, the largest vertically integrated duck producer in the United States. He was formerly the executive director of BioForward, a member-driven state trade association that represents Wisconsin’s life science industry. He has also served as president and chief executive officer of aOvaTechnologies, an ag-biotech startup company, and has held positions as director of licensing and director of patents and licensing at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. He has also served as a board member for William F. Renk and Sons and FluGen.

The future

As for the future, family looms large. He and his wife, Mary, have three sons: Zachary, Jonathan and Lewis. Although retirement plans include some consulting work, and staying on the board at Maple Leaf Farms, Renk’s first grandchild is expected in November and he said he is “getting ready for that. “And our third boy has gotten engaged last month.

“We will be in their hair a little more than they want us to be,” Renk said.

There will also be travel. Renk said he’s looking forward to seeing how some of the licensing agreements he put into place about herbicide tolerance and resistance and animal probiotics work out.

“You never know what will happen,” he said. “It takes seven to 10 years to prove me or the invention right or wrong.”

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.

Artificial intelligence programmer in ag tech named ABI New Investigator of the Year

By John Lovett
U of A System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A major intersection of agriculture and technology today is in artificial intelligence and machine learning to process massive amounts of data from those quadcopters buzzing over crop fields.

Operating multi-spectral and thermal cameras on drones is one thing, but programming computers to use that data to figure out complex agricultural problems, like early detection of crop stress on specific plants, is another.

MACHINE LEARNING — Emily Bellis, assistant professor of bioinformatics at Arkansas State University with a U of A Division of Agriculture appointment, was recognized as the 2022 New Investigator of the Year by the Arkansas Biosciences Institute during the ABI Fall Symposium at the Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Sciences in Fayetteville. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Bellis)

That’s something computer scientists are working on in a collaboration between the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Arkansas State University’s computer science department and the Arkansas Biosciences Institute.

Emily Bellis, assistant professor of bioinformatics at Arkansas State University, was recently named the New Investigator of the Year by the Arkansas Biosciences Institute for her work on these kinds of problems. The Division of Agriculture partially funded her research on artificial intelligence that processes drone-derived images. The institute recognized Bellis and other researchers during its fall symposium on Oct. 4 at the Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Sciences.

“I love this kind of project because it is really interesting from the data analysis viewpoint and also the eventual impacts you can have in agricultural systems,” Bellis said.

Bellis also serves as the associate director for the Center for No-Boundary Thinking, an Arkansas State University-based group with a goal to promote interdisciplinary research with artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The study led by Bellis trained computers to interpret multi-spectral and thermal images taken by drones to determine yield potential differences within a given field based on various nutrient stress signs of the crop. The research paper, “Detecting intra-field variation in rice yield with unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and deep learning,” was published in March. Ahmed Hashem, assistant professor of agricultural systems technology at Arkansas State University, was the co-first author of the study and led the drone data collection. Tim Burcham, director of the Division of Agriculture’s Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center and a former ASU professor, linked the two for the project.

DRONE TECH — Ahmed Hashem flies drones with multi-spectral sensors as part of a program with Emily Bellis to develop artificial intelligence programs that can measure crop stress. (Courtesy Ahmed Hashem)

“We’ve been working for a couple of years together on how we can apply deep-learning techniques to massive image data sets that were collected over many different experiments, Bellis said. “Different types of cameras can often capture different types of stress. The multi-spectral sensors on Dr. Hashem’s drones are great for detecting nutrient and drought stress.”

The study compared two deep learning-based strategies for early warning detection of crop stress using UAV-derived data throughout the growing season for rice in east Arkansas irrigated rice fields. Researchers with the department of biological and agricultural engineering at the University of Arkansas and the U.S. Department of Agriculture were also involved.

They found that two-dimensional images, processed with a particular type of machine learning model called a convolutional neural network, did slightly better at predicting yield potential in a rice field at an earlier growth stage than a more complicated model that takes images from multiple surrounding time points as input. However, the models that use images from multiple time points may show potential for better performance if trained on diverse datasets that include multiple rice cultivars and environments, Bellis said.

Burcham said the research using advanced artificial intelligence computation tools “is critical for unlocking future advances in row crop production for Arkansas farmers.”

“Emily is a commensurate team player, and her skill set in the area of artificial intelligence and machine learning has added immeasurably to the joint remote sensing research being conducted by faculty in the Arkansas State University College of Agriculture who hold joint research appointments with the Division of Agriculture,” Burcham said. “Her multiple research affiliations demonstrate her commitment to collaboration to unravel answers in complex ecosystems. I am so happy Dr. Bellis is recognized as an Arkansas Biosciences Institute New Investigator of the Year.”

Robert McGehee, executive director of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute and Distinguished Professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said Bellis has made “significant accomplishments” in her three years on the Arkansas State University campus. In addition to being engaged in undergraduate and graduate student education, McGehee said Bellis and colleagues were recently awarded a highly competitive National Science Foundation research training award. She has also won funding from the NSF’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCor) and the U.S. Forest Service.

“Her expertise in applying state-of-the-art bioinformatic approaches to better understand the interactions between the agricultural crops and the environment will be transformative,” McGehee said of Bellis. “As a young scientist pushing the envelope in her field and becoming so engaged as a role model in training the next generation, she is exceptionally deserving of the 2022 ABI New Investigator of the Year.”

McGehee noted one of the missions of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute is to foster collaborations within member institutions. The institute, funded through the state’s share of the 1998 nationwide tobacco settlement, is an agricultural and medical research consortium “dedicated to improving the health of Arkansas.”

“I am extremely excited about her collaborations with the U of A System Division of Agriculture,” McGehee said.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu