Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

THE KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY (KSU) UNITED STATES AQUACULTURE SOCIETY STUDENT SUBUNIT: EDUCATION, COMMUNITY, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, AND COLLABORATION WITH KSU’S TILAPIA CAPACITY BUILDILNG PROJECT TO CREATE EXTENSION RESOURCES

Sandhya Lamichhane*, Andrew Stephanus*, Vincent Teye, Oluwafemi Adebayo, Ashton Schardt, Mark Johannemann, Cole Daleiden, and Noel Novelo

 

Aquaculture Research Center

Kentucky State University

Frankfort, KY, 40601

Sandhya.Lamichhane@kysu.edu

Andrew.Stephanus@kysu.edu

 



The KSU United States Aquaculture Society (USAS) Subunit had a productive year (2022-2023). Subunit activities included online and in-person guest speaker presentations from Kentucky (KSU Drone Specialist) and New York (East Hampton Shellfish Hatchery Director). Members assisted each other with their research projects, visited two local zoos for education and recreation, and provided Extension service to local fish farmers (Figure 1). Field trips included Kentucky fish farms and other aquaculture centers to aquire field experience and apply knowledge and skills gained at KSU’s School of Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences. The subunit engaged in professional development by participation at Conferences of the World Aquaculture Society, Kentucky Academy of Science (KAS), and Women of the Water Conference 2023 (Figure 1). The subunit supported seven members’ oral and poster presentations at the KAS Conference 2023, and one member, Oluwafemi Adebayo, received the USAS Student Travel Award at Aquaculture 2023. The subunit contributed substantially to creating educational videos on whole fish and fillet processing and cooking to develop Extension resources as part of the human nutrition component of KSU’s Tilapia Extension Project: ‘Expanding Aquaculture and Healthy Food Choices to Reduce Economic and Health Disparities Affecting Minority and Limited-Resource Stakeholders’. This collaborative work accomplished through the KSU Tilapia Project has been presented at conferences, and the videos and information were posted on various social media platforms and posts to maximize dissemination (Figure 1). Lastly, election was held for new executives to take charge of the subunit activities, to ensure continuity, and to plan and to implement activities to fulfill objectives as stated in the KSU USAS Subunit Bylaws.