Jordan College welcomes 11th honors cohort

(Dec. 10, 2024) -- The Fresno State Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology introduced its 11th upper division honors cohort that will focus on research related to industry and consumer topics.

The 10-member junior class includes members from all six of its academic departments focusing on a host of topics related to education, industry, university and the community. 

The program, which began in 2014, provides scholarly, creative and motivated Jordan College students with advanced study and mentorship by select faculty. Students will take three honors seminar units and work with a faculty mentor to develop a research project.

As seniors, they will participate in three additional spring-semester honors colloquium units and present their research project to students, faculty and the campus community. 

Jordan College honor students will receive incentives such as priority registration, extended borrowing time for library materials and special recognition at commencement.

The experience also prepares students on a graduate level track by giving them important experience with research gathering, analysis and reporting methods.

Candidates, which were reviewed by the Jordan Council Honors Council, must be a Fresno State student for at least one term; have a minimum GPA of 3.5 for their last 60 units; submit a personal statement with references, writing sample and resume; and participate in a personal interview. 

The students and faculty mentors hails from four departments and their tentative topics/projects (and faculty mentors) include:

Agricultural Business

● JonMichael Silva - Cost/benefit analysis of new cooling technology at Fresno State dairy (Mentor: Dr. Annette Levi)

● Erick Verduzco Anaya - Farmers' decision-making process and willingness to pay for precision agriculture (Mentor: Dr. Jason Liang)

Animal Sciences and Agricultural Education

● Sienna Davies, Animal Science - Dairy cattle behavior and/milk production in relation to solar panel cooling system over dry cow feed bunk (Mentor: Dr. Amanda McKeith)

● Horta Crystal  - Broiler welfare management  (Mentor: Dr. Katy Tarrant)

● Joshua Young, Animal Science / Pre-Veterinary - Factors that affect motility and concentration for semen collection in stallions (Mentor: Dr. Fabio Iared)

 

Food Science and Nutrition

● Zoie Gavel - Effects of a comprehensive nutrition intervention program emphasizing fruit and vegetable consumption on serum antioxidant level (Mentor: Dr. Shabnam Pooya)

● Habeba Yaaqob - Human Nutrition - Weight Loss Topic (Mentor: Dr. Erika Ireland)

 

Industrial Technology

● Christopher Court - Electrification of Agricultural Tractors (Mentor: Dr. Athanasios Alexandrou)

 

Plant Science / Agricultural Business Double Major

● Victor Ilias Fraga - Economic analysis of the recycled use of saline effluent produced from reverse osmosis on the irrigation of different plant species (Mentor: Dr. Serhat Asci)

 

Viticulture and Enology 

● Nikoloz Managadze - Comprehensive Analysis of Georgian Wine: Chemical Composition and Sensory Evaluation (Mentor: Dr. Kristy Sun)