California State University, Fresno chemistry professor Dr. Alam Hasson and culinary science professor Klaus Tenbergen completed a summer fellowship that focused on food security, leadership, biotechnology, agribusiness and educational challenges facing the Hispanic community.

The 2008 E. (Kika) de la Garza Fellowship Program was held in Washington, D.C., through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions National Program. It brought together 22 faculty, staff and administrators from colleges and universities around the country to learn about federal agencies’ services and programs available to students and institutions of higher education.

They met with high-level officials from the USDA, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education, among others, and worked collaboratively with USDA scientists and managers to learn more about research and management issues.

Tenbergen is the Culinology® Program director and assistant professor in the Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition. Culinology blends culinary arts and food science.

Hasson is an associate professor who joined the chemistry faculty in 2001. He specializes in atmospheric chemistry aimed at improving the understanding of air pollution and climate change.

They were selected based on the compatibility of their interests with USDA mission areas.

Hispanic-Serving Institutions are accredited and degree-granting institutions of higher education with a full-time Hispanic student enrollment of 25 percent or more.

(University Communications news intern Amanda Fine contributed to this
copy.)

Related links:

Alam Hasson, Ph.D.
<http://www.csufresno.edu/chemistry/facstaff/facpages/Hasson.shtml>
Klaus Tenbergen
<http://fsn.cast.csufresno.edu/faculty_and_staff/faculty/k_tenbergen.asp>