Well this is a really exciting time for us
because we're going through a merger of two
separate undergraduate programs and creating
a brand new field of study for our undergraduates.
So Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences, or TPSS,
is coming together with
Plant and Environmental Protection 
Sciences, or PEPS,
and creating a new program focused on 
Tropical Agriculture and the Environment.
Our new program is unique in that it's the
only program at the university that specifically
focuses on agriculture.
There are other programs that touch on it,
but we're the ones who really dig into the meat of it.
And we try to cover all the bases in that
realm, so we do cover business and entrepreneurship
to support students who want to go into farming
or working on the land themselves and
we focus really heavily on the environmental sciences, 
from plant breeding and physiology to genetics
to soil sciences to 
invasive species management and entomology.
And we also encourage students 
and provide programs for students
to work with people and with communities 
and in that way engage in
the political or community
building aspect of agriculture as well.
I joined this program because I was interested 
in invasive species management
to help protect our native flora and fauna.
This program provided me with practical knowledge
 in entomology, plant pathology, and integrated
pest management, which has a lot of different job 
opportunities in urban and agricultural settings.
Coming to the university, I wanted a program that 
emphasized food production, but also sustainability.
And I felt like this program provided me 
with the best opportunity
to do research that will make 
an impact on the local community.
I think students can get a range of experiences
within our program.
You might be interested in doing lab work
and really hardcore science
or you might be out in the field getting dirty 
and harvesting plants out in Waimanalo.
You might work in the greenhouse or actually
going and working with farmers and communities
to help them solve problems 
and build better businesses.
So I think there's a range of experiential
opportunities here.
One of the best memories I have is going on an
off-island trip to the Big Island with 
my Tropical Fruit Production class.
We went to several different farms and learned
how they grow their exotic fruits
and even regular fruits, papayas, bananas.
It was just a great way to bond with my classmates
and to get to know my professor well.
The faculty here have actually 
been pretty amazing.
They've been very personal with me, so that way they're able to instill
exactly what they know in their respective fields, 
so that way I'm able to understand
not only what's happening inside the classroom, 
but as well as what's happening outside in the world
and how those interact.
Students who have graduated from our program
have gone on to a whole range of career paths.
One great example is alumni Diane Ragone who
has gone on to create the Global Breadfruit Institute.
And she is literally changing the world's
food supply by taking an unknown indigenous crop,
a tree crop, with all its benefits and
spreading that around the world.
To Africa, the Caribbean, South-East Asia,
and the Pacific and really shows how
graduates of this program can have a 
global impact and really make big change.
