Excellence in Research/Collaborative Research: Smart Technology-enabled Nutrient Lifecycle and Supply Chain Management for Microgreens

这项卓越研究（EiR）奖支持设计下一代智能技术的研究，以改善微型绿色作物从农场到餐桌的食品管理。小菜是一种可食用的植物，只生长到幼菜阶段。众所周知，这些绿色蔬菜富含营养；然而，它们的生产周期短，而且容易腐烂。该项目代表了三所大学之间的合作，研究支持种植、收获和运输的方法，以确保向消费者提供高质量的营养产品。该项目将调查生长介质的影响，并整合实验和商业生产平台的数据收集。该项目的目标是发现支持优化整个微绿生命周期的方法，以向消费者提供营养食品。项目团队将整合植物生物学、大规模粮食种植和易腐产品供应链管理方面的专业知识。研究内容包括：(1)研究不同生长介质对微绿有益植物化学物质的影响；(2)探索代谢途径，以确定增加选定营养素数量的条件；(3)微型蔬菜栽培和收获方法的资料收集；(4)建立多尺度模型，优化从生产到消费者的微绿供应链。合作pi将利用在不同时间尺度的多个系统中收集的数据，将生物学研究与培养和收获研究结合起来。利用包括传感器和数据分析在内的智能技术，这些研究将建立一个最佳的从农场到餐桌的供应网络。该项目将扩大合作院校的研究能力，并提供教育和指导机会，使HBCU的毕业生为进入科研队伍做好更充分的准备。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Excellence in Research (EiR) award supports research to engineer next-generation smart technology to improve farm-to-table food management of microgreen crops. Microgreens are edible plants that are only grown to the juvenile stage. These greens are known to have dense nutrients; however, they have a short production cycle and are easily perishable. This project represents a collaboration among three universities to study methods to support cultivation, harvesting, and transport in order to ensure the delivery of a high-quality nutritional product to the consumer. The project will investigate the effects of growth media and integrate data collection across experimental and commercial production platforms. The project's objective is to discover methods that support the optimization of the entire microgreen life cycle to deliver nutritious food to consumers.The project team will integrate expertise in plant biology, large scale food cultivation, and supply chain management of perishable products. The research activities include (1) investigation of the role of different growth media on beneficial phytochemicals in microgreens; (2) exploration of the metabolic pathways to identify conditions that boost amounts of select nutrients; (3) data collection on the cultivation and harvesting methods of microgreens; and (4) development of multiscale models to optimize the microgreen supply chain from production to consumer. The collaborating PIs will integrate biological studies with cultivation and harvesting studies using data collected across multiple systems with different time scales. Using smart technology, including sensors and data analytics, these studies will lead to establishing an optimal farm-to-table supply network. The project will expand the research capabilities of the collaborating institutions and provide educational and mentoring opportunities to produce HBCU graduates better prepared to enter the research workforce.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.