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CAIA Programs

CAIA FY25 Programming

Acting as a catalyst for CALS and VT researchers and communities in the Commonwealth and beyond, CAIA operates its I4 programs: Inspire, Ignite, Implement, Innovate. CAIA seeks to unlock faculty time and enable researchers to efficiently pursue complex solutions for complex problems.

Faculty Development Series (under development) – prepare pre-tenure faculty for fostering innovation, building complex teams, writing large proposals, and developing institutional awareness.

Seminar Series – invite high impact speakers to speak on cutting-edge technologies, innovative research trends, or science policy implications to campus. 

  • 1st speaker – Kate Lewis, Executive Director, National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics (NAREEE) Advisory Board

Incubation Lunches – convene critical conversations around topics that align with faculty expertise, college or university priorities, funding growth opportunities, and stakeholder needs.

Susan Duncan Innovation in Agriculture Seed Grant (currently open for submissions) – support user‐centered and user‐driven research and development activities directed at building capacity, security, and resilience in the United States agriculture and food sector in partnership with ICAT and VT-ARC.

Graduate Student Scholarships – provide opportunities for high-quality graduate students to be transdisciplinary and innovative through multidisciplinary co-mentorship.

Team building and networking opportunities – build and bridge social capital to enable complex and transdisciplinary teams.

Flagship Initiatives – enable topical priorities that provide focus and agility to CAIA. Initiatives will be selected based on a variety of criteria such Federal and VT priorities, request-for-proposal trends, and faculty input. Robust support from CAIA will be provided to pursue an ultimate goal (multi-million-dollar grant, Center-level autonomy, etc.) determined by the initiative team. CAIA currently has three Flagship Initiatives:

  • Ag Biotech and the Circular Bioeconomy
  • Agriphotovoltaics
  • Cybersecurity in Agriculture

Event Sponsorship – sponsor events when VT faculty have a prominent leadership role and the event aligns with CAIA’s mission and vision . Sponsorship will mainly be provided for facilitating student and key speaker participation through travel grants .

Research Support – provide administrative support to unlock faculty time for science and research activities.