Plant pathologist Gretchen Kuldau (left), shown here with graduate student Michele Mansfield, launched the first university course in agricultural biosecurity.

As a Penn State plant pathologist researching fungal mycotoxins, Gretchen Kuldau understood early on the importance of biosecurity to protect our country’s citizens, crops, livestock, and food supply. But she feared it may not be so obvious to the next generation of agricultural and food system professionals. So she set out to educate them.

In spring 2003, Kuldau launched what she believes to be the first university course in agricultural biosecurity. Aimed at graduate students across all disciplines in the College of Agricultural Sciences, the course has enrolled a total of 17 master’s and doctoral degree candidates from eight of the college’s academic departments during the two semesters it has been offered. “The main goal is to develop an understanding of what agricultural biosecurity is,” Kuldau says. “The need for biosecurity affects all areas of agriculture and agricultural research, and it’s great having students from various disciplines in the class because they all bring different perspectives.”

The course covers the history of biowarfare and bioterrorism targeting the food system. “The students learn that agroterrorism is a real threat—it has been used in the past,” she says. “We also talk about invasive and introduced species, because that’s something that we’re trying to prevent and deal with all the time in agriculture.”

The course also covers issues affecting plants and forests; animal health and production, including foreign animal diseases; the role of government in addressing biosecurity concerns; and biosecurity at the local or county level. Guest lecturers come from veterinary science, food science, extension offices, and other college departments, as well as from other Penn State colleges and the Pennsylvania and U.S. Departments of Agriculture. Field trips take the students to the Penn State Animal Diagnostic Laboratory in addition to the state’s animal and plant diagnostic labs in Harrisburg.

“One of the tough issues we examine is the release of scientific information,” says Kuldau. “How much should we tell to avoid giving terrorists information that would enable them to circumvent our defenses? Who should decide? If we keep
researchers from publishing their research, what impact does that have on the scientific endeavor?”

Kuldau, who has served on U.S. Department of Homeland Security working groups to assess the threat posed by plant pathogens and toxins, expects the demand for this type of education only to increase. Indeed, as she plans for the next offering of Agricultural Biosecurity, she is developing a similar course to be taught as part of a proposed Master’s in Homeland Security professional program. Intended for people already working in the homeland security arena, the multidisciplinary program—involving several of the University’s academic colleges—would be offered through Penn State’s online World Campus.

—Chuck Gill