By Megan Lutz, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Communications Service
Angela Shaw sees diversity as a holistic endeavor that involves everyone's uniqueness and an appreciation for everyone's differences.
Shaw, an associate professor in food science and human nutrition and an extension food safety specialist, received the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Award for Diversity Enhancement for her ability to reach out to underrepresented students.
Shaw includes underrepresented students in her laboratory and works to reach students throughout Iowa. She's conducted workshops for more than 1,000 underserved youth in the Science Bound program, Food Science and Human Nutrition Student Days, World Food Prize and Youth Institute, Women in Science and Engineering and events through 4-H and FFA.
Shaw's mentoring goes beyond Iowa State. She started a career discovery program called "The Passion Academy." The academy is a program she developed in partnership with the Ames Middle School. Her goal is to help middle school students understand the opportunities available to them.
The motto for the Passion Academy is "your purpose lies in your passion" and it's something Shaw believes. She found her career in food science when she realized her passion was cooking.
"I started cooking at a young age and turned it into a love instead of a chore," Shaw said. "I started out thinking I would have a career in product development, but then I found microbiology. I fell in love because these little micro-organisms have their own brains and they keep me thinking."
Preparing students for careers in the food industry is important to Shaw. Every year, one in six Americans gets sick from something they ate. Shaw said her goal is to help find solutions and eliminate problems in the food chain.
"Everyone needs to eat and no one wants to get sick from eating," Shaw said. "When you look at the big picture it's the practical things that you do and the baby steps that help you find a solution."
Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will present awards to faculty and staff on March 8 at its Spring-Semester Convocation and Awards Program in the Memorial Union.
March 1 2018