Ripening Fruit to Prevent Waste w/Amit Dhingra - Inside Industry with IREO
Inside Industry with IREO is joined today by Amit Dhingra, the leader of the Entrepreneurial Faculty Ambassadors and the interim chair for the Horticulture Department at WSU. Entrepreneurial Faculty Ambassadors is not an organization or department, but a grassroots movement. As Amit would say “it’s all about creating that community of faculty members, staff members, students, as well as scientists, who come together to really develop solutions of the pressing problems that we face today”. The EFA’s goal is to grow a culture of taking concepts from the university out to society to make an impact. They are planning on expanding the movement across the different campuses and customizing a program for each community. Amit also runs a genomics lab here at WSU, and his interest in genetics and food science came about from witnessing his parents, who are both medical doctors, giving away medicine to malnourished people. He questioned “why don’t we give them food instead of medication?” The genomics lab studies crops such as apples, pears, and cherries. Some of the research goals are to understand how to regulate the ripening of fruits to prevent waste, how to fight diseases by creating more resilient crops, and how to change architecture of trees to modernize production systems. The genomics lab is currently working on how to use huckleberries, which is a common fruit in the Palouse, for their flavor and genetics to improve blueberries.