ALEC Students Present Critical Research at NACS
by Jace Wilkey ’24, Agricultural Communications and Journalism Student
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Four students within the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications presented research at the National Agricultural Communications Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia in February. Since 1996, NACS has served as an annual meeting where researchers from across the nation share research about agricultural communication and related areas.
In conjunction with NACS, the Southern Region American Association for Agricultural Education Conference was also being held in the same location. At these events, researchers presented research posters and spoke to guests and other participants.
In attendance was Miguel Diaz, an international Ph.D. student in the department. At the symposium, he presented a poster that covered research that focused on how farmers, ranchers, scientists and extension agents interact with information and how they deem sources as credible.
“We are trying to understand how agriculturalists interact with source credibility,” Diaz said. “Research questions would include ‘why they believe one source over another and why they don’t believe in particular sources.’”
“We are trying to understand how agriculturalists interact with source credibility,” Diaz said. “Research questions would include ‘why they believe one source over another and why they don’t believe in particular sources.’”
This was Diaz’s second time attending NACS as he conducted an oral presentation at last year’s symposium in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. According to Diaz, he faced significant challenges last year, but it helped him feel more confident when presenting his research in Atlanta.
“My presentation last year was a big challenge for me since English is not my first language,” Diaz said. “To face a big audience and present my research was a big learning experience. But this time, presenting a poster allowed me to have more interpersonal conversations with other professionals. I could dig deeper into my topic and expand more into details.”
On the other side of the venue, Camryn Haines, another Ph.D. student, was presenting a research poster at the AAAE conference. Her research focused on the perceived stress that women in agriculture endure.
Haines said that this research was collected by distributing surveys to women-based agricultural groups on social media, as well as agricultural science departments at Texas A&M and Sam Houston State University. This survey received 337 responses from women in agriculture between the ages of 18 and 72.
“Women [in agriculture] did state they had an elevated level of perceived stress,” Haines said. “Most women [in this survey] with elevated levels of perceived stress leaned on foods to help cope with their stress, leading to an elevated BMI and weight gain.” Haines’s hope is that her research can promote healthier options for women coping with stress.
Haines’s hope is that her research can promote healthier options for women coping with stress.
“It can also extend to convincing women experiencing stress in this industry not to turn to food as a coping mechanism,” Haines said. This was Haines’ first time presenting research at a conference in her postgraduate career. Despite not knowing what to expect from the event, she said she enjoyed gaining feedback from her peers.
“Everyone was very interested in what I had to say and I was given constructive criticism and feedback,” Haines said. “I would be a lot more comfortable going back to a conference in the future.”
Emily Fuller, another Ph.D. student within the department, presented two posters at the event. One of these projects studied students’ perceptions of artificial intelligence in classroom settings and was presented at the AAAE conference.
![NACS-EF-LB Two people posing with a thumbs up and standing in front of a research poster.](https://alec.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/NACS-EF-LB.jpg)
Fuller believes that this project can be used to inform classroom instruction when potentially implementing AI-generated course materials. In the project, undergraduate students were shown an AI-generated video about climate change. However, gaps in the implementation of credible data and off-putting visuals prevented students from fully embracing AI-generated learning materials.
“Students voiced that they did not trust the AI-generated video,” Fuller said. “They said they felt it lacked a sense of ‘human touch’, had strange photographs and presented inaccurate figures.”
The second research project Fuller presented focused on determining what sources wheat producers perceived as scientists. She explained that producers tend to view extension agents as more credible sources of information than government officials.
“This can help inform future research,” Fuller said. “It can decide what platforms can be used to inform producers and encourage government [agencies] to look to extension to be perceived as more credible.”
Fuller said presenting these projects at NACS helped her understand the research even more. “You do not understand something until you teach it,” Fuller said. “Presenting the posters pushed me to immerse myself in the research and explain it to other people.”
“You do not understand something until you teach it,” Fuller said. “Presenting the posters pushed me to immerse myself in the research and explain it to other people.”
While presenting these posters, Fuller was assisted by Logan Baker, a sophomore international studies, policy, and diplomacy and agricultural communications double major. Baker works as an agricultural communications and journalism research assistant within the department and has contributed to both projects by producing abstracts and designing the posters used at the events.
Baker stated that he was apprehensive when he landed in Atlanta for the symposium, citing his age and a lack of experience. “I was the youngest one there,” Baker said. “So, I did not know what to expect.”
As the event progressed, however, Baker began to feel more positive about the experience. He said his exposure to new methodologies and networking with some of the brightest minds in agricultural communications research changed his outlook.
“It was an amazing experience,” Baker said, “While I was there, I was exposed to so much great research, interesting methods, and brilliant people. Getting to interact and grow as a researcher and a student was such a great time.”
“It was an amazing experience,” Baker said, “While I was there, I was exposed to so much great research, interesting methods, and brilliant people. Getting to interact and grow as a researcher and a student was such a great time.”
Following Baker’s conference experience, he offered words of encouragement for students deciding if they should get involved in undergraduate research.
“If you are on the fence, just try it,” Baker said. “If you have any inkling toward interest in research, you can come and try it. If you fall in love with it, it has the potential to change everything.”