2025 Impact Highlight
Elbert County, Eastern Region
Modernizing livestock education through NASA design challenge, virtual reality imaging project
Rural and homeschooled youth often have limited access to advanced STEM opportunities and to research informed livestock education. Current Meat Quality Assurance instruction can be abstract and difficult for youth to visualize, limiting their ability to understand the connection between husbandry decisions, animal health, and carcass quality. A partnership that links NASA design challenges with CSU’s anatomy virtual reality imaging offers a way to modernize livestock education, deepen learning, and broaden exposure to science, aerospace, and agriculture.
Elbert County Extension Directory Mary Anderson initiated the early development of an interdisciplinary project with former colleagues from NASA and Dr. Tod Clapp in the Immersive Reality Teaching Lab at the CSU College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The concept involves using livestock MRI imaging and virtual reality anatomy tools to help youth see the real effects of nutrition, handling, and husbandry on muscle structure and product quality.
Planning conversations with NASA HUNCH and CSU faculty have begun, initial curriculum ideas have been drafted, and a conceptual design for integrating virtual reality imaging into Meat Quality Assurance education has been established. This groundwork positions the program for future pilot sessions once local conditions stabilize and development time increases.
This initiative has the potential to strengthen the agricultural knowledge base of rural youth, expand access to advanced STEM learning, and create a modern, research informed approach to Meat Quality Assurance education.
By linking space exploration, animal science, and responsible production practices, the project prepares youth to make informed decisions that support community food systems, contribute to animal well being, and foster long-term environmental stewardship. As the project develops, it will offer rural communities an innovative learning pathway that connects local agricultural traditions with national scientific work.