Don Welge, the late president of Gilster-Mary Lee, had a vision. He wanted to start a new kind of agricultural program at his alma mater of Louisiana State University.

“He had this concept of teaching food beyond the farm, meaning not just the growing of the crops and all the sciences that are involved and the economics of all that, but beyond that to the food processors, to food distribution,” said Tom Welge, Don Welge's son and current Gilster-Mary Lee president. “Even through retailing and marketing, so really every part of the cycle in food production.”

In a second round of Big Idea seed grants, the largest internal funding program in LSU history, the Provost’s Fund for Innovation in Research is investing $1.2 million in 15 interdisciplinary research teams. Aligned with LSU’s Scholarship First Agenda, the teams and their projects aim to solve pressing problems in Louisiana and everywhere.

In total, the funded projects will engage 65 faculty across nine colleges and schools on LSU’s flagship campus in Baton Rouge, extending collaboration to LSU Athletics, LSU AgCenter, Pennington Biomedical Research Center and LSU Health New Orleans. Two projects support advances in agriculture; seven projects drive discovery in biomedicine; six projects elevate the coast and environment; six projects protect the state and nation through stronger defense and cybersecurity; and six projects help secure the future of energy.